Samantha Russell: 5 Ways to Show, Not Tell, What’s Happening in the Market

This article originally appeared on ThinkAdvisor on October 13th, 2022, and can be found here.

As interest rates continue to rise, inflation lingers and a recession has either started already or is expected to come soon, investors continue to be concerned about the market downturn and advisors should be attempting to ease the concerns of their clients, according to Samantha Russell, the chief evangelist at FMG Suite and Twenty Over Ten.

In a recent tweet, she pointed to a common philosophy: “When stocks go down, communication from your financial advisor should go up.”However, many financial advisors don’t know what exactly to say to clients during times of extreme market volatility, she said.

She urged advisors to keep this in mind: “Remember – No one fires their advisor for communicating too much. But they do for not communicating ENOUGH.”

Russell supplied “five talking points (with visuals)” that she said advisors could use to “help clients contextualize and simplify what is happening in the market.”

But she stressed: “Remember … SHOW, don’t tell, to be the most effective in delivering your message. Use charts and visuals (and don’t forget to cite the source) to consistently reframe your expertise and the value you provide.” If they follow these steps, advisors could “turn a market downturn into a marketing upturn,” she said. Here, she said, are five “great examples you can leverage with your clients to get started.”

1. Put ‘this time’ into historical context.

It is crucial that clients understand what has happened in the past when there have been similar downturns, Russell said. Therefore, she urged advisors to place “this time” into the historical context. After all, she added: “Every single bear market has been followed by a bull market.”

2. Don’t try to time the market.

Advisors should stress to their clients that trying to time the market is doomed to fail, she said. Therefore, it’s important for advisors to show their clients what could happen if they do that. Advisors should let their clients see “how large the missed opportunity can be for investors trying to get in and out at just the right time,” Russell said.

3. Help clients remember why they hired you.

This is the perfect time to remind clients why they decided to hire you in the first place instead of a different advisor, according to Russell.

4. Bring awareness to cognitive biases.

It is important for advisors to make their clients aware that they have certain cognitive biases that may hurt them, according to Russell.“It may feel like a roller coaster of emotions,” she wrote, “but it’s going to be okay — the roller coaster goes both ways!”

5. Consider the lens you are viewing data (or headlines) through.

Advisors should also point out to clients that their viewpoint may be flawed, according to Russell.“I’m here to help you stay accountable and on track to your plan by taking the emotion out of sudden decreases,” she added.