How adapting the way you communicate with your clients can improve long-term outcomes

Being an effective behavioural coach for your clients is not as simple as following an ‘one size fits all’ approach. People are all different, with different views, ways of thinking and personal preferences. Therefore, the ability to communicate effectively requires a deeper understanding of each client’s personality and triggers. 

This is particularly true in volatile markets. Distinguishing between the lower composure or ‘jumpy’ clients and the higher composure or calmer clients enables you identify clients who are more likely to be emotionally distracted by what is happening around them (low composure/jumpy group), and those who are not even noticing the investment opportunities the market volatility is offering (high composure/calm group). 

The Nedgroup Investments behavioural study, which was the largest survey of its kind ever undertaken in Africa, revealed six personality archetypes that people tend to cluster around. These six personality groups can be separated into two broader groups according to their level of composure – measured as someone’s tendency to be emotionally engaged with the short-term. 


These two broad groups have very different needs and preferences in terms of who is in control of investment decisions. ‘Jumpy’ clients will need help staying invested during turbulent times and want to feel that you (their financial planner) are in control and most importantly, calm and confident. Calm clients can benefit from rebalancing during market weakness, as they can more easily stomach buying growth assets in a falling market. They, however, want to feel that they are in control of making their own decisions, using you (the financial planner) as their sounding board. 

The key to communicating with ‘jumpy’ or low composure clients 
When it comes to engaging with clients who fall into the low composure group of personalities (sensitive, skittish, stressed), there are a few practical tools that can make all the difference. 

• First of all, it’s crucial as the financial planner or advisor to model a sense of calm and not feed into the client’s anxiety or unease. 
• Keep information presented to them simple and use infographic-style material rather than overwhelming graphs and charts. We have a collection of engaging, simple sketches by Carl Richards which illustrate the true value an advisor can play here. 
• Avoid showing them new graphs and charts at this stage as they are likely to find it overwhelming. Unless you have shown the client a particular chart at the inception of your relationship, it is probably best to wait until markets are more stable to introduce new information. 

The below table provides some guidance on a more granular level when meeting with lower composure clients:



The key to communicating with ‘calm’ or higher composure clients 
Clients who have the highest composure will likely only feel comfortable with a decision if they feel that they have done all the research themselves. If you want to support their decision-making process, it needs to be done subtly, by improving the decision-making environment, rather than being prescriptive or reducing their freedom to choose. Anything that feels like intervention or assistance risks alienating them. 

Practically, when communicating with this group of clients the below guidelines may be useful: 

• Empower the client to make informed decisions. Use tools on the Nedgroup Investments website like The Big Picture App to allow the client to explore all the possible options. For clients at or close to retirement, platforms such as MRS will also be very useful here. 
• Communicate the importance of using an advisor as an expert ‘sounding board’ and to execute decisions effectively. 

The below table provides some guidance on a more granular level when meeting with higher composure clients:



How do you know which personality group your client(s) fall into? 
Identifying a low composure client or a high composure client can be as simple as asking them how they feel about a story about a client whose portfolio dropped from R 1 million to R 600k in less than 3 months during the 2020 covid-19 crisis. A low composure client will show (extreme) discomfort, while a high-composure client will appear relatively unaffected and may simply respond with a “that’s markets for you!”. 

For clients that are harder to read, we will release a more detailed matrix to use in our next article on this topic. 

In the meantime, to understand more about the six personality archetypes identified by the Nedgroup Investments research, read the full report here. For information on how to access the financial planning tools available on the Nedgroup Investments website or for a copy of the Carl Richards collection of sketches, contact your relationship manager or log into your online profile.