What do you really remember after your last customer call?

Hermann Ebbinghaus and other leading memory researchers measured the decrease in the ability of the brain to retain memory over time. He documented the results in what’s today known as the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve.
The shocking fact is that you can witness a 50% decrease in retention within 20 minutes, or 70% loss within 24 hours. This means that people forget up to 50% of what they hear after 20 minutes or so…

Luckily there are ways to fight it. For example, by taking ample notes during conversations and calls.  

Memory retention can be greatly improved by taking good notes, but you need to factor-in the fact that your salespersons or delivery truck drivers can’t take detailed and dependable notes while boarding a flight, or while changing lanes in the rain at 70mph on the I95. 

Another great option is to record the call. The main problem is that both IOS and Android app stores block telephone recording applications, so if you use a personal recording app you will only record one side of the conversation. Furthermore, it will not connect the call to your CRM, and last but not least you may be in violation of the privacy act. 

Conceptually, the requirements from a solution to this are quite clear – record all business calls and other communications data such as text messages without infringing on employees’ privacy, without giving them a separate phone, all while continuing to use your current CRM and the enterprise call recording systems.  This way, reps and other employees will not be bothered by the need to keep a record of every call and its details, and will be focused on the call as they know that they will always be able to listen and review the call detail at any time and remember and document all that’s been said and what’s needed.

Easier said than done of course

In one of the next blogposts, I will look at some of the required characteristics of possible solutions and technologies that can overcome the challenge, and surprisingly enough point you to a solution that actually performs the trick…  stay tuned!