HARVEST THE CALL

A copywriter would pay for what a salesperson hears every day: the problem in the buyer’s own words, objections in their natural order, and the proof that changed their mind. Most businesses throw it away when the call ends.

Capture it

The best record is a recording. The law varies. US federal law (18 U.S.C. 2511) allows recording when one party to the call consents, but California’s Penal Code section 632 requires the consent of all parties to a confidential communication. Justia’s state-by-state survey, last reviewed in September 2024, lists several other states that generally require all-party consent, including Florida, Illinois and Pennsylvania, and a few more that do in some situations. The EU and UK add data-protection duties on top Published. The simple practice is to ask at the start of every call (“Mind if I record this so I can focus on you instead of my notes?”) and to stop if the answer is no. Have counsel review your recording practice, especially across state and national lines.

Without a recording, note the buyer’s exact words right after the call. “Our reps can’t explain why it costs more” is useful. “Price concern” isn’t. The same words also sit in support tickets, pre-purchase chats, reviews and return reasons: the customers you’ll never meet, saying what they’d have said in the room.

How many to read

Fewer than you’d think. In a study of one product category, Abbie Griffin and John Hauser found that 20 interviews turned up over 90% of the needs that 30 interviews did Published. Twenty recent calls, plus a month of tickets and reviews, is a good first harvest.

The message map

Boil the harvest down to one page with five parts. Appendix B has the sheet.

1. Their words for the problemThe three or four phrases customers use for the situation that brought them to you, word for word, with a count.
2. Their words for youWhat they call your product and your category. If customers say “the pan that doesn’t stick” and your page says “ceramic-reinforced cookware”, use theirs.
3. Objections, in orderFrom the objection log, with counts, in the order they usually come up in a conversation.
4. The proof that moved themThe fact, demonstration, review or reference that changed a doubter’s mind. Not the proof you like best: the proof that worked.
5. The moment of yesThe last question asked, or the last thing said, before they agreed. It’s often the single best line for a call to action.

Don’t write what you’d like customers to say. Write down what they said, and count it.

Case: Vita Coco, from one store to many

In the founder’s letter in Vita Coco’s 2021 IPO filing, Michael Kirban describes the start. He and his best friend, Ira, created the brand, found a co-manufacturer and a small distributor in Brooklyn and lower Manhattan, and then, he writes, “I rollerbladed from store to store sampling and selling Vita Coco” Filed.

What he heard differed by store. In Latino and Southeast Asian groceries, people told him it reminded them of their childhoods. In natural food stores and yoga studios, he writes, people said they were excited to have found “a natural alternative to artificial sport drinks” Filed. That second phrase is a positioning, in the customer’s words, heard one store at a time. The same filing describes coconut water as “often consumed as a healthier alternative to sports drinks,” reports 2020 net sales of $311 million, and calls the brand the US category leader with a 46% share, citing IRI data for the year to September 2021 Filed.

The filing doesn’t say which conversation shaped which campaign, and I won’t claim it. The lesson doesn’t need it: two groups of customers gave two different reasons to buy, and the founder heard both because he was in the room.

Do this

• Collect twenty conversations this month: recorded calls where you have them, notes where you don’t, plus the last month of tickets and reviews. Fill in the message map. Count everything. The top line in each part is your first draft of the page in the next chapter.