Panicked clients literally may not be able to hear you. In order to get them to listen to your advice, you need to get them calmed down first. From Financial Planning:
“It’s been found that when you can label the reaction, physiologically the amygdala calms down and all of a sudden there’s access to the cognitive side of the brain,” [Cynthia] Harrington said. “The challenge is how to do that without sounding patronizing.”
The whole article is worth reading. Based on our own surveys and other sentiment indexes, clients’ confidence in financial markets seems particularly low right now. A big part of any advisor’s job is helping clients make effective decisions, something that is not easy under any circumstances.
