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Should you take notes in a financial planning meeting?

Note taking affect a clients ability to think clearly?

What is the right approach to taking notes in a financial planning meeting?

This is a question that often comes up in my coaching programmes with financial planners.

So, let’s take a closer look.

Clearly, an essential aspect of a client relationship is the gathering and recording of all the relevant information to give sound advice and also creating an audit trail.

Yet it’s useful to be aware that note taking can also impact the quality of a meeting.

Note taking can distract the client

A while back I had booked an initial discovery conversation with a business coach. So, instead of being the coach I was the potential client.

I appreciate that coaching and financial planning have differences but a deeper conversation with a financial planning client requires precisely the same kind of environment as a coaching conversation.

Your client needs:

*To feel comfortable to open up and share personal thoughts and information.

*Time and space to reflect and think.

*To know that you are listening to them without distraction.

*To feel you are completely focused on them.

So, I was in this conversation with the coach and whilst I was speaking he was also taking copious notes.

My experience of this was that I found it very distracting. So much so that it interrupted my flow of thought and the conversation became disjointed at times.

Ultimately, I did not enjoy the meeting and got little from it.

This made me realise how the quality of our attention will impact the other person’s ability to think clearly. There is something about being very present with someone that improves the quality of their thinking.

If you are taking a lot of notes your attention can easily be compromised. You will miss often vital elements of what someone is trying to communicate.

How can you remember important information?

The concern is that if you listen without taking notes you might forget important points and then won’t have the information you need.

This is a legitimate concern but there are workarounds that many advisers are using successfully.

*Some advisers record meetings and listen back afterwards (or the para-planner listens back). This leaves you free to fully engage in the conversation. It goes without saying that you must get permission to record a meeting but I have never heard of a client refusing this.

*If you want to take notes in a financial planning meeting then only take a small amount, such as noting key words. Again, it is important to ask your client if they are ok with this and explain why you are doing it. These brief notes can act as prompts for anything you want to clarify with your client later.

*You can make your notes immediately following a client meeting. In this way the information is still fresh in your mind. Some advisers then send a summary to their client and ask them to confirm that the information is complete.

*If you are conducting meetings on Zoom or other platforms the AI facility can summarise the meeting for you very accurately.

There is no universally right way

The main point is that you find a way that works for you and that allows your quality of attention for your client to be extremely high.

Ultimately, this leads to better relationships and improved outcomes for both you and your client.

PS. To read more about meeting levels and how our state of mind impacts clients – click here.

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John Dashfield spent 14 years as a self-employed adviser. Since 2006 he has been a coach, mentor and author helping advisers create transformations in their business and personal lives.

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John Dashfield spent 14 years as a self-employed adviser. Since 2006 he has been a coach, mentor and author helping advisers create transformations in their business and personal lives.

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