The economic environment has some clients on edge, which means their financial advisors are on edge. This can feel like teetering on the precipice when clients are, at turns, resistant to your recommendations, holding back referrals or not on board with the fees they're paying.

How can you best address their skittishness so you can get back in the position of driving their investment behavior? If your clients are close to retirement, they are likely to be extremely nervous as they have a lot of ground to gain to counter their recent reversals of fortune. Retirement dates are being delayed as real uncertainties arise: When will I be able to retire? How can I replace earned income with retirement income?

In the book "The Number: A Completely Different Way to Think About the Rest of Your Life," former Esquire editor Lee Eisenberg wrote about his own retirement worries and those shared by aging baby boomers. He noticed how people calculate their own number with the underlying question: How much would it take before I can stop working?

This worry is such a preoccupation of baby boomer clients that they often throw their financial advisor overboard within five years of retirement. Any number of factors enters into that decision.

But, we can assume as they wind down their peak earning years, they are thinking there is neither enough money nor time to spare. How can you guarantee that you won't be among those advisors they leave?

Reading Eisenberg's book got me thinking about that. I observed the three types of advisors we all know: the salesman, the architect and the thought leader. All three advisor types care deeply about their clients and their business.

The salesman is a "people person" who never meets a client objection he can't counter. He makes a call list and doesn't leave the office without hitting that number of calls. The formula has always worked before.

Then there's the architect, who is thinking strategically about the practice and the client base. As a builder, he or she deepens client relationships and broadens the business mix by evaluating firm capabilities and new offerings. The architect understands that breadth will bind the client to the advisor and fulfill more of the customer's financial needs.

Finally, meet the thought leader: the advisor who learns and grows over a long career and reaches a new level of professional standing by applying these lessons every day. Almost every branch office has one. The thought leader is the one that other advisors turn to when they want a second opinion on an investment or a gut check on matters of ethics or fairness. Chances are, their clients turn to them in the same way.

Qualities of each advisor type are found in all of us. Which one defines you the most? The least? Who are the thought leaders in your office? They are not always the oldest advisors nor are they necessarily number-one producers. They seem to be thoughtful about their business, continuously evaluate new developments and information, and are ready to offer fresh insights grounded in fact. What other qualities do they possess?

Those who are viewed as thought leaders have clients who sit up and take notice of their recommendations.

Maybe it is time to return to basics. Step up the research preparation prior to making recommendations. Switch out of sales mode and into one of inquiry. Step back to review a client's pending life events and arrange time with them to sort things out.

Do you need to channel your inner architect? Architects recognize that by building a successful and comprehensive relationship with clients, they have a relationship that transcends bad markets.

In short, if you feel like a sales person, or if your clients treat you like one, it might be time to take a lesson from the thought leaders and the architects. For starters, talk to your pre-retiree clients about their number.

Gerri Leder is an industry marketing consultant and can be reached at leder@ledermark.com.