“Talking notes” sounds like a #throwback to a high school classroom, where you scribbled away frantically while the teacher lectured on and on.
You didn’t like it back in then, you don’t like it now. And we get it.
I mean, who likes to hang on a person’s lips 🤷♀️, especially if you are having a long-winded verbose conversation.
That's why in this blog, I will attempt to show how really, really good note-taking can benefit your deals, and the right way to do it.
Already sounds cooler than school, right?
In this article:
Seriously, if you are scribbling those lines just for the sake of it, let us warn you beforehand: bad notes make it harder to close deals.
Take notes for yours, your team’s and your client’s sake: Life just throws more and more stuff at you and you can’t hold everything in your head. Take, for instance, it’s the middle of the month and the sales target is looming over your head. You look at your prospect list whom you approached earlier this month. Without sales call notes, you’ll surely start mixing up who’s price-sensitive and who needs more follow-up. At this point, scribblings from your sales notes can be the silver bullet — if you know what to say and how to say it, you'll win your deals. Why lose out on such seemingly unimportant but crucial details?
If you don’t need it today, it’ll also help in the future. Sales notes improve the sales process for your company and can spark additional ideas and help the whole team create better pitch decks.
Thus, just by taking strong sales notes you can improve collaboration, boost productivity—and even increase sales revenue.
There’s another giant reason taking notes is non-negotiable: clients forget! However, if you have it written black and white in your sales note, you can always be the one they can fall back on –– and that’s definitely a huge browny point in terms of service.
Now onto the secret sauce of effective note-taking.
To ensure you don’t waste your precious time, you must develop effective note-taking practices. The trick is to be selective in what should be there in your sales notes.
Here are 5 things to include in your sales notes template – during or after a sales call – to ensure that you have everything required for closing deals.
Without taking notes, both parties are likely to forget what they committed to do. So, take notes of what was promised, who promised it, and when it’s supposed to be done.
Pro-tip: Add it to your calendar immediately: When you or your prospect decides on a date, sync it to your calendar and set it as a reminder. This way, even if you don’t look at your notes every day, you’ll know when the follow-up action is due and never miss a deadline. After all, research shows that 55% of consumers are willing to pay more for a guaranteed good experience.
Pro-tip: Personalize your notes. Make concise notes of the conversation. But don’t forget to take note of personal connections or interesting facts that can help you or another rep establish a better relationship with the prospect. Did they mention an upcoming vacation? Hobby? Favourite sport? These little things can make all the difference.
Remember, in sales, you're not just selling. You're constantly building relationships too, so treat every conversation as if they're with someone whose relationship you truly value. (You do value them, don't you?)
So that you remember all these things, we’ve added a Free Sales Notes Template that you can download and start right away!.
Record the meeting, conference session or keynote speech to make sure you don't forget what was said and exactly how it was said later on.
Earn your spot in the sales hall of fame with our Sales Call - From Good to Great bundle, or learn how Salestrail can help your remote team do better sales calls.
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