With cellphones being the gadgets we cannot live without these days, it becomes more important now, more than ever, to keep track of the messages and phone calls we receive each day. For the latter, you can easily do this by using a phone log.
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Phone Log Templates
What is a phone log?
For businesses involved in a lot of communications, it becomes very essential and significant to practice call logging. You can collect, evaluate, and report the technical and statistical data in a phone log to get useful information.
Call logging usually involves using a phone log template to document all of the calls that transpire every day. The main purpose of this template is to jot down the incoming call origins, outgoing call destinations, start and end times of calls, and other relevant information.
In other words, this log serves as a register for incoming and outgoing calls each day along with other relevant details that you may need depending on your reason for keeping a log.
Call Log Templates
How do you document a phone call?
When you document a conversation over the phone in a phone log, it becomes a very useful tool that provides evidence in criminal matters, customer support training or business deals. If you want to document phone calls, using a phone log sheet isn’t the only way. Here are various ways to do this:
- Jot down the details of the conversation
This involves taking down notes with a paper and pen or typing on a computer during your conversation. Generally, you would only jot down the important details of your conversation including the time and date of the call and who was n the other end of the line. In most cases, should it become necessary, you can use these notes in legal proceedings. - Use a phone call recorder
You connect this device to a telephone to record your phone calls whenever you use the line. These devices are quite affordable – just between twenty to several hundred dollars. The price depends on the features you need. - Use an app on your smartphone
The really sophisticated smartphones today have built-in recording features that allow you to document all calls. As soon as you use this feature, you can start recording all of the calls that you make. - Use a microphone or digital recorder
You can connect these devices to a recorder or computer to capture conversations from a speakerphone. Both a voice recorder and a computer microphone are quite cheap and readily available in most electronic stores. You may choose one depending on your needs and budget.
The importance of a phone log
Before you start making your own call log templates, you should first find out what benefits you can derive from having this simple document. The benefits of using a phone log can be very good, especially if you’re dealing with plenty of phone calls every day:
- To keep track of and control costs
If you’re constrained by a budget, it could be very helpful for you to start keeping a log so that you can record all of the calls made from your phones. - To prevent hacking
One of the main problems of businesses today is the hacking of phone systems. Sadly, this practice is on the rise again because of the rapid pace of modernization. If you’re using a log, you can immediately identify unauthorized calls made from your phones but are not written down on your log. As such, you can do something to rectify the situation. - To monitor your major accounts
This is especially true for call centers or sales businesses. The log can provide you with information on which accounts perform the best, who requires training, and how efficient your agents are. - To monitor the progress of your goals
When you have goals that you need to accomplish – either existing or new ones – you will need to find a way to keep track of the progress of your employees and the log can help you with this. For instance, in an organization like a call center, you can use a log to monitor the progress of your agents and determine if they’re meeting all of their quotas.
Phone Log Sheets
How do I create a call log in Excel?
Using Microsoft’s Excel enables you to make a phone log that you can use to keep track of your communications. These templates may include tables with categories that you can sort like names, call times, and phone numbers to help you keep your data organized.
Moreover, you can also customize a business or sales call log with the software’s ribbon tools to make the content more meaningful. You can update a log on one sheet and a list of contacts on another.
This allows you to access more details – like addresses and websites – to help you organize all of your network data. Here are the steps to create your log on Excel:
- Click on the File tab on the command ribbon then choose New to see the template thumbnails.
- Input call log in the Search for Online Templates field then press Enter on your keyboard to see the results.
- Choose the Sales Call Log and Organizer thumbnail to get a preview of the template and a description. Click on Download or Create to copy the template of your choice to a new workbook.
- Click on one of the lower sheet tabs and give it a name like Client Contact Info or Sales Call Log.
- Customize the table design by choosing a range of cells or a single cell then click on the Design tab on the Table Tools ribbon. Click on the More button on the Styles gallery to see the Table Styles chart and the display thumbnails listed Light, Medium, and Custom sections.
- Hover over one of the thumbnails to see the effect on the table. Choose a thumbnail like Table Style Medium 1 to update the design of the table. Continue styling your worksheet with your preferred design.
- Input the contacts’ data on the worksheet. Include other details as needed too.
- Compile all of the call details on one worksheet or use different sheets for different information.
- Press Ctrl + S to save your work. Input a file name and choose the file type. Finally, click on Save to save your worksheet.
