Undoubtedly, the past year has been tough for everybody-advisors and clients alike. The housing bubble has burst, the credit markets have frozen, foreclosures are at record highs and people aren't confident that those in charge can sort things out anytime soon. As people watch their retirement savings dwindle, they become concerned, worried, fearful and depressed.

Athletes and coaches regularly go through tough times, too. They have losing seasons, go into slumps, suffer injuries, compete in bad weather and deal with ups and downs on any given Sunday. Anybody who participates in competitive arenas (business, sports, etc.) will have to deal with defeat occasionally.
As financial professionals, however, you must coach your clients to perform like champions in all types of weather. This will require you to help them seek understanding of the situation, focus on opportunities and then take action.

Let's examine each of these steps more closely as they apply to clients' needs and to your own role as a financial professional. In doing so, advisors must stay one step ahead of their clients, helping them navigate each step and assuring them, "I've checked it out, and it is safe for you to follow my lead."  

Seek Understanding
To help clients understand the current situation, you must ask, what is the scope of the problem? What does it mean when the media says the credit markets are frozen? How will the financial crisis affect your client? Is she still on track to meet her financial goals? Where did all of the money that she lost go? How long will it take her to recover those losses? What solutions are in place and how will they improve her situation?

While it would be better for your clients to understand these things from you, unfortunately in many cases the media gets to them first. Clients see and hear words like "crisis," "meltdown," "bailout," "depression" and "crash," and are primed to become fearful, emotional, worried and reactive. Your role as a financial professional is to stand side by side with them on this step and assure them that you will coach them through
the situation.

Consider the role of a basketball coach whose team is eight points behind with one minute left in the game. He or she calls a time-out, and meets with the players. At first, the coach says something to the effect of, "We've been here before and we've prepared for this situation in practice." Next, with a calm voice, reassuring attitude, forward thinking and the expectation of success, the coach would clarify the situation, describing the defense and offense that are likely to be presented by the opponent; figuring out when and who to foul when the opponent has the ball; and offering a detailed game plan for how to close the eight-point deficit.

Just as a basketball coach is prepared for such a last-minute time-out, you must be prepared in advance to guide your clients through a tough economic climate. Among other things,
you should:

1) Have at your fingertips information (historical data, supportive documents, metaphors, case studies) that will clarify and normalize the situation. This will help you remove clients' tendency to react emotionally and irrationally.

2) Establish two to three key talking points that help clients understand their situation. Ask yourself what it is in your presentation that clients would most likely relay to a friend or family member (someone who did not meet with you)? Could they relay your key talking points? Could they do it in a calm, confident and unemotional manner as you did?

Of course, clients would have a better understanding of the tough spot they're in if they were better prepared beforehand. Tennis champion Ivan Lendl once told me this about facing challenges on the court: "I don't think there is any pressure if you do your homework and you prepare the best you can. How can the pressure mount if you prepare well?" Lendl didn't learn to simply cope with adversity, he prepared for it.

Are your clients similarly prepared for challenges in the financial markets? Do they truly understand the risks involved? Are they as prepared to persevere in bad times as they are willing to enjoy the fruits of the good times? The better you have prepared them, the less reactive and emotional they will be if things turn sour. One of the financial advisors I coach said to me recently, "My clients are not overreacting during these difficult times. We've already had the discussion of what we would do were something like this to occur. The tough times are exactly why we've discussed financial planning, diversification and risk management."

While empathizing with clients' emotions and concerns, you must provide comfort, support, clarity and direction so that they gain the understanding they need to shift away from an emotional and reactive mindset. Then, and only then, can we progress onto the next step.

Focus On The Opportunity
Though you first want to make sure your clients are no longer emotional about their losses and that they fully understand their situation, as their understanding grows, you can then turn them toward opportunities.
Former NFL head coach Dick Vermeil said, "An opportunity is worth to a person exactly what their preparation enables them to make of it." That means you should have prepared your clients in advance to take advantage of the opportunities that often accompany turbulent financial markets.

Before winning his first green jacket in the 2004 Masters Tournament, Phil Mickelson held the unflattering title of "greatest player never to have won a major." When he was asked how he would handle the pressure of trying to win his first major if paired with Tiger Woods in the final group, Mickelson responded, "That is why we play competitive golf. That is what we are waiting for-to have that opportunity on Sunday to compete for the greatest title against some of the best players in the world, and I would love that opportunity." That's what champions focus on when under pressure, not the threat and not the fear of failure.

Top-producing advisors recognize that tough financial times present opportunities both for the clients and for themselves. A common human reaction to adversity is to stick your head in the sand and wait for the conditions to improve, yet turbulent financial times present unlimited prospecting opportunities. While other advisors stand confused, inactive and embarrassed by the performance of their portfolios, top advisors hold prospecting events, ask for referrals, meet with their clients (and their friends), and in essence fill the void left by those who are unprepared and ill-informed.

What opportunities are you discussing with your clients-opportunities to buy, to reconsider asset allocation, to further diversify their portfolios, to review their risk tolerance, to minimize their losses, or to position them for accelerated growth down the road?

Take Action
In the NFL, every team has a pre-established two-minute offense that they rely on in critical moments-say, when they might be down by seven points and have two minutes remaining on the clock and no time-outs. Why? Because it allows everyone on the field to do one thing-take action. There is no time to hold a meeting, schedule a conference call or conduct research. It is time to act. Top athletes and coaches recognize the importance of execution in these moments-thoughtful, informed, preplanned action.

Referring to how his coach, Jim Mora, helped him play during his NFL rookie season when the Indianapolis Colts won only three games, Peyton Manning recalled, "He told me, 'I know you don't want to struggle, but you are going to struggle.' I had some games when I didn't play quite as well, and he easily could have pulled me out of the game. What he told me was, 'When you have a bad game and you throw two or three interceptions, it's easy to come out; it's hard to stay in the game and avoid throwing number four.'" Champions recognize, even when a loss is inevitable, that they must stay in the game, keep learning, keep taking action.

What actions are you taking to keep learning, improving your practice and delivering your clients the value that they expect and deserve from their advisor in tough times? How are you coaching your clients to stay in the game, particularly when there are no assurances that they will win?

Remember, in really bad situations, normal people look to be pulled out of the game, wait it out and re-enter when conditions improve. Fortunately, champions are abnormal-they are conditioned, trained and prepared to act as others would not. They know how to seek understanding, focus on the opportunity and take action so that when the going gets tough, they will play like champions.

Rick Jensen, Ph.D., is a nationally renowned performance consultant in the worlds of sports and business. His clients include more than 50 touring pros on the PGA, LPGA and Champions tours. In the tennis circuit, his clients include winners of all four Grand Slams. In the world of business, he consults with Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Old Mutual, Wells Fargo, UBS, Grubb & Ellis, Colliers International, ADP and Nike. He has been featured on ABC, ESPN, CNN and the Golf Channel and is also a contributing writer for Golf Magazine and Golf Digest. For additional information, go to www.drrickjensen.com.