JohnnyMac

SMB Account Executive

How do y’all take notes during a call?

Personally, I'm old school and love note books but when it comes to taking note during every client meeting and for product knowledge I've probably filled up at least a dozen this year alone. Then transcribing those back into Sales Force is always a huge hassle.

I talked to some of my co-workers and they all said different things (typed notes on OneNote/Google docs, use pen and paper, or some sort of iPad approach) but wanna get the war rooms take on best way to keep track of all this info.

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37 comments

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Rallier

Politicker

SDR Manager and Consultant

Hubspot, pull up the note, bullet point formatting. Hastily write notes that make no sense. Post call, immediately summarize my notes in a succinct way

ExtremeVibeChecker44

Arsonist

Inside Sales

Am I the only person that actually likes Gong? I take some notes on a call, but I always re-listen to the Gong call before putting together comprehensive notes.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

College ruled notebooks and blue Pilot G2 gel pens.

Tres

Politicker

Account Executive

Ever get crazy and switch to a different color?

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

AS IF!

Tres

Politicker

Account Executive

No green and red for the holidays?

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

I used to do handwritten notes (and still do during face to face meetings) but like you got tired of transcribing.

I've moved to OneNote and it works well for me. I like being able to add folders, images, tables, links, etc.

I also rely a lot on call recordings. I prefer that so I don't have to break my momentum to jot some detail down. Between gong and chorus I prefer the latter.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I like my notebooks too, because the act of physically writing means my memory retains the info better. Then I reorganize the notes as I enter them into SFDC, which further helps me capture data into my own head as I process. I keep getting he notebooks, because the scribbles are in date order, and I can often use them to recapture addition nuance that didn’t make it into the CRM. It’s repetitive, but the process itself is helpful to me.

KB_FarmerType

Opinionated

Strategic Sales

@sunbunny31 Just curious how much time you find yourself getting the notes organized for a 45 min call? I find myself spending sometimes an hour or 2 in post call research or summary so wondering how does your split looks like (context of complex B2B solution sale here )

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Very complex b2b sale here. Organized before the call? If it’s the first call, a fair amount of time to prep - 10-K, news, press releases, and any thing interesting I find, I hand write so I don’t forget (then type into SFDC). If there are specific questions or items I want to be sure to cover, I write those down as well. This may take 1-2 hours. Post call, about the same amount of time, depending on what I heard and who on my team I need to connect with and get either intel or insight from. And then again type back into SFDC. And send my summary to the customer.

KB_FarmerType

Opinionated

Strategic Sales

Sounds about right for me too! Thanks for sharing

1nbatopshotfan

Politicker

Sales

Split between notebooks, Onenote and then in Microsoft teams I you can take meeting notes.

Tres

Politicker

Account Executive

Same here. One bonus of Onenote is that it's very easy to email that page to other people, if you had multiple people from your company on the call that want to see the notes.

*Advice - if you're going to use Onenote a lot, make sure to have a good filing method for your tabs and pages, otherwise things get lost easily

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

We use AVOMA (kinda like Chorus or Gong). AI note takers are the only way I'll ever keep up these days.

SgtAE

WR Officer

During an actual scheduled meeting on the calendar we make an account doc for every meeting, just a templated google doc.

During cold calls? Any piece of material within the general area that I can get my hands on as I wasn't generally expecting decent conversation in my cold calls haha

countingmyinterest

Politicker

Account Executive

Remarkable 2 - handtaken then I rewrite the stuff into Salesforce. Bit cumbersome, but I can also send PDF's into SFDC to reference my notes.

I don't like typed cause I lose focus over the conversation.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

i use to be a paper notes guy. but now that I work from home and need to share notes more often, I switched to Google docs.

i tried Ever Note and a pen with my ipad. but nothing was easier to share than Google docs.

If i ever have an in person meeting again though ill do paper and pen.

someoneinsales

Tycoon

Director of Sales

Notebook or iPad

Notebook is easier to read my writing back

iPad is easier to share with the team post meeting (once I clean up the chicken scratch).

FattySnacks

Politicker

Senior Account Executive

I don’t. I go back and listen to g*ng and take notes then.

Asalesperson

Good Citizen

Sr. Director of Sales

Pen and paper. Have tried everything but Dooly so far and nothing beats pen and paper.

TheOverTaker

Politicker

Senior Account Executive

still a paper notes guy. for some reason it helps me better retain information

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

Google Docs when I'm in virtual meetings, notebooks otherwise.

Found that I'm much better at taking proper notes on a computer and typing vs writing during undergrad.

When I was smiling and dialing in a super transactional position it was notebook all day.

SaaSguy

Tycoon

Account Executive

Evernote

saashunter2.0

Executive

Mid-Market Account Executive

Live Google doc and shared with colleagues on call. Makes it easy to debrief immediately and copy into CRM to tie it off and move on

Executioner

Politicker

Business Dev.

PReviously pen and paper. On a Samsung tablet now (Sorry to the iPad fans). converts handwriting to text in a click, paste into CRM, done.
Less distracting F2F than typing.

RevenueArchitect

Executive

EVP Revenue

Type notes into OneNote - copy paste as needed into CRM.

ColdCall

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

Try and take notes in CRM while on a call saves loads of time and angst later.

Like having note book and pen near by as it feels like things stick in my head better then I write them out.

RZA

Good Citizen

Strategic Account Director

I listen back to my call at 1.5x-2X speed in gong and take notes from there. I also write out obvious questions I missed after listening back and then on my next call, I tell the customer I listened to our call again and I missed some glaring questions and then I ask them lol

JDialz

Politicker

Chief Operating Officer

Our CoS transcribes for me.

LordOfWar

Tycoon

Blow it up

Otter.ai and a regular notebook to jot down key items.

Sausagedoglover

Senior Consultant

I use the “notepad” app and type them on my laptop as we talk. I used to write them but putting them into CRM software later sucks and you end up leaving stuff out

IYNFYL

Politicker

Enterprise SaaS AE

I hated Gong at first but used it a lot after getting used to it so I could focus on the client conversations

thebuckhunter

Politicker

Take notes under the logged call in Salesforce. Also associate it with the gong recording directly in SF as well.

Upper_Class_SaaS

Politicker

Account Executive

physical notes then retype

thetopperformer

Executive

Enterprise Account Executive

I used to write in a notebook, but got tire of transcribing. I switched to OneNote, but then had to copy everything when I left the company. Now I use a personal Evernote account. Now my notes will follow me wherever I go and I don't lose them when I lose access to a work account (i.e. Google, etc..).

swolepatrol

Good Citizen

-1

Customer Account Executive

I use Gong since it creates and memorializes our conversations and allows me easily to re-listen, add additional detail and tag others to help with the sale.

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