Check a CRM note

Paste a note with customer names and numbers removed to find missing details and get a suggested rewrite, or use the checklist yourself.

Checking assistant availability. You can also use the checklist below.

Options and help

Compare two example notes

Both notes are synthetic examples.

A strong note

Inbound call at 9:12. Marisol, cell is best, prefers text after four. Asking about quote 7742, the home and umbrella bundle, and open to home only if the bundle runs over budget. Current policy renews October 30 with another agency, paid monthly. Her husband Daniel is on the policy and has to sign, and he works nights. Wants the monthly near what she pays now. No numbers quoted on the phone. Held Thursday at 6:15 for a call with both of them; she is sending the current declarations page. Confirmation text tonight, reminder call Thursday at noon. If she goes quiet, text Friday morning.

The usual note

Called about the quote. Gave him a price. Seemed interested. Will follow up this week.

What common CRM statuses should mean

Status	What it should mean	How it gets misused
Appointment set	The customer agreed to a specific day and clock time, and somebody on the team wrote it down with what it is about and the person they are meeting.	It gets used for he said he might call Saturday, which is how a calendar fills with meetings nobody expects.
Appointment confirmed	The customer answered a confirmation and said yes, close enough to the meeting that the answer still means something.	A rep sends a text, nobody replies, and the record says confirmed because the text went out.
Working	There is a live conversation with a next step and a date attached to it.	It becomes the parking spot for leads nobody has touched in weeks, because nothing about it forces a decision.
Callback scheduled	The customer asked to be contacted at a stated time, and that time is on a real calendar with a name on it.	It gets used to cover a call the customer never answered, so a missed attempt looks like an agreement.
Sold	The customer signed, and the record shows what they bought and who closed it.	It goes on early, before the paperwork is signed or the first payment clears, and the follow-up that protects the sale never happens.
Lost	The customer said in their own words that they bought elsewhere or stopped shopping, and the note quotes them.	It closes out anyone who got hard to reach, which quietly turns a busy week into a shorter list.

Questions

What should a CRM note contain after a sales call?

Who the customer is and who else decides, what they want and any alternatives, what they use now, what the customer expects on budget and terms without a number quoted over the phone, every commitment made on both sides with day and time, and the next step with an owner and a date.

How long should a CRM note be?

Long enough that a different salesperson could pick up the customer tomorrow without calling to ask. Five short lines usually do it. The example on this page is about a hundred words.

Why do lead statuses mislead managers?

Because a status is a click, not a fact. "Contacted" can mean a voicemail, "working" can mean nothing happened this week, and "lost" can be a customer who asked a question yesterday. The statuses table on this page lists what each should mean and how it gets misused.