You’ve had a long day, making sales calls, some more productive than others, but overall, it’s been a good day. Now it’s time to write call reports; in a certain sense to relive your day. As a sales professional, you know it’s important to summarize your day’s work, which will be shared with management and team members within your organization.
Writing sales reports is a task that most, if not all sales professionals, find unproductive. Sales reports tend to serve more as a document that justifies your workday than highly valuable intel with the potential to produce long-lasting and profitable fruits.
In a previous article, I wrote about how poor communication and ambivalence by management, has turned the use of CRMs (Customer Relationship Manager systems) into a box-checking, technology watchdog, rather than the powerful platform for sharing vital customer information it was built to be.
Such a re-engagement is likely to uncover a new and unexpected challenge -- poor or unpracticed writing skills. Digital communications have dramatically changed, but not eliminated how we write. In fact, there are still some basic steps that must be followed to be able to write useful call notes. Some salespeople prefer to record their notes immediately after leaving a sales call, others prefer writing them at the end of the day. No matter when you choose to write your notes, follow these three steps and your call notes will move from a checked box form to substantially improved sales and profit.
Step 1- at the end of every sales call conduct an AAR (After Action Report)
Our U.S. Military branches conduct an AAR, after every maneuver, or training they conduct. This is meant as an opportunity to review what worked, what didn’t work, and what could have been done better, while the experience is still fresh in your mind. High-performing sales professionals as a matter of reflex, conduct an informal AAR as they are driving to their next sales call. Taking a minute to record this assessment, either by writing bullet points, or using a voice recorder, assures that your recollection is fresh and in the moment. Using the AAR method to evaluate a sales call is an effective tool for personal development and serves as an outline for logging your calls into the CRM.
Step 2- Organize your thoughts
Review any notes you may have scribbled in your planner during the meeting and then in your AAR, organize them by priority. Share highest priority information first, including as much information as possible that will allow your team members to understand, and react if necessary. This could be information pertaining to delivery dates, due dates for proposals, or any topic that could require action between now and your next scheduled sales call.
Listing information in a prioritized format, puts everyone (your teammates, managers, etc.) on the same page with you and allows for the opportunity for questions and suggestions that could further strengthen your position with the customer.
Report verifiable facts, not feelings. Reporting information that you “think” may be happening, without quantifiable evidence to support it, may be misleading and in some cases could cause you and your team to become distracted and overlook a real threat from an unsuspected source. Veteran salespeople tend to have very strong instinctive skills, which they will follow until they determine its legitimacy. The key here is knowing when to report your instinctive feelings. Carefully assess the value your instinct may provide within the organization. In the words of former President Ronald Reagan, “Trust, but verify.”
Step 3- Quality over quantity
Don’t get lost in superfluous details. Report information that can be applied to develop a deeper understanding of your customer for your team. This should include facts that you learn about the customer’s hierarchy of decision making, such as strategic initiatives they are undertaking that could have an effect --positive or negative -- on your status as a supplier, or what new products and services your customer is bringing to market.With rare exception, there is no need to report on casual conversations about last night’s game, your client’s weekend plans, etc. Information like this is valuable to the salesperson in building and maintaining relationships, but seldom offer valuable insight to your support team.
Logged calls are not the place to voice grievances with team members. Negative comments about associates are not a formula for solutions. Rather, they offer the writer a bully pulpit to potentially embarrass a co-worker.
Notes that disparage co-workers like this are often driven by the emotion of the moment. They can result in driving a wedge between teammates and can even affect business transactions. Complaints that materialize during a customer meeting which are either the result of an internal error, or a direct customer complaint about your support team must be handled objectively and privately in a face-to-face meeting.
The difference between a box-checking exercise, done to appease the boss, and creating a stream of information that can box out competitors, and gain favored vendor status with customers, is in the hands of the salesperson. Effective, well written sales call reports will unlock the door to sales dominance.
