Segment: Mutual Funds
Publication date: Thursday, November 29, 2007
# Pages: (35 pages)

Abstract | Table of Contents

During a market decline, advisors are likely to be flooded with client concerns about exposure to the unstable market. While some investors merely seek strategic guidance, others may want to pull their assets out of the market completely. In times like these, advisors need to be prepared to not only calm skeptical clients but also suggest certain products that will help provide income during periods of instability.

Seventy-one percent of MFM-A firms provide advisors with volatility-related materials, with more firms offering advisor-only sales tools than client-ready educational documents. In our review of these materials, we uncovered a few trends regarding tactics used to ease client concerns about market volatility. Fifty-eight percent of firms offering volatility materials use historical events to show that markets often recover after event-driven downturns. Another popular approach, used by 33% of firms, is warning investors against trying to time the market by demonstrating the dangers of missing the market’s best days. Unfortunately, firms aren’t making these materials accessible enough to advisors; only 25% of firms utilize the advisor homepage to promote their offerings.

Subjects

Marketing, cross-selling

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