Recording Client Calls

A couple of weeks ago, I heard through the grapevine that a client had a horrible call with a partner we referred. After hearing about the experience from two team members separately, I decided to reach out to the partner to get their take, especially since I had brought the partner on board. I sent them this email:

Hi [partner],

We connected your team with [client] recently. We heard from them that the call didn't go well. They seemed to be upset with how your team handled the discussion.

We don't have much more info, so I'm reaching out to you for any thoughts you have on the call and any insight for future referrals.

Thanks,

Lucas

Without getting into detail, the partner apologized, figured out who led the call with our client, and reviewed a recording of the client meeting. I had no idea they recorded all their calls. Here's a snippet from their response:

"Let me firstly apologize for the experience that your client had. It seems that [client] reached out directly on our website, and as a result, your client was routed to one of our junior members of the Account Executive team. They are newer and used to working with small businesses.

I reviewed the call. It seems like there was some misalignment between what your client was looking for and what we were pitching. I can see why they were frustrated."

The partner ended up re-assigning the Account Executive and reaching out to our client to apologize and make it right. I was impressed.

Now and again, we record calls, but by no means is it an agency practice. Since this experience, I can see many of the benefits that recording calls may provide. Here are a few that come to mind:

Revisiting past project decisions when there are questions about how we ended up where we are
Reviewing a call with the team if it doesn't go as planned to see what we could have done better
Getting further context into a situation when a client reaches out with feedback

Implementing this across the team is a simple practice we can put in place. Before that happens, my main focus is making sure there's team alignment on the intent and creating a system for accessing calls as needed.

Next time I have to call my credit card company, I'll smile when I hear "This call is being recorded for quality assurance."

This post originally appeared in Edition No. 095 of my newsletter. Subscribe here.