Members of the financial advisor community often don't appreciate the power words have to simplify jargon-filled language, ease anxious nerves and instill confidence.

Two new programs for advisors run by Van Kampen Consulting-partly inspired by the same people who invented the term "death tax"-are geared toward providing tools to buck this trend.

Recession Proof Adviser and New Word Order are among the 20-plus educational offerings the marketing division of Van Kampen Investments offers to advisors of all stripes to sweeten the service pot.

With investor confidence at historic lows, and anxieties running high, these two programs underscore the importance of effective communication and thoughtful word choice in shaping the way advisors can impact the hearts and minds of clients, according to Van Kampen.

The two programs incorporate some of the thinking of Republican pollster Frank Luntz, who has been in the news recently for shaping the GOP's health care reform message. Luntz made his name in the early 1990s as a consultant for Republican leaders such as Newt Gingrich, for whom Luntz created the term "Contract With America"-a campaign slogan that helped Republicans recapture Congress in 1994. He's also the mind behind the phrase "death tax," which was adopted as part of the fight against estate taxes.

Luntz is the author of Words that Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear, which explores words that connect with people versus those that fall flat. The key to successful communication, Luntz argues in the book, is understanding people's perception and interpretation of what you say. His firm, Luntz Maslansky Strategic Research, put that philosophy to work in crafting the Van Kampen program for financial advisors.

"Going negative doesn't work," firm co-founder Mike Maslansky says, adding that the rule applies not only in politics, but in the world of finance. "What we have learned in recent political cycles is that going on the attack makes the aggressor look bad. So along those lines, selling fear is a bad sales tool and reflects negatively on the advisor."

The seminars, about an hour long, break down the words advisors should and should not use when speaking to clients.

"A helpful suggestion was to avoid using a term like 'ratchet up' and instead going with 'step up,''' explains Tom Walker, a Minnesota-based independent advisor. "On a basic level, 'ratchet' sounds like something forced. With the latter term, you think, 'Oh yeah, I'm stepping up.'"

Clear, plain English is emphasized over stilted, technical terms, he says. "In light of the banking situation, [saying] 'protecting' will resonate with clients much better than the word 'guarantee.'"

Advisors should use language that shows they empathize with clients, rather than challenge what clients are saying, according to advisors involved in the programs.

Amy Dunn, another Minnesota-based advisor, notes that one rule of thumb is to avoid using the words "but" or "however" when trying to dissuade a client from a certain course of action.

Instead, she says, advisors might want to redirect the conversation by saying, "I understand how you feel" or "I might add..."

"It is about not being contradictory and instead showing empathy," she says.

"I am dealing much better with pessimistic, skeptical and optimistic clients," Dunn says. "In many cases my removing words which trigger [negative] responses has made me look forward to, and not dread, meetings with a difficult client."

In another example, Luntz and Maslansky have found that focus groups sharply rejected the question, "What happens if you run out of money?" They preferred a question that focused on "how best to make certain you have enough money for the duration of your life."

Walker says the program has helped him better communicate with clients who want to act impulsively-for example, by moving assets or pulling out of the market because of a single event. "You can't be like an ostrich sticking your head in the sand, so having a hard science behind word choices can't help but add to the value which I bring to my own practice as well as my clients," he says.

LMSR's specialty is finding words and phrases that can change votes or opinions. In the area of personal finance, that could mean moving a client's state of mind from wanting to leap off the proverbial ledge to keeping their eyes on the long-term prize.

"What we came up with revolves around the four P's: positive, plausible, plain English and positioning," Maslansky says.

Staying positive means rejecting fear-based selling to an already terrified client base.  As opposed to discussing how to keep the wolves at bay, the topic turns to seeking and taking advantage of opportunity, he says.

Scott West, a Van Kampen managing director who oversees the programs, says the focus is to eliminate codified, alienating language within the financial services industry.

"Jargon is the consequence of being in an industry for any period of time," he says.  "In the case of financial advisors, we call it 'finglish.'"

West did a study a few years back of financial advisory literature and found the language and terminology used in the industry to be, at best, Byzantine. The unnecessary complexity was making it harder for advisors to fulfill one of their core job functions: making complex financial ideas understandable to clients.

West, the author of Storyselling for Financial Advisors and Your Client's Story, is a strong believer in the use of metaphor, especially in tough times. "In the advisory business, it really is about a number of stories as opposed to a story of numbers," he says.

The Recession Proof Advisor places emphasis on improving face-to-face communication with clients, with the end goal being a newfound sense of serenity and investing confidence, according to West. The focus should be on instilling a sense of calm in clients, allowing them to recognize opportunity at a time when many people are in a state of panic, he says.

In much the same way that airplane passengers are instructed in case of emergency to deal with their own oxygen masks before helping others, the program stresses that advisors need to get their own heads screwed on correctly and take heed that, as a whole, they are not being blamed for the hammering that their clients' portfolios have taken. "First, advisors need to right themselves," says West. "A key way to this end is for them to realize that in large part they are not being held responsible for their clients getting hurt in the market."