Show notes

One more sales call is done. Onto the next one. You throw the wine bag into the trunk, you hustle into the driver’s seat, take a quick look at the time (damn, late again) and throw it into reverse.

Not so fast.

The moment after a sales call is the one moment you have to jot down a couple of notes. They are fresh in your mind and trust me, you will forget them.

Grab the customer folder (you DO keep a folder for each customer, right?), open it up to the inside cover, write down the date and jot down some notes.

Riesling is a stuck category.

Loved the Pinot Noir and asked about freshening the French section.

Complained again about his brother buying too much beer and taking the wine budget.

Reminded me that he’s going to Oregon later in the year.

Done. That’s it. Now it’s off your head, but more importantly, it’s on paper.

Next week, when you pull up to the account and you’re all set to leap out of the car and grab the wine in the trunk, take a second to re-read your notes.

Then, every month when you do an account reconciliation (you DO do that, right?) you can expand on your notes, making sure to follow up on that French section as well as setting them up with ideas for Oregon.

That’s called taking care of your customer.

That’s also called “stuff you don’t need to try to remember because you wrote it down.”