How to Write an Sales Call Summary [Full Guide + with Templates]

A sales call summary is a document that captures the key details and outcomes of a sales call or meeting. It serves as an important record of client interactions and helps sales teams stay organized and aligned.

Creating effective sales call summaries is critical for a few key reasons:

• Ensures follow-through: By writing down next steps, action items, and promises made, sales reps can be sure important items aren't dropped. This prevents missed opportunities.
• Allows sharing across team: Summaries enable reps to easily brief managers and colleagues on interactions with prospects and customers. This keeps everyone looped in.
• Tracks deal progress: Maintaining a record of discussions provides visibility into where a deal stands and how it is progressing through the sales process.
• Aids memory: Given the number of sales calls conducted daily, it's impossible to remember every detail. Summaries serve as reminders of key points.
• Provides accountability: Documented next steps make it clear who is responsible for what in moving a deal forward. This enhances accountability.

In summary, taking the time to write thorough sales call summaries pays off through better execution, team alignment, and ultimately more closed deals. The following sections will explore best practices for creating effective summaries.

Before the Call

Before making a sales call, it's crucial to research the customer and their account history thoroughly. This allows you to go into the call fully prepared with an understanding of their needs, pain points, and any past interactions.

• Research the prospect's company. Look into what industry they operate in, their company size, revenue, locations, organizational structure, and any recent news. Understand their core business offerings and objectives.
• Review the prospect's role. Understand their position, responsibilities, and influence in the buying process. Note any background that gives you insight into their needs and perspective.
• Check your CRM. Review past emails, calls, meetings, quotes, opportunities, and notes involving this prospect. Understand past conversations and track record.
• Study previous purchases. Check if they have bought from you before. If so, analyze what they purchased, when, and how much. See if you can identify buying patterns or seasonality.
• Learn your prospect's challenges. Research to uncover pain points they likely face in their role and industry. Think through how your offering can effectively solve for these.
• Set an agenda. With your research complete, set an agenda covering 2-3 topics to discuss that directly relate to their needs and pain points.

Thorough pre-call research ensures you use your limited time as effectively as possible to create value. AI tools like Glyph AI streamline sales workflows by automatically recording, transcribing and summarizing calls. Using custom prompts, Glyph extracts key details like action items and timelines into structured summaries. This allows reps to focus on clients while ensuring comprehensive documentation and alignment across the team.

During the Call

During the sales call itself, focus on active listening and asking open-ended questions. This allows you to truly understand the prospect's needs and challenges.

• Give the prospect your full attention. Don't be distracted by other tasks. Really listen to what they are saying.
• Ask follow-up questions to get more details and clarity. Say things like "Tell me more about that" or "Help me understand x".
• Use open-ended questions that can't be answered with just a yes or no. Get them to open up and provide thoughtful responses. For example, "What factors are most important to you in a solution?"
• Paraphrase what you hear to confirm understanding. "So if I'm hearing you correctly, you're looking for a solution that does x, y and z. Is that right?"
• Avoid talking too much about your product/service. Let the prospect do most of the talking so you can learn about them.
• Take notes throughout the call to capture key details. Especially note any pain points, needs, objections or concerns.

Active listening and asking the right questions will lead to a productive call where you truly grasp the prospect's situation. This sets you up to provide an effective sales call summary.

After the Call

After concluding the sales call, it's crucial to immediately document and debrief while the details are still fresh. Rushing into your next meeting or task can cause you to forget vital information.

Instead, make time to recap and record the following:

• Main discussion points and topics covered
• Questions the prospect asked and how you responded
• Any objections raised and how they were handled
• Key information the prospect provided about their needs, challenges, and situation
• Next steps agreed upon with the prospect
• Overall impression of how the call went

Ideally, immediately write up these details into a sales call summary while they're top of mind. This helps accurately capture the most important information. Rather than trying to recreate a call from memory later, documenting right away preserves key facts.

It's also helpful to reflect on areas for improvement. Think through what went well that's worth repeating for future calls. Also consider what didn't work or could be strengthened. Learning from each experience will sharpen your skills and strategy.

Debriefing after every sales call, while time consuming, pays off through more productive follow-ups. Thorough, timely call summaries also provide helpful records to reference when contacting the prospect again. Putting in the effort ultimately results in more closed deals.

Sales Call Summary Format

A sales call summary should provide an overview of the key details from the call. Here are some of the main sections to include:

Overview and Background

• Date, time, duration of call
• Name and contact info of prospect
• How the call was conducted (video, phone, in-person)
• Any relevant background on the prospect/company

Discussion Summary

• Main topics covered and prospect's interests/pain points
• Key questions prospect asked and how you responded
• Details on prospect's current situation, challenges, and needs
• Highlights of your product/service presentation and prospect reactions

Next Steps

• Any requests for follow-up information to be sent
• Next meeting or call scheduled, if applicable
• Any commitments made or actions items agreed to
• Overall prospect interest level and next steps for moving forward

The overview provides context, the discussion summary captures the key details of your interactions, and the next steps outline clear follow-up actions to continue progressing the sales process. Adjust sections as needed for your specific call and sales process.

Overviews and Background

The overviews and background section should provide some brief context about the account, contact, and purpose of the sales call. This helps set the stage for the rest of the summary.

Some key things to include in this section:

• Account name and industry
• Name and title of contact
• Brief background on existing relationship status
• Goal of the call - was it an introductory call, upsell opportunity, addressing concerns, etc.

For example:

Account: Acme Inc, a software company with 50 employees. They provide project management solutions to small businesses.

Contact: John Smith, VP of Sales

Existing Relationship: We initially connected with John at a tradeshow 6 months ago and have had 2 prior calls with him.

Purpose of Call: To demo our new analytics features and discuss pricing options for upgrading their current plan.

