CRM notes

CRM note checklist. The 28 things a complete note carries after a call, a score for yours, and the statuses that lie.

Reconciling the CRM record with what the customer actually said. Four questions asked of twenty records a week, checked against the calls and texts behind them, which is how a CRM stays worth reading. 7 min read.

What the rep wrote in the CRM and what the customer said in the conversation are two different stories.

The running history on a customer record: calls, texts, emails, meetings, notes and what was promised each time.

The lead statuses that lie: what working, contacted and lost hide. Working, contacted and lost are written by the person they grade, so define each one by an event the customer actually took part in and check a sample weekly. 7 min read.

The CRM shows an appointment, and no call or message anywhere shows anyone confirming it with the customer.

What a CRM cannot see, and how to fill the gap. Your CRM holds entries, not conversations, and the six things it cannot see are where lost opportunities hide. 7 min read.

What belongs in the CRM note after a sales call. Six items every note needs, a ninety-second template, and the reason the next step field matters more than everything else written above it. 7 min read.

The lead was closed out as lost or dead, and then the customer called or wrote with a real question.

A real conversation happened and the record carries no date, no task and nothing anybody else can pick up.

A scheduled meeting posted where the whole team can see it, with the time, the customer, what they want and who is expecting them.

The system a team uses to log customers, leads, notes, tasks and follow-up activity through the sale.

Sending what happened in a conversation back into the customer record, so the CRM reflects the call instead of a rep’s memory.

A second record for a customer who is already in the system, usually created by a new inquiry from a different channel.

Deciding who owns a new opportunity, by rotation, by skill, by source or by who handled the customer before.

Where an opportunity came from, recorded on the customer record and used to judge what marketing is producing.

The recorded explanation for why an opportunity ended without a sale, chosen from a short and honest list.

Matching a conversation to the right customer record, and deciding what happens when two systems disagree.

A dated, owned to-do attached to a customer record, which is how a promise becomes something the team can check.

A customer inquiry bought from an outside marketplace, comparison site or lead seller rather than generated by the company itself.