‘But those behind cried “forward!” and those before cried “Back!”‘ Thus wavered the mighty Etruscans in Macaulay’s Keeping of the Bridge, as they stood before the Tiber, savouring the sacking of Rome but dreading the sword of Horatius.Twas ever thus: human beings are driven by fear and greed. Wavering indices are testament to this. We may be tempted to stand back but market turmoil can be a great opportunity for investment advisers.

We read often of surveys suggesting that performance is not the key driver of client satisfaction. Actually, clients want to know that someone is looking after their interests. They also want a Simon Cowell approach to communication: straight talking when things go wrong.

It is when your best ideas have fallen and your investment portfolios are languishing below cost value that it is prime time to pick up the phone and communicate with clients; an opportunity to remind them of their longer term aims and your intentions in achieving them.

Ideally, you would not want to be invested at this time. Clients will know this but will forgive a valiant investment effort far more than they will their being uninvested should markets rise. Change represents opportunity so market turmoil should be used to probe for investment anomalies.

So like the mighty Etruscans, if your clients should waver, stand your ground, re-iterate your strategy, and lead them through it.