Back in flight school, my instructor told me “Your body will lie to you…don’t trust it!” When you think you’re flying straight and level…you could actually be in a slow spiraling downward dive…or even upside down…and never know it by looking outside the plane or by how you feel internally. This can kill you very quickly and you need to learn to trust your instruments.

I want to believe we are in a recovery. My emotional equilibrium is telling me that we are at historic buying levels and I should be bullish. I want to tell you that I see the end of the nightmare and your business is on its way back. But every time I look at the instruments they are saying the storm is not over for our economy nor for our industry.

In every meeting I do, I ask my audience the same question, “How many of you can’t wait to leverage yourselves up and start spending more money?” CRICKETS! “Now, how many of you are looking for ways to cut back, reduce spending, do more with less, stretch your car for another year, save more, reduce your debt and your consumption?” EVERYONE! I realize this is an unscientific poll, but any economic scenario that is based on the cheerful return of the consumer is, in my opinion, a non-starter and a dead-wrong strategy.

There are many speakers out there on the circuit singing “Happy Days are Here Again” and I think they’re letting their body lie to them. They are allowing an all-too-recent memory of past market declines tell them that when it goes down it must come back up. If they have any experience at all…they may remember the Crash of 1987 which ranks up there with Y2K as the great non-event. This is a different world. What I’m seeing is a continued downward slide and a depressing market environment for some time. I think smart professionals must build this scenario into their business model. Even if I’m 180 degrees off…it’s still a smarter way to help people.

This means new investment strategies, new marketing approaches that brand you as a realist and a serious, caring professional, and new ways to talk with clients honestly about their future and the changes required to get them home safely. It means action and hard work…not sitting around thinking about what to do. Get moving again…and watch what happens to your attitude and your business.

The image that pops into my mind when I think of the ideal advisor in today’s world is Gene Hackman’s character Reverend Scott in the Poseidon Adventure.

He quickly accepted the reality of the upturned world and he recognized the tremendous change of thinking that was necessary to survive. The “experts” said he was wrong but he stuck to his guns with passion, logic and determination. He tried to convince people to join him but he didn’t waste too much time arguing with the un-savable. He knew that quick action was essential and that apathy would end in death. He used all his resources (like Ernest Borgnine and Shelly Winters) and improvised when necessary. Ultimately he led his small flock to safety. And if you forgo the typical Hollywood ending…he did a damn good job for his people.

Folks…this ship is under water and likely to stay there for a while longer yet. The consumer is down for the count. The government has shocked the economy with about 3 trillion volts and it ain’t moving off the table. When the false glow from an overly optimistic “stress test” wears off (bend down, touch your toes) we might find that we’re in deeper trouble than we think. Get your people up to the engine room and out to fresh air. Be as bold and creative as you can be. This is a time when leaders are made!

  “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work."
Stephen King 

“I am a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it."
Thomas Jefferson

 A = Increase Activity

Now is the time for massive energy and maximum business building effort because you have money in motion. There are millions of unhappy investors and the competition is light. Our business, like many others is cyclical. It has its good and bad times. During the good times when clients are making lots of money, it’s very hard to pry folks away from their existing advisory relationships. During the tough times, people are much more willing to listen to a new story…so now is when your extra activity will really pay off.

For a good-activity guideline, use The Rule of 2.

2 appointments per day

These are in-person get-togethers with your top clients or prospects. If you are already averaging two per day then try boosting it to three. Many of you are wonderful when you’re in front of people. Your natural interpersonal skills really shine. I call this the revenue moment and you should strive to maximize the amount of time you spend here.

2 work-nights per week

I work nights for one main reason…it’s the best time to reach many clients and prospects. Some advisors tell me that they refuse to work nights and I understand their reasoning. They may have worked hard for years to get to a certain level of success and they feel that working nights simply isn’t something they want to do anymore. If you feel that way let me plant one thought in your mind. You are working nights not to make more money…you may have plenty of that already. You are working nights to help more people. It’s not about your success…it’s about your clients. Consider that before you reject this out of hand as something that’s beneath your stature.

2 Saturdays per month

Same rationale as above.

2 seminars per quarter

Obviously I love seminars and I’m a great believer in their ability to connect with people. If you’re not currently doing seminars or events, now is the time to get started. They work very well for both growing your business and for cementing your relationships with existing clients. If you would like more information on seminars, you might want to read my book, “Seminars: The Emotional Dynamic”. It’s filled with practical advice and techniques that will make your events remarkably successful.

2 tele-conferences per quarter

Tele-conferences are like seminars where no one needs to leave their desk. They are easy to set-up and fun to do and they will differentiate you from the crowd.

2 mailings per quarter

Direct mail can be a great marketing tool and in today’s world of electronic communication, hard-copy paper mail is enjoying a resurgence in impact. But in our industry, it’s rarely used for some reason. Many advisors swear that “junk” mail doesn’t work and I agree. Junk never works…but I can tell you of advisors who are generating five to eight new prospect appointments each month from a professional direct mail campaign. Like anything else, do it well and the results will follow. If you would like to learn more, contact Bob Wilgus at Response Mail Express ((800) 795-2773 ext. 5304) and ask him about the Concierge Program. It’s a revolution and it’s producing extraordinary results.

