Experts Will Grow During Financial Carnage! Will You?
By Martin R. Baird

News media outlets of all stripes are pouring over the wreckage of the financial markets. They love to blast the facts about outlandish bonuses, expensive trips and billions of dollars wasted. I think they strive to outdo each other with the most sensational and titillating points. It’s almost like they rub their hands in glee over the carnage.
 
Amid all this hullabaloo, it is apparent that names like Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers (and many others) are gone forever. So here is my question for financial advisors: “What happens to all of the clients that had their lives invested with these places?” One day, these people had accounts at Lehman and now the client service phone number there just rings. While the headlines just keep coming.
 
These people need your help, the help of a financial advisor. And they need it today more than ever. If we were still in the glory days, many clients could just do self-directed investments because everyone was making money. Today, they know that even the big-brain financial experts are down 30 percent or more.
 
They need you now! What can you do to help?
 
First, you need to tell your existing clients you are open for business and accepting new clients. Don’t assume they know you want referrals. Perhaps they assume you don’t and, in the meantime, they have friends and neighbors that need you. People are shocked, and shock often leads to a serious lack of activity. Under such circumstances, people become depressed and revert to doing nothing. That’s the worst option they could choose.
 
Ramp up your communication to get past this ostrich syndrome. Call clients and talk with them. Listen to what they are saying – and also what they are not saying. Communication is not easy as the Dow continues to fall. But now is not the time for easy solutions, and open dialogue is necessary. This is the time to do what is necessary for your clients and their friends. Everyone wants to make it out the other side of what is happening in our economy and communication is the first step toward achieving that goal.
 
Secondly, you need to cut through the clutter and communicate that now is a good time to invest. This is very hard to do. Clients and prospects are being rocked by never-ending bad news. Each new day seems to bring word of large companies closing, filing for bankruptcy or at least laying people off. Even when a company announces an up-tick in sales, its stock still gets pushed down as investors fear the worst for the overall economy.
 
Become a champion of investing. The Nov. 10 issue of Forbes had an interesting article titled “Buy Signal.” According to the story, it’s a good sign that the end to troubling times is near when small investors leave the market. Share this with your clients and prospects. Educate them that now is the time to go against the lemmings that like to buy high and sell low. They need to be the money makers who buy when things are on sale, not sell when they are on sale.
 
Thirdly, you need to find the opportunities that clients and prospects are missing. This is what you get paid to do. Use your resources to find overlooked opportunities so you can help people make money while others lose it hand over fist. I know some of you will not like this, but Jim Cramer, host of CNBC’s “Mad Money,” said the other day that the assumptions we made were wrong. He named a number of companies, groups and industries that missed the boat. So what new knowledge and information can you share today to get your clients through this mess?
 
Finally, you need to tackle the two 800-pound gorillas in the room. We call them the F Twins – Fear and Frustration.
 
Fear is like a pair of concrete shoes on your clients’ financial feet. When people struggle with the level of fear that they have today, it’s almost impossible for them to make good, educated, non-emotional decisions. That is incredibly frustrating for them. I recently heard that even people worth millions have a poverty mentality. These are not people who fear losing their home or one of their cars. But when they go out to dinner, they tip a little less or order only one good bottle of wine. How are you going to be open and honest about your clients’ fear and frustration so you can address these problems?
 
Hindsight is 20/20. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking would’ve, could’ve and should've. But that attitude will not help you or clients and prospects that need you to help them achieve the financial future they deserve. It’s time to address the tough situations and questions like an expert and start making the most of this new reality. Advisors that do will grow during this amazing time in our world.

Martin R. Baird is chief executive officer of Robinson & Associates, Inc., a consulting company that helps financial professionals measure and manage the quality of client service and improvements to their internal operations to enhance business performance and increase revenues. He is a highly regarded speaker in the areas of marketing and client retention and development. Baird is author of “The 7 Deadly Sins of Advisor Marketing,” a book that offers easy-to-implement marketing ideas for financial professionals. He may be reached at 206-774-8856 or mbaird@raresults.com.