--- title: Why You Need to Take Notes in Sales Meetings | The Sales Blog description: Taking notes during a meeting may not seem important, but not doing so can send the wrong signal. image: https://www.thesalesblog.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/shutterstock_63347422.jpg --- ### [Now booking SKO meetings for 2026/27! 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This is an enormous mistake, and I never expected I’d have to write a blog post about something so fundamental. #### Signaling Your Self-Orientation When you attend a client meeting without paper and pen, you are sending a signal. You are telling your client or prospect that you don’t really care about them, and that what they have to say isn’t really important. You are projecting that you are [self-oriented](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/7-ways-you-prove-that-you-are-self-oriented), and that the most important things said during this meeting are the things you say. If you really cared, you’d take some notes. If you intended to follow-up on the issues discussed, you write down the commitments that you made during that meeting. If you were going to share your notes with the rest of your team, the people who need to execute on your promises, you’d be taking notes that you could handoff to them. #### Why You Need Notes You want to be seen with paper and a pen. You want to be seen taking notes. You want your client to know that what they say is important to you, and that you are keeping a record so that you can take all of their needs into account as you move forward. If you miss something, you want to ask that your client repeat it so you can capture their ideas and their words. You need paper and a pen to take notes. Or you need an iPad or tablet. Or a laptop computer. I like my tiny Macbook and Evernote because it allows me to cut and paste notes into my customer relationship software, and it allows me to easily forward the notes by email. But I know people who hate even the smallest screen between them and their client or prospect, and I understand why they feel this way. On conference calls, I make sure to tell my clients that the typing they hear is me taking notes. I want them to know that I am not in my email (which I keep closed most of the day anyway) and that what they say is important enough for me to capture. In business and in life, the [small things](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/the-hustlers-playbook-hustlers-sweat-the-small-stuff) can sometimes be the big things. Taking notes during a meeting may not seem important, but not doing so can send the wrong signal, one that can seriously damage your results.   ###### Tags: [Sales](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/tag/sales) [2015](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/tag/2015) Post by [Anthony Iannarino](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/author/anthony-iannarino) on June 6, 2015 Written and edited by human brains and human hands. ![Anthony Iannarino](https://www.thesalesblog.com/hubfs/ai-blog-profile-crop.jpg) Anthony Iannarino is an American writer. He has published daily at [thesalesblog.com](https://www.thesalesblog.com) for more than 14 years, amassing over 5,300 articles and making this platform a destination for salespeople and sales leaders. Anthony is also the author of four best-selling books documenting modern sales methodologies and a fifth book for sales leaders seeking revenue growth. His latest book for an even wider audience is titled, The Negativity Fast: Proven Techniques to Increase Positivity, Reduce Fear, and Boost Success. Anthony speaks to sales organizations worldwide, delivering cutting-edge sales strategies and tactics that work in this ever-evolving B2B landscape. He also provides workshops and seminars. Connect with Anthony on LinkedIn, X or Youtube. 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What we’re doing right now **is working**, even in this challenging economy. **Would you like some help?** [![Solve for Sales](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2922376/d3a4938b-2008-4a27-8b44-7b2223f6d035.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2922376/d3a4938b-2008-4a27-8b44-7b2223f6d035) ### Join my Weekly Newsletter for Sales Tips Join 100,000+ sales professionals in my weekly newsletter and get my *Guide to Becoming a Sales Hustler* eBook for FREE! --- ```json { "@context" : "http://schema.org/", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Anthony Iannarino" }, "dateModified" : "2023-02-22T10:05:32 AM", "datePublished" : "2015-06-06 21:52:54", "description" : "Taking notes during a meeting may not seem important, but not doing so can send the wrong signal.", "headline" : "Why You Need to Take Notes in Sales Meetings", "image" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 16, "url" : "https://f.hubspotusercontent20.net/hubfs/2922376/Image/favicon.ico", "width" : 16 }, "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/why-you-need-to-take-notes-in-sales-meetings", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "name" : "Why You Need to Take Notes in Sales Meetings", "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 24, "url" : "https://f.hubspotusercontent20.net/hubfs/2922376/TSB/images/TSB%20Logo%20Dark.svg", "width" : 228 }, "name" : "The Sales Blog" } } ```