2 referrals per client

Referrals are not easy and getting top clients or centers of influence to refer you is a risky business for both parties. In order to make that risk disappear, you need to approach referrals in a sensitive and professional way that is the opposite of many of the techniques  we’ve all been taught. I’ve given the subject a lot of thought and research and I’ve actually written a new book called “Referrals The Professional Way.”

2 campaigns per year

Campaigns are very powerful ways to grow your practice. They can also be fun and exciting for everyone on your team. There are four main types of campaigns: sales, marketing, theme, and service. I prefer theme campaigns which allow me to use a variety of specific financial solutions depending on the client’s needs. One of my favorite themes is global investing. It’s broad enough to be applicable to everyone in your world and it has a wide range of applications and programs that support the theme.

The best part of doing campaigns is the goal setting / reward process. This critical element allows you to unify the conscious and subconscious parts of your mind in a dynamic partnership that will help grow your business and have more fun doing it.

The Rule of Two will help keep you focused on activity during a difficult period. Activity is one of the few variables that you can control (along with attitude and skill) so stick to that and let your competition worry about things like market action, interest rates, and the economy. In the end, activity will drive your business success more than any other component. We are a business about doing!

Addressing often-hidden emotional concerns clients may have is essential during periods of market volatility. On an intellectual level, most investors realize that difficult markets will pass and lead to new bull market upswings. Yet many individuals become fearful in the face of sharp declines. It’s hard to reason the fear away. Whether or not you think people should be scared is immaterial. They are scared, and you have to deal with it.

Handholding Rule #1: Be Proactive.
Don’t wait for clients to run screaming into your office. During tumultuous times, assume clients are a little frightened whenever you speak with them, and reach out with calming reassurance. I hate scripts, but this might be the way to begin a handholding conversation

“George, I know you’ve been watching these markets and they are pretty wild. I’ve had a few clients tell me they were a little concerned. They’ve been asking me if I thought things will get worse. So I just wanted to reassure you that we are just going through a normal market cycle and there is nothing hiding under the bed. I think we understand all the forces that are moving these markets right now and, while the storm isn’t over yet, this is not the time to panic. How are you feeling by the way? Any concerns I should know about? Has anything changed in your long-term goals?”

There’s no need to be hyperbolic or make any guarantees. The present storm may be raging for a few months. So you don’t want to make unrealistic predictions. But you know that the market looks out six to 12 months in advance. It is a future-pricing mechanism and it will often bottom and turn around just when things look their darkest and panic is the prevailing emotion.

Remember, you are basically dealing with emotions. It’s unwise to try to overcome fears with excessive use of facts, statistics, or detailed analysis. It’s almost as if you’re reassuring a frightened child.

“Rachel, there is no dragon under your bed. Dragons are animated fantasy characters drawn on computer workstations. They do not exist in real life. No creature can breathe fire because there is no gland or natural organ that can secrete a petro-chemical or flammable substance under high pressure. It’s just impossible bio-chemically! Do you feel better? Now go to sleep.”

Hand-holding Rule #2: Have A Hand Available!

I saw a very scary movie 35 years ago called The Exorcist. (It was actually the last scary movie I’ll ever see because it kept me awake for three straight nights!) At the movie, I saw something happen in the row in front of me that has stayed with me till this day.

Right in front of me was a woman and a young boy, maybe 10 or 11 years old. There was no movie-rating system back then and she probably thought it was safe to take her child to the movie. I’m not faulting her for that. But during a very scary scene, I saw the child reach out to hold his mother’s hand, and there was no hand to hold! Her hands were covering her own eyes. She was obviously terrified! The boy looked over at her and in a split-second his fear level jumped noticeably. He leapt from his seat and into her lap! It was a sad episode to observe. I felt for this little boy.

How’s this related to our world?

When a client reaches out to you, you have to be there! And you must come across as calm, controlled, and in-command. If you are scared yourself, the client will pick up on that and it will magnify his fear.

Go back to that scenario with the frightened child who can’t sleep. You couldn’t run into the child’s room screaming, “A dragon! Oh my God, there’s a dragon under your bed! Run for your life!”

So before you try holding hands, make certain you are on firm emotional ground. If you’re not, talk to someone who has seen this all before. Find a mentor or another advisor who lived through the Crash of 1987.

You want to talk about market volatility? Try a 22% train wreck in a single day. Five hundred points! My pulse doesn’t even pick up for anything less than two or three thousand now! If that’s not calming enough for you, dig up a relic who remembers 1973-74, when 50% of the brokers were purged from the industry!

Developing a historical perspective can give you a tremendous amount of confidence in the face of seeming uncertainty. You come to realize that there has always been uncertainty and market confusion. Severe shocks, extreme fluctuations, and exogenous calamities are not new. Nick Murray calls this phenomenon “The Apocalypse d’jour.” Yet somehow we’ve always come through okay. The markets just keep going up because they are ultimately a reflection and a gauge of the human spirit.

The time to truly panic is when you believe we’re undergoing a massive shift in human nature to something dark and demonic. So barring an alien invasion or takeover by the Taliban, I’m still bullish on human nature—at least the next 18 months!