curiousmajor

Inside Sales Rep

Why do you take notes during a customer call?

I see lot of salespeople taking notes. With all the latest tech like Gong etc, I wonder why do some us reps still take notes. I would love to hear from the note takers of this community - why do you take notes? how do use them? how does it help in winning more deals?

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28 comments

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Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I remember much better via the physical act of taking a note. It establishes a path from my hand to my brain. (science!)

I'm also visual, so I also recall where on a page I put something, and it helps me remember.

Gong, video, even transcripts - are all ephemeral and as such, don't provide the recall. That said, I will go in and review transcripts after the fact to make sure I didn't miss anything.

SaaSsy

Politicker

Nailed it, same. I always remember better, like to color code and format things differently - typing notes just has never worked as well for me.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

You get a little fancier with the color coding than I do. I never seem to have the proper pens nearby for that. Instead, I have big stars I put next to important follow up items, and then get the satisfaction of manually checking them off as I complete them. It is very tactile.

SaaSsy

Politicker

Ohhh yeah, list taker extraordinaire here lol

salesservant

Contributor

Director, Business Dev

Was going to same the exact thing. SAME

salesherald

Executive

Sales Process Consultant

Yeah, gong helps in some analysis, but at the end, you always need to come back to the notes (that you've taken or gong) to organize your thoughts and the information about that deal

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

So I can retain the information. Also, fuck Gong.

Armageddon

Opinionated

Enterprise Account Executive

Amen to this!

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

Bravado's Resident Asshole

because I remember better that way. it's more personal.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

Never used Gong but I would think these are the main reasons

It looks like you are paying attention, the client might not know what Gong is and think you are going to forget all the requirements they have

You can remember what happens during the meeting better. So if you need to reference something during a call, you don't need to go through Gong/CRMs

Or if you like me, we dont have gong and need to write stuff down so we dont forget

Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

While Gong is a good product and all, Notes can be a key part to winning a deal and showing the prospect you are hearing them and taking actionable insight.

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Why?
(1) Gong sucks. Don’t use it and I wouldn’t go back and listen to myself.
(2) to capture my notes and thoughts.

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

Because I like it and find it helpful

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Didn't you post last week that you take notes? https://bravado.co/war-room/posts/transferring-notes-to-salesforce-is-a-pain

curiousmajor

Executive

Inside Sales Rep

Yes. I take notes. I'm relooking at it. Like how is it actually helping in driving revenue? How can I do differently to increase my wins? I hope this make sense.

GDO

Politicker

BDM

It's a good impression to take notes (they like it when you are interested) also helps with asking logical next questions since it forces you to listen.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

I’ve never used gong. I take notes to help my memory.
I’ve also realized that the notes i take first, are not the notes that anyone on my team will get value from.

So i do end up taking notes, then translating those notes to put into the CRM haha

punishedlad

Tycoon

Business Development Team Lead

I'd much rather have a piece of paper or a document to look back on for the relevant notes I took than have to skim an hour long demo video for that one thing I forgot. I'll usually use Gong for something I might have missed in my own note taking.

coletrain

Politicker

Account Executive

I internalize it better and the prospect can tell that I am taking the time to jot down what is being said. Shows that I'm actually paying attention. Plus in a lot of cases we serve as educators, the prospects don't know what we have and don't know our day to day, let alone tools that we have/use.

Also what happens when that isn't available like at a trade show or convention or client lunch? @Sunbunny31said it well with it being ephemeral, the recall isn't as easy for the brain.

GingerBarbarian

Opinionated

Lead Sales

I am a kinesthetic learner, and writing it down is how I actually remember. Likewise, I can write down questions I want to double back to.

Beans

Big Shot

Enterprise Account Executive

Reinforce my memory, go back to them for context - take additional notes in Gong/SF.

We ain't all elephants.

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

Rolling 20's all day

My brain is happy when I take notes :)

WheelofCheese

Opinionated

Sales Executive

I’m a note taker. First, it shows your prospect or client you’re interested in what they have to say. Second, I remember things visually and the act of jotting down important notes sticks into my memory better. Call me old fashioned but it’s worked well for me. I use a notebook that has an area for the date and I can easily refer back to any meeting I’ve had using my Outlook calendar, etc. I know this may seem rudimentary, but it works for me.

Gasty

Notable Contributor

War Room Community Manager

Has anyone tried Copy pasting the entire transcript into ChatGPT and asking it to summarise ? I haven’t tried it, but can’t think of a single reason that it wouldn’t work.

fidelcashflow

Catalyst

Account Executive

I tried this. It didn't really work. But there's a guy that created a platform that does exactly that.

fidelcashflow

Catalyst

Account Executive

I'm not gonna go back and listen to an entire 30 minute call. Just doubling up my time? No thanks. As it is, I take a ton of noted and still have to go back and listen to a call from time to time.

fcmf

Valued Contributor

RSM

For me it helps to retain the information, I also think it shows the customer your interest, then I tried to recap with a email to see that we are on the same page. At the end, I believe helps to build trust

heatmiser

Good Citizen

Key Account Manager

Taking notes help me recall specific information. Also any action items for sure are written down so nothing is missed or misunderstood as a follow up

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curiousmajor

Why do you take notes during a customer call?

28 comments

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