The other day, like any other day for a window cleaner I seen some areas that I would like to target with fliers or commercial buildings that I wanted to talk to “head of maintenance” but driving in a car and taking notes is not always practical. Then it hit me, back home I have an Olympus digital voice recorder.
I could keep it in the truck, see a prospect, grab the voice recorder, say the name, street, phone number if a sign is out front, so when I get back to the home office I could put it on paper, or call them and try to set something up. I hope this lets me keep better track of these potential clients, so I don’t just pass them by.
That’s a great idea. Also there are times when someone calls you on your cell and you don’t have a piece of paper handy. Just whip out the voice recorder and repeat all the stuff the potential client tells you. ie: “…yes sir, 50 Main st. 2 storey building, see Walter in maintenance, there’s a skylight you can’t see from the outside, right got it, okay I’ll get back to you at 555- 0909…”
Definitely another great use of this tool.
I post sticky notes in my car, and don’t take them off till I get to them. Sometimes my inside is covered in them so it’s always in front of me and popping out with yellow. I found that works out best with a “in the moment” thing.
different things work of different people. this is what works best for me
All my calls to my phone are recorded & also calls out if I need to. Most phones have a recording feature these days. Its always handy if someone is giving directions - then they only have to do it once without them knowing, you can re listen later. They either think you have loads of work in that area or you are very smart!
I use an old treo 650 palm phone with recording softwear (can also be used with tom-tom maps).
That so cool. I never knew that cell phones have a recording feature. I wish I knew a few days a go, when a prospect asked me for a quote on his house, and I didn’t have access to a pen and paper, so I told him to call me back after we hung up and leave a message.
Thanks Karl.
A voice recorder or cell phone recorder is not the perfect solution though, although it is a part of it. You need a software that can be sync’d with a palm, blackberry, or pocket pc. A software that allows you to enter prospect information quickly, and on the fly, while canvassing. It would also have to have a feature that reminded you to call back on certain prospects when the manager is supposed to be in, or set alerts that will remind you weekly, or monthly, so you follow up on prospects. And also this software program, unlike customer factor, should not be one of those things that you never stop paying for. But you pay one, and it is yours.c
I always have my clipboard that I’m able to take notes on while I am driving. It’t the kind that you can store stuff in like pens, business cards, sheets of paper, etc… I write down my route for the day, dates, milage and any other notes I want to remember. At the end of the day, i bring it in and update anything I need to to my computer.
My friend gave me a voice recorder about 6 months ago and never really thought I had much use for it, but I think I will try it now after reading this post.
:pI sure hope 73 hours is enough time to store my daily notes to self!
