June 2, 2025, by Helen Yang, CFA, Founder & CEO | Andes Risk

3 ways great advisors use downturns to build stronger relationships

Volatile markets tend to separate good advisors from great ones—not by who delivers the highest returns, but by who provides the clearest guidance, the calmest voice, and the deepest understanding of their clients.

When markets dip, emotions spike. And when emotions spike, so does client churn—unless advisors take the right steps to engage, educate, and retain.

Here’s the truth: volatility isn’t just a challenge—it’s an opportunity. An opportunity to earn trust, show leadership, and demonstrate why you’re worth every basis point.

Here are three powerful ways you can turn uncertainty into loyalty—and how Andes Risk helps you do it smarter.

1. Proactively Revisit the Plan Before Clients Panic

When headlines get scary, clients often forget the strategy you built together. Their instinct is to act, not to wait. And if they don’t hear from you first, they may take action on their own—or seek advice elsewhere.

The best advisors don’t wait for the phone to ring. They reach out before fear sets in. But not just to check in—they revisit the client’s goals, time horizon, and risk profile in the context of what’s happening now.

How Andes Risk Helps:

With Andes, you can instantly access a client’s behavioral profile—including risk tolerance, capacity, perception, and composure—so you can tailor the conversation to their current mindset. Need to remind them of their long-term plan? Generate a personalized Investment Policy Statement (IPS) with one click and use it to re-anchor the discussion around big-picture goals.

2. Lead with Empathy, Coach with Confidence

Clients aren’t just experiencing market volatility—they’re experiencing emotional volatility. Some may be trend followers, chasing performance. Others may freeze when the market falls. A few may even see opportunity in chaos.

But here’s the key: not all clients need the same message.

That’s where many advisors go wrong. They offer the same talking points to everyone. The best advisors? They personalize their communication—knowing who needs reassurance, who needs education, and who needs to be coached toward action.

How Andes Risk Helps:

Our platform helps you identify whether a client is a passive investor, contrarian, or trend follower, and provides insight into their behavioral biases—like loss aversion or overconfidence. This lets you communicate with empathy and relevance, so clients feel truly understood—and more likely to stay the course.

3. Reinforce the Value of Advice—Not Just the Portfolio

In moments of panic, clients don’t just want to know if their portfolio is down 8% or 10%—they want to know: Am I going to be okay?

This is your moment to reinforce the value of your advice, not just your asset allocation model. Show them that what you’re offering isn’t just investment selection—it’s behavioral guidance, emotional coaching, and long-term alignment.

That’s what builds loyalty.

How Andes Risk Helps:

Use Andes Risk to visualize portfolio options in a way clients can understand and feel confident in. Instead of overwhelming them with performance data, you can walk through side-by-side scenarios based on both risk and time horizon—so clients see that their strategy still makes sense, even when the market doesn’t.

Volatility doesn’t have to cost you clients—it can actually strengthen your relationships and highlight your true value.

Advisors who proactively coach, personalize communication, and lead with behavioral insight don’t just survive uncertain markets—they grow through them.

Andes Risk is built to help you do just that.

With tools for behavioral profiling, IPS generation, proposal customization, and client communication, you can make volatility your competitive edge—not a threat.

See how Andes Risk helps top advisors build loyalty in any market. Get a demo >