Guest Blog from Lena Rizkallah of Mosaic Consulting

The results of November’s tumultuous mid-term elections are in: for the third time in four years, a significant change has taken over Congress.  The Republicans took back the majority in the House while the Democrats maintained their lead in the Senate, albeit by a slim margin.  Overwhelmingly, the shift among voters resulted from the state of the economy, job losses and an uncertain future.

One thing is clear: the election results demonstrated what is most on the minds of Americans today, and that is the state of the economy.  It’s critical then to keep this in mind when meeting with your clients and prospects (because it’s clearly on their minds too).  They may be tired of talking about the slow economic recover and may be tired of hearing about it, but that’s because they’re ready to see results.  Are your clients and prospects still looking to you to help them as the economy continues to recover, or are they too looking to shift the balance in power and seek advice elsewhere?

It is in the best interests not only of the country but also for the future of our political leaders to make economic recovery the number one priority.  Not the repeal of the health care bill.  Not the pushing forward of a cap and trade bill.  Not a prolonged dissection of the Dodd-Frank Bill. And, seriously, the US can wait on whether to legalize marijuana or not.

That’s not to say that these issues are not relevant, and they certainly should be given their fair turn in debate in Congress.  But for now, let’s focus on the real issues at hand: setting policies into place that would lead to an economic recovery and long-term economic growth; creating incentives to encourage job creation; providing small business incentives; and for Pete’s sake, let’s make some decisions on where taxes are headed already!

President Obama has a tough road ahead of him.  Now that the Republicans are back in town, along with some Tea Partiers, it will be more challenging for him to push through his agenda.  In fact, the elections will probably cause him to scale back his ambitious agenda and result in a more conciliatory approach.  In his speech last Wednesday, President Obama indicated that he welcomes collaboration and bipartisanship to take shape in the next few years.  But judging from the squabbles of the past two years, it’s unclear whether either party will actually ‘play nice.’

Hopefully, with more clarity on income, investment and estate tax rates and a focus on the economy, Americans may finally leave the land of uncertainty and return to the land of prosperity.  It is important to address these concerns directly with your clients and prospects.  Be the one they can trust to get them back on track.  Lead them out of the current turmoil and you will have a wealth of happy clients–which could result in fantastic referrals and new clients too!