The overviews and background section should be short, concise, and provide just enough context to frame the rest of the summary. Avoid getting too detailed here. The goal is to jog the reader's memory and set the stage for the rest of the document.

Discussion Summary

The discussion summary should provide a high-level recap of the key topics discussed during the sales call. This section does not need to contain every detail, but should capture the essence of what was covered.

Focus on summarizing key points such as:

• What products, services, or solutions were discussed
• Any pain points or challenges the prospect mentioned
• Questions or concerns raised by the prospect
• Key benefits and differentiators you emphasized
• Next steps you agreed on
• Any objections raised and how they were handled
• Any additional needs uncovered

The discussion summary should be concise yet informative. Use bullet points if needed to highlight the main discussion themes.

Keep the tone objective rather than evaluative. Avoid subjective commentary and instead stick to factual points on what was said.

The goal is to provide a helpful recap that both parties can refer back to later. This ensures alignment on what was covered and agreed upon during the call.

Next Steps

After the sales call, it's critical to document clear action items and follow ups so both parties know what needs to happen next. Some key things to include in the next steps section of your sales call summary:

• Schedule the next call or meeting. Note the date/time and any relevant prep work needed.
• List any information or materials you agreed to send the prospect. These could include pricing quotes, product spec sheets, case studies, etc. Make it clear who is responsible for sending each item.
• Document any tasks the prospect agreed to complete, such as reviewing materials, connecting you with others at their company, providing feedback, etc. Track deadlines.
• Outline next steps for moving the deal forward based on the call discussion. For example: schedule product demos, develop a proposal, conduct a needs assessment, obtain budget approval, etc.
• Note any contingencies or dependencies for the deal progressing. For example, "Proposal approval contingent on solving for X requirement."
• Specify any follow up or actions you agreed to take, such as researching a question the prospect had or connecting them with a customer reference.
• Reiterate the timeline and next major milestones for the opportunity.

Clearly documenting next steps is crucial for keeping sales deals moving forward efficiently. The next steps section of the sales call summary keeps all follow up tasks visible in one place so sales reps can execute on them quickly and effectively. This helps convert more prospects into customers.

Best Practices

When writing a sales call summary, follow these best practices:

Be Concise

Aim to keep your sales call summary to 1 page or less. Get straight to the key details and takeaways from the call without excessive wordiness.

Customize for Each Call

Avoid recycled or generic summaries. Make sure to tailor each summary to the specific discussion, client, and context of that sales call.

Share with Your Team

Distribute the sales call summary to relevant teammates, managers, and others in your organization who may benefit from staying up-to-date on the discussion. This keeps everyone aligned.

Some additional best practices:

• Focus on objectives, key takeaways, and action items
• Note any objections raised and how they were handled
• Include relevant quotes and specifics when possible
• Send the summary soon after the call while details are fresh
• Use the summary to inform follow-ups and next steps

Following best practices for writing effective yet concise sales call summaries ensures you, your team, and your client stay aligned and make progress towards goals.

Templates and Examples

A sales call summary template can help structure your notes and ensure you capture all the key details from the call. Here are some sample templates to use or adapt:

Basic Sales Call Summary Template

• Date:
• Time:
• Client Name:
• Client Company:
• Call Participants:
• Overview: 1-2 sentence summary of the call
• Background: Any relevant background on the client, deal, etc.
• Discussion Summary: Detailed notes on the key discussion points and topics covered.
• Next Steps: Action items for you, the client, or other stakeholders along with owners and due dates.
• Follow Up: Any required follow up notes or tasks.

Detailed Sales Call Summary Template

In addition to the sections above, this template includes:

• Objective: The goal for the sales call.
• Sentiment: The overall tone, reactions, and feedback from the client.
• Concerns: Any objections, questions, or apprehensions raised.
• Wins: Any positive reactions, validations, or progress made.

Real Sales Call Summary Examples

Here are some examples of actual sales call summaries:

Example 1

Date: 1/5/2023

Time: 10 AM ESTClient: John Smith, VP Sales at ABC CompanyCall Participants: Myself, John Smith, Jane Doe (Marketing Manager)

Overview: Product demo and pricing discussion for XYZ software. Overall positive reception.

Background: John is looking to purchase new sales software and start a free trial of our platform. He invited Jane from marketing to join for the demo.

Discussion Summary: I gave a 30 minute product demo and answered questions about integrations, dashboards, and reporting features. Jane was interested in the email automation capabilities. I reviewed two package options and pricing, which John felt was reasonable. He is interested in the Professional plan.

Next Steps:

• I will send over a trial signup form and Pro plan proposal by EOD 1/6.
• John and Jane will review and hope to start trial next week.
• We will schedule a call in two weeks to check in on progress.

Follow Up: Send John some case studies of customers in similar industries who use our email automation features.

Example 2

Date: 2/10/2023Time: 2 PM EST

Client: Sarah Johnson, Head of Sales at 123 Industries

Overview: Discussed deal progress and requested references. Sarah is almost ready to move forward.

Background: Sarah is considering our services for a 500 seat expansion. She has been evaluating for over a month.

Discussion Summary: Sarah said she is leaning towards us but needed a few more reassurances. She asked for 2 reference customers in healthcare to talk to. I summarized the key benefits we can provide around scaling and optimization. Sarah agreed we have the right expertise but is anxious about change management with long-time employees. I will draft a change management plan to share. She expects to make a decision within 2 weeks.

Next Steps:

• Send Sarah contact info for 2 healthcare client references by Monday 2/13.
• Draft 1-2 page change management plan and send by end of next week.
• Sarah will let me know any other final questions and make a decision by 2/24.

Follow Up: Check in with the references to give them a heads up Sarah will be contacting them. Send Sarah some change management best practices materials.

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