The last thing that brought our minds into sharp focus of how unforeseen event can change our lives was covid.
That was until Donald Trump imposed trade tariffs.
As a financial professional you are at the sharp end of this. Many of your clients will have products and investments that will be affected.
Some may be worried, and they do not want to feel like this. So, what can you do?
Do not fear ‘difficult’ conversations
An adviser said to me that he was happy to report good news about a client’s investments to them.
But he avoids giving them bad news.
To me, this is a cop-out. It is being willing to be there in more challenging times that counts far more and will gain your respect.
A book I often return to is The Trusted Advisor by Maister, Green and Galford. A wise observation they make is:
“Since clients are often anxious and uncertain, they are, above all, looking for someone who will provide reassurance, calm their fears.”
The value of reassurance
To have someone who knows what they are talking about reassure you is incredibly valuable.
In the medical profession they call it a bedside manner, and this can be a powerful catalyst in the healing of a patient.
When I work with clients who feel fearful or unsettled (and we all feel like this from time to time) I gently and appropriately point them back to a fundamental truth:
“We are living in the feeling of our thinking 100 percent of the time”
In other words, how we feel is not coming directly from our circumstances. It comes from how we are thinking about our circumstances.
The novelist Anaïs Nin said, “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”
In my experience, when people catch on to themselves and how they are thinking, they cease feeling like a victim and their power returns. Instead of being pessimistic they feel optimistic. They get a sense of perspective instead of thinking the worst.
And how valuable is this?
PS. Why is a client’s well-being at the core of financial planning? Click here to read more.
