As the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) slid into bear territory late last week, the Austin, Texas offices of Capital Financial Group didn't see much activity in terms of client calls, says Senior Investment Advisor Jerry McIlhon.

Thanks to constant dialogue, McIlhon's affluent clients are well schooled in their own investment strategies. Also, McIlhon has his clients focused on the S&P 500, not the DJIA.

"It's much more representative, from year to year, of the sectors in the economy that do well," says McIlhon.

This week McIlhon is on the phone with his clients and they're discussing how to handle market turmoil.

Should the S&P 500 see its index value reach below 1273, then there would be consideration for selling certain holdings in the consumer and technology space, he says.

But overall, the firm takes an international approach to investing with a concentration on commodities and currencies and alternative energy. McIlhon likes to utilize ETFs to help clients do so.

"I went into great detail about how our investment philosophy, to a great degree, insulates us from many of the problems faced by an investor with a U.S. mutual fund approach," said McIlhon.

Out in Long Beach California, Veronica Aaron, regional vice president, Householder Group, is also reaching out to clients.

"Being proactive is the most important thing in my practice," she says. "I'm calling them and just reassuring them. I don't want them to play into an emotional space."

In addition to reviewing the performance of mutual fund managers, Aaron has her clients well diversified, including living benefit programs such as annuities and non-traded real estate investment trusts.

When Aaron contacted her clients during the recent volatile market period, the conversation focused around two key points: The quality of their investments and the long term nature of investing.

She reports that few of her clients, many of which are retirees, have asked for changes towards bonds or money market accounts.

"I get right to the point and ask them, if it gets worse, can you sleep at night?"

In fact, her calls since the market slide were a bit of a replay for her clients.

"Back in March, I called many of my clients to tell l them 'it could become bad summer' and we reviewed their investment strategy," she says.

So when Aaron placed her calls over this past weekend she was able to say, "remember we talked about how the summer could be very bad?"