One thing many advisors can’t help but notice is how bad many clients are at making decisions.

This can be for any number of reasons: Maybe the client doesn’t care enough about the fine details of their options, maybe they get overwhelmed by the information available to them, or maybe they just can’t separate the emotion from the decision.

Regardless of why, that’s where behavioral coaching comes in—that is, decision-making support to help clients avoid common behavioral pitfalls. In terms of alpha, this is one of the most valuable services an advisor offers their clients, adding somewhere between 100 and 200 basis points. Yet, research on the topic has found clients don’t necessarily see behavioral coaching as valuable when asked to rank it alongside other advisor attributes.

Or do they?

In our recent work on what investors value in working with an advisor, we examined the results of three different methodologies across four studies. In three of the four studies, we found that items associated with behavioral coaching actually surfaced as one of the most valuable things to investors—they may just not define it as “behavioral coaching.”

Why Clients Don’t Say They Value Behavioral Coaching

For one, clients might not know what behavioral coaching even is. After all, “behavioral coaching” is a technical term many likely haven’t encountered in their daily lives.

We saw evidence of this in our findings. Often, people were able to identify behavioral coaching as something they valued either by using their own words to describe what they liked or by seeing an example of what behavioral coaching looks like. For example, clients said they appreciated having an advisor who could do any number of things like keeping their behavior in check during market volatility, explaining complex financial topics to them, and serving as a sounding board during the decision-making process. All these services are behavioral coaching, but those aren’t the words clients use to capture these offerings.

Second, it can involve admitting wrongdoing. We want to look good to others and ourselves; admitting that we need help with our behavior is not something most people are keen on vocalizing—especially when it comes to something important like money. In our findings, we saw some evidence that people were more responsive to the idea of behavioral coaching when they felt like it was the product of a collaboration between them and their advisor, instead of just their advisor leading them by the hand.

This reveals an interesting paradox for advisors: Behavioral coaching is both objectively and subjectively valuable, but clients may feel chafed at the suggestion that their behavior is a problem.

Fortunately, our findings reveal ways forward for advisors who want to elevate the value they bring as behavioral coaches without alienating clients.

Client-Friendly Ways to Provide Behavioral Coaching

For Prospective Clients

Advisors should ensure they broach behavioral coaching in a conscientious manner. Whether or not clients call it by name, behavioral coaching is one of the most common reasons they hire an advisor, so it’s important to advertise this skill to clients.

Advisors can do so in a few ways. For one, they can use wordings that have been found to be less controversial to clients. This could mean explaining how you help clients navigate “common behavioral pitfalls” or serve as a “sounding board” for clients when they make decisions.

You can also illustrate this skill for clients. One way to do this is to find places in testimonials where your clients highlight how you have made it easier for them to make decisions. Another way to do this is through examples, such as illustrating how you helped a client realign with their goals when they were tempted to walk away from their plan and the results that followed.

For Existing Clients

You want to ensure you are showing the value of your behavioral coaching, as opposed to telling them (like you might do with prospective clients).

This requires evaluating your practices and interactions with clients and identifying places where you can better provide behavioral coaching. For example, how do you explain different investment options to clients? Do you give them stacks of literature on each or launch into a long-winded explanation? If so, you might consider developing a decision support tool. These can be as simple as creating a table and identifying key features your clients may care about and how their options stack up on these features.

Another place you may consider beefing up your behavioral coaching is in helping clients prepare for volatility. Many people feel compelled to fiddle with their finances when volatility hits, and they don’t always consult with their advisor before doing so.

Therefore, you may take the time to develop contingency plans for them based on negative events. If something bad happens, what should they do? By establishing the action ahead of time (say, calling their advisor), you can help them commit to good decisions when it’s easy to do so. That means when things go awry, they just have to follow through with the plan—no thinking needed.

Such plans can have a high impact for clients because it will provide them peace of mind when they need it the most.

Don’t Be Scared Away From Behavioral Coaching

When asked directly, clients may make it seem like “behavioral coaching” is not a priority. But when clients explain what they value in an advisor, it often comes to the top of the list. That’s why enhancing your behavioral coaching skills is key to helping you better serve your clients.