A number of firms are using mind maps as a client education tool. For example, Mark Farrell, a CFP and director of advanced planning at McLean Asset Management Corp., says: "We use mind mapping during the initial client meeting, and our clients love it." Farrell's firm gathers a client's financial data, asks about other advisors, finds out what forms of communication the client prefers, and inquires about the client's interests, values, objectives and family relationships. The firm then presents this information in the form of a mind map to a client to confirm that all the information is correct. Although some of these mind maps can be quite detailed and complex, the vital information all fits on a single sheet of paper. Bradley Bofford, a CLU and ChFC and a managing partner at Financial Principles LLC, does something similar. He "essentially maps out the client's entire financial life," he says, into a mind map he calls "The Total Client Profile." "Clients have found this to be very helpful and eye opening," he says.
Jamie Milne, a CFP and CDFA at Milne Financial Planning, uses mind maps to take notes during client meetings. Janet Tyler Johnson, a CFP licensee at JATAJ Wealth Advisors Network, suggests that note-taking may be the best application of mind mapping for the typical advisor. "Mind mapping is a better method of capturing and retaining information than traditional linear note-taking," she says. "Mind mapping leads to better retention."
Johnson, perhaps the most advanced proponent of mind mapping in the financial planning community, uses the three questions from George Kinder's book The Seven Stages of Money Maturity to create an interactive coaching session for clients using mind maps: These questions are: 1) You win $100 million in the lottery. What would you do with the money? What would you change in your life? What would you do differently? 2) If you knew you had only five years left to live, what would you change in your life? 3) If you found you had only 24 hours left to live, what would you regret not having done, regret not having had, or regret not having been in your life? As you quickly find out, mapping responses to these questions helps individuals arrive at their core values. According to Johnson, the results are often the same whether you use the traditional method or the map, but the mind mapping route gets you there more rapidly, and it makes the exercise more comfortable for the client.
Some firms use mind maps to educate clients about the financial planning process. For example, Holly Gillian Kindel, the director of financial planning at Mosaic Financial Partners Inc., showed me just such a map her firm had created. Mosaic uses this to help clients understand the process and the benefits that it provides. In addition to mapping client data, as Farrell does, Don Patrick, a managing director at Integrated Financial Group, uses mind maps to illustrate estate plans and estate planning concepts to clients.
Mind maps are also being used as part of the customer service process. Gloria Smith, a CFP with Catalyst Wealth Management, has mapped out the annual client review process in detail, which helps her deliver consistent service to all of her clients. Steve Bell, CFP of Steve Bell Financial Planning, uses a mind map for new clients to illustrate and help facilitate the account transfer process.
Others use mind maps to solve personal or business problems. Gary P. Gardner, CFP of LifeWealth Advisors, shared with me his unique approach to mind mapping, which he has termed "strategic mapping.
"Every procedure in our office is mind mapped," Gardner says. "Some of the maps have over 150 steps. Since procedures change over time, we allow employees to edit the procedural maps, but we keep track of who edits what, and the edits are reviewed to ensure accuracy and consistency."
Building on principles that he learned from Dan Sullivan's Strategic Coach Program, Gardner starts with an objective. He then identifies and maps all the obstacles that prevent him from reaching the objective. This allows him to rapidly identify whatever is standing between him and completion of his goal. Next, for each obstacle, action steps are mapped to overcome the obstacle. What results is a road map for successfully reaching his objective. "Strategic mapping is a breakthrough that has greatly enhanced my productivity" he says.
Having mastered the technique for his office and himself, Gardner now has clients use it too, when appropriate. One challenge many firms face now is creating work flows that they can program into their CRM software in order to automate multi-action tasks such as establishing new client relationships, annual reviews, and the like. Johnson suggests that you use mind maps to visualize the work flows before entering them into your CRM software. "Many work flows are not linear, and you are not going to get them right on the first try," she says. The more complex the process, the more helpful mind mapping software is likely to be.
Mind maps are ideal for staff meetings and brainstorming sessions. Ideas can flow freely during a conversation, and those taking notes can capture the main thoughts and ideas. Once these are recorded, the focus can shift to one or more of the ideas, and participants can drill down to fill in the details. Mind maps also work well for constructing organizational charts, job descriptions, internal to-do lists, client to-do lists and much more. In addition, mind maps seem appropriate for the construction and maintenance of manuals, including the procedure manual, the corporate benefits manual, the compliance manual and the disaster recovery manual.
So what about software? According to an informal and unscientific survey I performed, it appears that MindManager Pro from Mindjet LLC is the most popular mind mapping software among planners. The current version of the application, MindManager Pro 7.0, is compatible with both Windows XP and Windows Vista. Mindjet also offers a "lite" Windows version and a Mac version.