The pandemic has dramatically impacted just about all professional advisors from lawyers to accountants and from wealth managers to bankers. There is the one-two punch of the disease and the economic shutdown. A further complication is the emotional strain so many people are feeling because of the crisis.

Without question, it is important for all of us to stay healthy or strive to get healthy. The same goes for the people we care about—and everyone else. Also, of high priority for most professionals is the survival of their practices. Social distancing and the economic turmoil is proving very problematic—and sometimes disastrous—for some professionals.

According to Frank Carone, executive partner at Abrams Fensterman and co-author of Everyone Wins! How You Can Enhance and Optimize Business Relationships Just Like

Ultra-Wealthy Entrepreneurs,“Positively connecting with other professionals is a very powerful way to potentially help them deal with the stresses and difficulties they are experiencing on a personal and professional level. By building stronger relationships, you’re helping other professionals adjust to these difficult times. You can also show them ways to leverage their practices and expertise—and their relationships—so they can become very successful as the crisis starts to abate.”

At a time when there is a great deal of political, economic and social conflict, being able to move beyond the antagonism and look for ways to benefit others can be incredibly beneficial.

By focusing on determining how you can help other professionals excel no matter what the circumstances, you’re strengthening your relationships. Consequently, the people you help are usually going to be strongly inclined to help you (when you show them how). The way some of the most accomplished ultra-wealthy entrepreneurs do this is by:

• Understanding their self-interests. This way they can see opportunities that might be advantageous for themselves. But, their self-interests only come into play after they have developed strong relationships with their business associates.
• Understand the self-interests of their business relationships. By knowing what’s most important and most pressing to other people, this segment of ultra-wealthy entrepreneurs are able to determine what they can do to help. This is the driving force behind the Everyone Wins Process.
• Identifying ways to help other people attain their self-interests. With a little insight and sometimes some ingenuity, these ultra-wealthy entrepreneurs regularly find ways to help enable their business associates achieve their agendas.

“When professionals concentrate on enhancing their relationships with, not only, other professionals, but clients, prospects and the people at their firms, they are providing a social good that also regularly translates into more business for everyone,” says Carone. “By taking this approach, you’re seriously helping other people and you’re—in the worst case—setting the stage for great success down the line.”

Russ Alan Prince, president of R.A. Prince & Associates, is a consultant to family offices, the ultra-wealthy and select professionals.