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How do you take notes of sales conversations? Good 'ol paper and pencil? CRM? Use file folders? What if notes are half in computer, half on paper? What if you are at a meeting and critical notes are back on your computer? Share your ideas on notes!
#notes #taking
  • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
    If you mean taking notes during a sales presentation..... sure. I write them down longhand.

    It isn't to do anything other than remember the points they make, so I don't have to remember them..... also to clarify points of agreement, so problems don't arrive later. but I don't do it for effect.


    Now, if you mean write down notes after a sales presentation... about a sales presentation, to improve performance...Yeah, I did that for at least 25 years. Every presentation. And then I studied the notes. It's one of the maybe three most profitable things I've ever done.
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    • Profile picture of the author DaniMc
      Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post


      Now, if you mean write down notes after a sales presentation... about a sales presentation, to improve performance...Yeah, I did that for at least 25 years. Every presentation. And then I studied the notes. It's one of the maybe three most profitable things I've ever done.
      This is excellent. Gonna have my people do this everytime.
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  • Profile picture of the author gjabiz
    If permitted, a digital recorder, and when an important point is made, I softly talk into it to be highlighted. Also, took Notehand in HS (sort of a shorthand shorthand)...the MP3 I have transcribed and that person makes sure to highlight what I thought was important.

    gjabiz


    Originally Posted by joe golfer View Post

    How do you take notes of sales conversations? Good 'ol paper and pencil? CRM? Use file folders? What if notes are half in computer, half on paper? What if you are at a meeting and critical notes are back on your computer? Share your ideas on notes!
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  • Profile picture of the author DaniMc
    Yellow pad notes.

    If it is info I need to retain, I snap a pic using Evernote. My handwriting becomes searchable and I add tags as needed, adding future pages to the same note.

    If it is a sales convo - I just type the important parts into my CRM.
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    • Profile picture of the author joe golfer
      Originally Posted by DaniMc View Post

      Yellow pad notes.

      If it is info I need to retain, I snap a pic using Evernote. My handwriting becomes searchable and I add tags as needed, adding future pages to the same note.

      If it is a sales convo - I just type the important parts into my CRM.
      Weird. I do the same. CRM and Evernote if needed. OCR for the win!
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  • Profile picture of the author kenmichaels
    Originally Posted by joe golfer View Post

    How do you take notes of sales conversations? Good 'ol paper and pencil? CRM? Use file folders? What if notes are half in computer, half on paper? What if you are at a meeting and critical notes are back on your computer? Share your ideas on notes!
    Who needs notes? I record everything.
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  • Profile picture of the author socialentry
    @Claude what did you note usually and what did you pay attention to?

    I stopped taking notes since maybe 3rd grade of high school so I'm curious
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    • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
      Originally Posted by socialentry View Post

      @Claude what did you note usually and what did you pay attention to?

      I stopped taking notes since maybe 3rd grade of high school so I'm curious
      Do you mean, what do I take notes on during a presentation, or what do I take notes on after the presentation?
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      • Profile picture of the author socialentry
        Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

        Do you mean, what do I take notes on during a presentation, or what do I take notes on after the presentation?
        The latter actually
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        • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
          Originally Posted by socialentry View Post

          The latter actually
          Smart question;

          I would jot down the following;
          Married? Single? (if single, gender) Age group? Kids? Pets? Allergies? Type of work? Type of vacuum (because I sold vacuum cleaners), Type of lead (referral, cold call, past customer, from other salesperson). Had they bought from another in home salesperson before? (yes/no, what was it?)..

          About the sale itself;
          Objections raised,(and I would write out what they said), my answers (write out what I said), results (sale/no sale). Price I sold for.

          Anything I said differently that they liked/disliked. Any new way I asked questions, and the results. What was said (by both of us) just before they bought. Any new order of the presentation, and the results.

          This may take up one full written page on a Yellow Legal pad.

          And I would study the notes every few months, looking to see patterns, and see what I could change to improve performance.

          I found, for example;
          If a wife was alone (husband wasn't there), they bought 2% of the time.

          Both there, they bought 41% on Cold Calls, and about 80% on referrals.
          If they had previously bought from another in home salesperson, there was better than a 90% chance, that they would buy from me.
          Single men bought at the same rate as single women.
          Teachers almost never bought.
          If I gave the price up front, they were far more likely to pay full price.
          Age made no difference. Kids made no difference. Pets made a sale maybe 10% more likely.
          If they owned a water softener, they were far more likely to buy from me.
          Everyone from another country, was more likely to buy, except one (No, I won't say which one)
          Gay couples bought more often than straight couples.
          I identified four ways to tell that they had bad credit, without asking.

          I discovered that the single best investment of time when selling, was another closing question.

          I discovered that by heavily qualifying them up front (almost never resulting in them not taking a look), I almost never needed more than one closing attempt.

          Anything more salesy than, "Would you like one" was regarded as high pressure by teachers.

          Nobody bought later, if I did the presentation.

          Referrals from people who bought, gave me other people that would buy.
          Referrals from non buyers were almost totally worthless.
          The worst leads were registrations at Fairs.
          The best leads were past buyers of mine, followed by referrals (If I worked the system well).

          The more expensive the vacuum they had, the more likely they would buy mine.

          And I found, through experimentation, the single most profitable price to sell at.

          Of course, there is much more, but that's pretty much the notes I took. i also took notes on presentations I watched from other salespeople.
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  • Profile picture of the author sconer
    You people have to get into the digital age.

    I take notes on my iPad which syncs with my iPhone and Mac so they are accessible anywhere. I just speak most of my notes and let Siri turn it into text for me.

    All my notes are categorized. I can put links from one note into another note. Easily paste in addresses, pictures, etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author Barry Unruh
    I always have a clipboard and paper beside me, whether on the phone, or at a client site. I can scribble down notes faster there than I can type them into my computer, plus I don't seem to lose focus on the call as easily.

    I keep my call information in a very informal Google Sheets based CRM, and copy critical notes from my clipboard to it.

    For active clients, I have a Google Drive folder with Docs and Sheets in it recording all of the important information about ongoing projects, with some of those documents shared with the clients.

    I've used Evernote, too, but keep going back to Google Drive/Docs.
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  • Profile picture of the author bojan92
    Well good way to to take notes during the conversation - sales conversation is good old way pencil and paper. But paper gets torn so what i ussusaly do is after i take the notes i put them in a notepad , word excel what ever works for you. And then place them in a folder with a sub folder for the clients.
    When on a meeting you can get an iPad and always keep your notes handy. If you use notepad to take down notes you can easily search the content of your notes you need in the moment. Anyway that is my approach , hope it helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author sofiasamuel
    Apptivo CRM Note helps to type your activities and associate them with the customer.

    If you are in a meeting notes, can be seen in mobile Apps.
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