Calm Panic in 5 Steps
Panic is rampant, again! Keep reading for five steps to calm panic. Then download articles for more practical steps to lead productive client conversations.
1. Be Ready for Stupid
Fear overwhelms the rational centers of the brain. It literally makes humans stupid. It’s not your clients’ fault. They can’t think straight when filled with anxiety.
When clients are operating out of fear, they will have a much harder time:
- Understanding what you say
- Remembering what you said
- Following up on recommendations
Get ready for this reality. It’ll be much less frustrating, when you’re prepared to do lots of repeating and reminding.
2. Face Emotion First
When emotions are high talking rationally doesn’t work. Emotion does not:
- Care about reason
- Respond to objectivity
- Calm down with rational discussion
The only way around emotion is to face it head on. Deal with the emotion, first!
3. Get it Out, ALL Out
Pent up fears run the brain until they are purged out. Emotional release is the path to reason. Here’s how:
- Ask emotion focused questions
- Ask more open-ended questions (get it all out)
- Acknowledge, reflect & summarize what you hear (Caution: do NOT agree to a falsehood)
- Normalize the feelings
Keep going until they’ve vented all the fears and worries.
4. Don't Be Fooled By Anger
Anger is a protective shield against emotional pain. Don’t be fooled by any anger that comes out. The source is something deeper than the anger, most likely anxiety. When you get anger:
- Acknowledge the feelings
- Ask more open-ended questions to uncover more
- Acknowledge, reflect & summarize what you hear (Caution: do NOT agree to a falsehood)
- Normalize the feelings
Keep going until they’ve vented all the anger and revealed the source anxieties. Yes, you are doing more venting of feelings, as needed. The goal is to get past the anger to uncover fears beneath. Otherwise, you’re stuck with rage, and that is uglier than panic.
5. Attempt to Reason - Maybe
Only after you’ve flushed out all the toxic panic, attempt a shift to reason. By now, you may want to give up. All this emotion? Do I have to roll around in all this emotion? Yes, really! People don’t like to appear “out of control” or “crazy”. They’re not likely to reveal how afraid they are, at first.
That’s the danger. Hidden fears will control the client far more than you expect. You can talk reason at them, and they may look like they are agreeing. But, if not resolved, fear will rule over reason. Then, you have to start all over. Sound familiar?
After the fears are completely flushed out, you can try to shift to reason. You’ll notice the moment when clients are looking less tense. The process of venting emotion and having someone normalize it, is very relieving. You’ll notice it in the body language.
Start to Reason...IF They are Ready
These five steps focus on releasing the fear, the first crucial step. More tips and next steps can be found in my articles from Journal of Financial Planning.
Even better, contact me about your specific situation. Because.……if we accidentally reinforce the fears rather than releasing them, the whole thing will really blow up!
Download full articles from Journal of Financial Planning:
