How to annotate a call recording

If you’re working with customer service or sales reps making sales calls, the dialling software being used generally has a recording feature that records the calls for sales managers and team leads to review for quality assurance purposes. Once the call has been recorded, the diallers typically will send a link to download the call in a .mp3 or .wav format, along with a basic player to listen to the call. After the call has been downloaded, there’s generally no way to provide detailed feedback with timestamps that would allow a sales rep to improve their work.

Notetracks is an online tool to make comments, review audio, and gather feedback collaboratively directly on the waveform and timeline (kind of like a mix of Google Docs and Soundcloud!). While Notetracks is mainly used to collaborate on audio projects such as podcasts or music, however, it’s also a powerful tool that can annotate, review, and analyze call recordings.

This allows  improvements to be made on the calls and prevents the same mistake being made over and over.

Notetracks also provides you with a handy Call Review Worksheet available for free download. This sheet with guide your calls seamlessly towards success, reflection, and growth. You can access the sheet here.

To begin, open up Notetracks, click the ‘New Project’ button, and select audio as your file type. Proceed to name your audio project.

Next, navigate to the left column in the app. You’ll see two ‘Add Track’ buttons you can click. You’ll be greeted by a box that allows you to either upload directly from your computer or import from Google Drive or Dropbox. You can also drag and drop your sales call into the workspace.

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Your sales call will now be visible and able to be commented on, analyzed, and reviewed upon using Notetracks’ various annotation tools. To begin making notes and comments on your sales calls, ensure in the top middle of the workspace that you’re in the ‘Comment’ pane.

Utilize the playback controls at the bottom of the workspace to navigate along the sales call you’d like to start commenting on. You can also drag the playhead along the waveform to where you’d like to annotate.

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Additionally, you can also select an entire range of your sales call to comment on. This can be especially useful if you’re looking to analyze a specific section of the call, such as the pitch, client reaction, and so on.

Once you click the ‘Post’ button, your comment will now be available to visually see on the waveform, along with accurate timestamps.

Next, to begin further annotating and analyzing sales recordings, switch to the ‘Draw’ tab in the top-middle of the workspace. You’ll be greeted with a toolbar of various features, including Tags, Labels, and a Drawing Pad.

To begin using tags, select one of the 9 icons displayed. The tag will be placed under the comment section of your sales call analysis where the playhead currently is. You can also drag and drop tags in. While music and audio-oriented, tags can still be used to visually denote a specific section or topic.

Labels are text-based ways of annotating your  call. They operate the same way as Tags do, allowing you to easily place them underneath the waveform for your analysis, notes, or organization.

You can change the colour of both labels and tags by selecting one of the five colours available: Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, and Purple. Separating tags and labels with colour can further structure and organize your sales call, allowing for easier annotation and more in-depth analysis.

In summary, making comments and notes on client calls is an essential practice for sales managers and team leaders to enhance productivity, facilitate coaching and training, maintain accurate records, and ultimately drive sales success. It contributes to better communication, informed decision-making, and a stronger customer-focused approach within the sales team. Notetracks allows sales managers, coaches, podcasters and more streamline their commenting process to make note-taking calls a breeze.

Use our free Call Review Worksheet today to better structure and revise for your next meeting.

Start using Notetracks for free today.

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