Jittery investors in volatile times are nothing new. Bear markets and recessions are fairly frequent guests on the investment landscape. But when you throw in a pandemic, and school and college closures, and sheltering in place and everyone working remotely — let alone shortages of basic supplies like paper towels and toilet paper! — you have something that is quite certainly not business as usual.
That's why financial advisers should
not attempt to treat these markets rationally, as just another market cycle. You can show clients the stock market charts over time, highlighting previous downturns or recessions, and ask them whether buying high and selling low makes sense, but I don’t think it’s likely to resonate.
And that’s because for most people, their big worries — the ones that keep them up at night or gnaw at them during the workday — are probably not about the stock market or their 401(k) balance. Not now. For many clients,
their biggest fears are the simple, everyday, ordinary kind that carry different meanings. They worry about their elderly parents, who might be in nursing homes and whom they cannot visit. They might have grandchildren they can't see. They’re sad for their high school seniors, who will miss proms, parties and graduations, or concerned that their children will fall behind with online virtual learning. They fret over the future of their jobs and how they’ll provide for their families. Some might have already lost their jobs. And underneath it all is a real fear for the health and well-being of the people they love most.
Advisers should be communicating with clients frequently and proactively during these volatile times. That’s a given. But if you don’t know what your clients are really concerned about, you are missing an opportunity to form stronger relationships with them.
Start your conversations by asking clients, “How are you doing? Are you all right?” And then listen. Far too often, advisers think that communicating means they need to do the talking; instead, you need to do the listening. It’s in the quiet places in conversations that real trust can be formed, and there will never be a better time than today to truly listen to a client.
One adviser told me that he called a high-net-worth client intending to give a market update and insights into oil prices, but happily began the conversation by asking how she was doing. She wasn’t doing well at all, she told him; her father had died the week before, and she was devastated.
The adviser simply said, “Tell me about your father,” and spent the next hour listening to stories of her childhood and how her father had worked two jobs to provide for the family. The client was crying when she told the adviser that only four people were permitted to attend the burial service, given COVID-19 restrictions, and that she was denied the opportunity to mourn with others who also cared about her father.
The depth of that conversation far eclipsed any other the adviser has had with his client. He was stunned at what he learned and horrified to think he might have opened by talking about OPEC and oil output to someone grieving a beloved parent. How many opportunities do you have every day to gain important client insights? If you begin by listening to what’s really important to clients, you’ll be able to deepen your client relationships — in any market.
[More:
The path to success? It's all about client relationships]
Kristine McManus is vice president and chief business development officer for practice management at Commonwealth Financial Network.
