diff --git a/salt/client/__init__.py b/salt/client/__init__.py
index 9d16b0fd4516..e634f37c6ef3 100644
--- a/salt/client/__init__.py
+++ b/salt/client/__init__.py
@@ -1770,9 +1770,13 @@ def pub(self,
             payload = channel.send(payload_kwargs, timeout=timeout)
         except SaltReqTimeoutError:
             raise SaltReqTimeoutError(
-                'Salt request timed out. The master is not responding. '
-                'If this error persists after verifying the master is up, '
-                'worker_threads may need to be increased.'
+                'Salt request timed out. The master is not responding. You '
+                'may need to run your command with `--async` in order to '
+                'bypass the congested event bus. With `--async`, the CLI tool '
+                'will print the job id (jid) and exit immediately without '
+                'listening for responses. You can then use '
+                '`salt-run jobs.lookup_jid` to look up the results of the job '
+                'in the job cache later.'
             )
 
         if not payload:
@@ -1875,9 +1879,13 @@ def pub_async(self,
             payload = yield channel.send(payload_kwargs, timeout=timeout)
         except SaltReqTimeoutError:
             raise SaltReqTimeoutError(
-                'Salt request timed out. The master is not responding. '
-                'If this error persists after verifying the master is up, '
-                'worker_threads may need to be increased.'
+                'Salt request timed out. The master is not responding. You '
+                'may need to run your command with `--async` in order to '
+                'bypass the congested event bus. With `--async`, the CLI tool '
+                'will print the job id (jid) and exit immediately without '
+                'listening for responses. You can then use '
+                '`salt-run jobs.lookup_jid` to look up the results of the job '
+                'in the job cache later.'
             )
 
         if not payload: