There is no question that these days are unprecedented in your career. Even the old-timers would concede that we haven't seen a downturn so steep or clients so shaken—financially and emotionally—as we've seen this time. Conditions like these have rattled everyone. Neighbors who once sought you out to get your stock ideas, now corner you to vent about bailouts, bonuses and bank balance sheets.

The question is: After you acknowledge that the future will be different from the past, what do you do next?

While some advisors are paralyzed by inertia, others are working overtime: reading, calling and bringing perspectives to their clients. If advisors don't move, their clients surely will. "I finally had to pull my account in March," one client told me. "I kept waiting for my advisor to call after the market collapse, but he never did."

This is a defining moment in your interactions with clients. You know that your clients need you and they need to hear from you. If they aren't ready to discuss making portfolio changes, shift your focus to other financial concerns. If your clients are business owners, how is the downturn affecting their operations and what are the issues that keep them awake at night? Reach out to help your clients succeed in ways that are unique to their businesses. Why not refer a management consultant to business owners who are facing tough times? Your clients may not be ready to act, but these are the sort of activities that strengthen your relationships and inspire them to do business with you whether now or in the future.

Substantial changes in the business climate call for action. The four Ps of the marketing process provide the framework for you to review every aspect of your business: From the products you offer, to your pricing, promotion and the array of your personnel; put everything on the table. Make the requisite modifications to your business plan to account for current conditions and the leaner times that await us. Everyone is trying to do more with less. Can you reconfigure your working relationship to benefit a client? Economize, and remember your clients are prone to economizing, too. If you replace a client's investment manager with a passive ETF position, why not pass along the savings to the client?

Survival depends on taking a long-term perspective. Demonstrate your confidence to your employees, clients and business partners. Tough times are when leadership can be solidified. A friend recently told me how Jimmy Bradford, head of J.C. Bradford, positioned his firm during the Great Depression. Toward the end of the 1930s, when the Depression roared back for a second wave, Bradford recognized one thing: Clients needed to hear from their brokers. "Go sit with your clients," he told them, and out they went, into their homes and offices, talking to clients about their families, their interests, their lives. By 1942, the market had recovered and J.C. Bradford had too. The 1940s was an explosive decade for the firm-it ramped up its revenues, hired reps and opened offices.

Having the courage to step outside your comfort zone and make changes to your business, your outlook, your service model and your marketing strategy are steps on the road to gaining market share and ensuring your business survival.

Some advisors are leading the charge, anticipating that they will have regained their footing with clients by the time these customers are ready to resume investing. These advisors are getting out from under their desks and into their communities.

And when they do, they will win assets from departing advisors who waited for the bear market to run its course and expected clients to be there waiting to welcome them back, instead of taking charge of their business during the tough times.

This period will be remembered as the most challenging business environment of our careers. But we need to be ready for the inevitable turnaround.

GERRI LEDER is an industry marketing consultant. She can be reached at leder@ledermark.com.