Livescribe – one of the best sales tools !
About two years ago I saw this advertisement for a pen that recorded and transcribed your handwritten notes to a PDF file. At the time I was looking for something for my son who was in high school at the time to have to take to class to help him take the notes he was missing. Of course I had to get it and try it out so I started using it on my agency appointments. Much to my surprise it was amazing.
The pen is called Echo by Livescribe. They come in 2 different sizes, mine is a 4GB memory. The pen does not just work on any type of paper, it only works when you use the specific paper that you have to purchase separately. I know, I immediately thought what a gimmick. This paper has thousands of dots on the paper and when you write it knows exactly where you are writing, including the specific page. To test this, I opened the notebook and picked out a random page wrote on the page, then synced it up – it was accurate to the page number!
The pen transcribes everything you write by page in the notebook to a PDF file on your computer through a desktop manager. If you want to add voice to what you are actually writing, the commands for using the MP3 recorder are at the bottom of each page. When you sync up the pen to the computer, the PDF indicates which text is actually just recorded by the color of the text in the PDF file. The audio file remains separate from the written file, but if you choose to listen to the audio and sharpen up your notes, the writing will then sync up in another color so you can tell what text you are adding to the original file. You can share the notes online with someone very easily.
I became hooked on this pen, although I rarely used it to record my sales calls – there would have been probably some resistance to recording my these calls if I would have asked. I mostly used the recording part when I was on conference calls, that way if I lost track of the call multi-tasking, I could go back and review. Many times when I went to seminars I would use the recording aspect which works fantastic. The pen has so many optional size tablets and what I find very useful is the ability to record follow up info tied to my notes. So, if you were going out to meet with a client, after you take notes, when you leave and get to your car, you can quickly re-cap your notes and you can add commentary by just clicking record at the bottom and start talking, when you are done – click stop. The nice thing that whatever page you click the record on, the audio stays attached to that page.
This is a must have gadget that will help make you more organized. If you get to a point that you could use these with your customers, it would definitely benefit you to be able to go back and review your presentations. That would help serve as not only a backup plan, plus a critique as well so you can improve on your presentation.
Go get yourself a Livescribe! Thanks for visiting The Sales Plan and be sure to subscribe to receive regular updates.
