“If you’re successful in this business, you have good communication skills, but the workshop takes that much further," Bradley said. "We ask, ‘What about your client’s communication skills?’ I teach how to enhance their clients’ communication skills by helping the clients identify what really makes them productive and comfortable, how do they like to be set up in a meeting, what works in a meeting, how to follow up a meeting, and particularly, what happens when they are in high stress. If they can identify that, they can have a conversation about it and know how to access that information from that day forward."

Rust and Moore said that they help their widowed clients identify their most pressing anxiety: fear.

“It’s about fear of the unknown, of making a mistake that will cause them to lose their money. ... They are even fearful of not knowing what they don’t know,’’ Rust said.

“What we know about anyone who has experienced sudden wealth is that they are afraid of losing their money, so for the first two years after the event, we invest their funds very conservatively, across the board. We tell them, 'We have been here before, we understand,'" Moore said. "Ninety-five percent of sudden wealth recipients are much more conservative in those first two years, but after that time, they become comfortable about being personally responsible for being in charge of money that they had not had before. The majority get into more normalized investment plans, and after those first few years, they are more open and communicative."

Bradley, Rust and Moore said women clients tend to be more open to asking questions if they need information and to be open to learning.

“Women admit what they don’t know; men have harder time with it,’’ Rust said.

Since the overwhelming number of spouses who survive are women, what do the advisors make of the research that says widows often change financial advisors when they become single?

“Seventy percent of divorced and widowed women leave their financial advisor within two years,’’ Bradley said. “Clients really need conversations. They need to feel safe, need to have details and big views and to learn how to step back when there is change. It’s really, really stressful—change actually shifts how our bodies work and our brains work. It’s knowing what kind of guidance you can give them without becoming a therapist.’’

“That lack of trust has been an industry issue for a long time. The industry has been accused of pushing product rather than putting the client first. We have to overcome this and we do that by letting our clients know we take responsibility for their financial well-being, that we do operate in a fiduciary role,’’ Rust said.

“We are available to clients seven days a week. Now, a lot of times that will be nighttime email on a Saturday or a Sunday. Surprisingly, one of us is always looking at the email. They know if they have questions on Sunday they will get a response from us and that helps reinforce the trust that we built with them from the get-go,’’ Rust said.