Are you developing resilient clients?

How wide is your client influence gap?

We're talking about the gap between the actual influence you have over your clients' lives and what you should have.

In my experience, advisors who have focused on developing trusting and loyal relationships with clients are the best. Top advisors oversee and guide client transformations. In other words, they help clients transform themselves from where they are today to where they want to be.

And while guiding this transformation is the expected goal, talking about it can sometimes make people uncomfortable. And that's a good thing. Top advisors recognize that most clients (due to unsatisfactory past client experiences) are not ready for the ups and downs that their transformation will bring. So, what do advisors do to prepare clients for such an experience? They "train" clients to be resilient.

Resilient clients, through their advisor's leadership, have developed a set of qualities that help them thrive despite fears about an uncertain future, market risks, and other potential dangers.

With these ingrained qualities, the resilient client becomes a life-long client, requires less maintenance, has the highest customer satisfaction levels, and ultimately becomes an advocate who will refer business to you automatically. Resilient Clients are empowered believers in your way of doing business.

Now that's influence. That influence translates into loyalty, trust, and confidence.

Here are seven activities you can implement to create the resilient client:

Be empathetic

Put yourself in your client's shoes and see the world through their "television set." You'll listen to their stories through their filter.

Learn, then influence

With an unfiltered message, the magic happens when you take the key elements of what you've heard and model a story or solution that will help influence their next move.

Cut out negative communication

People are generally negative. They've allowed their world to be framed by other people's television sets: the media, some people they associate with, and so on.

This is a terrific opportunity to demonstrate that not only is negative thinking unproductive, but it has also created "tunnel vision" when it comes to solving problems. Change their script whenever they use negative language – and watch the immediate change in how they visualize their future and subsequently act on it.

Promote self-discipline and self-worth

Self-worth is a by-product of self-discipline. As a financial advisor, one of your most significant roles is to act as a role model for disciplined behavior. This process begins with ensuring that you help clients reach their own conclusions, with you as the guiding hand.

Set realistic expectations and goals

Becoming more knowledgeable about how your clients handle problems and how they view the world will help you calibrate their expectations accordingly. The more you can learn about their ability to be consistent, adapt, think positively, and handle stress, the more you'll be able to create a workable wealth management plan. You’ll also have better information on how to develop your client service process for each client.

Help them see mistakes as positive learning experiences

It's safe to say that over the last few years, all kinds of “powers that be” have made mistakes in every aspect of our lives. While some of these mistakes have had negative global repercussions, the world seems to move on and make progress.

There is a lesson here. Resilient clients have learned that life's ups and downs bring disappointments and successes.

Empower clients to overcome obstacles

Resilient clients believe they are the masters of their future because they understand the key elements of their past. In helping resilient clients determine their unique future, advisors identify obstacles that will get in the way. Then, side-by-side, they set in place strategies to overcome those obstacles. Resilient clients take back control of their lives – they control their future instead of reacting to the present.

It takes a special effort to redirect a client toward a more positive, satisfying, productive, and successful life. But when you've reached this point with clients, celebrate it.

Not only will you have improved the lives of your clients and their future generations, but you'll also have created a community of solid, loyal clients for life.

Jeff Thorsteinson is an industry veteran with more than three decades of professional experience. A former financial advisor, he helped build an award-winning online custodial platform and TAMP.