If you’re chasing deals, you know the pain: scattered meeting notes, months-old to-dos, and that one action item buried in a transcript you’ll never find again. This guide is for anyone using Vowel who wants to spend less time digging through past meetings—and more time moving deals forward.
Let’s cut through the noise. Here’s how to actually organize and search your meeting notes in Vowel so you can close faster, follow up smarter, and stop wasting time.
Step 1: Set Up a Simple, Repeatable Note-Taking Structure
You don’t need a fancy template. But you do need consistency.
Why bother?
If every meeting note looks different, searching later is a nightmare. A basic, repeatable format keeps you (and your team) sane.
What works: - Start with the basics: Date, attendee names, and deal/customer name at the top. - Use clear sections: For sales calls, “Agenda,” “Needs/Pain Points,” “Next Steps,” and “Questions.” - Bullet points over paragraphs: Easy to scan and search later. - Action items get their own section (ideally with the assignee’s name).
Pro tip:
Copy-paste your structure into Vowel’s agenda before each call. If you’re in a hurry, even rough headings are better than nothing.
What doesn’t:
- Trying to capture every word. The transcript covers that. Notes are for highlights and decisions.
- Relying only on memory. You will forget. Everyone does.
Step 2: Use Vowel’s Agenda and Live Notes Features—But Don’t Overcomplicate It
Vowel has some handy tools, but it’s easy to get bogged down if you try to use every feature.
How to make it work: - Set up your agenda before the call. Even three bullet points is better than starting from zero. - Take live notes during the call. Type directly into the shared notes section so everyone can see and add to them. - Mark action items as you go. Assign owners and deadlines in the notes—don’t wait until the end.
What to ignore:
- Overusing formatting. Bold, italics, and highlights are nice, but messy notes with too much styling are harder to scan.
- Taking notes after the meeting. By then, you’ve forgotten half of what mattered.
Step 3: Tag, Title, and Organize Meetings for Fast Retrieval
The search function is only as good as the info you put in.
What actually helps: - Use descriptive meeting titles. “Acme Corp – Q2 Renewal Kickoff” beats “Call with John.” - Include deal stage or type in the title when possible. e.g., “Discovery,” “Demo,” “Negotiation.” - Tag meetings in Vowel with keywords (if your team uses tags). Use consistent terms: client name, product line, or sales stage.
What to skip:
- Cryptic abbreviations only you understand.
- Relying on memory for who said what, when—future you will not thank you.
Step 4: Use Search the Right Way (and Avoid the Pitfalls)
Vowel’s search is powerful, but only if you use it well.
How to get what you need, fast: - Search for names, companies, or specific keywords (“budget,” “timeline,” “concern,” “next steps”). - Filter by date range if you know roughly when the meeting happened. - Look inside transcripts and notes—Vowel indexes both, so don’t just search titles.
What doesn’t work so well: - Vague searches like “call” or “meeting”—you’ll get too many results. - Hoping AI summaries will always get it right. They’re handy, but not perfect, especially for nuanced or complex deals.
Pro tip:
If you reference the same question or objection a lot (“What’s your integration roadmap?”), start using a standard phrase so you can search for it later.
Step 5: Link and Share Notes to Keep the Team (and Yourself) Aligned
The fastest way to slow down a deal? Miscommunication and repeated questions.
How to stay on the same page: - Share meeting notes right after the call. Vowel makes this easy—just hit share and send the link to your team or CRM. - Link notes to your CRM or deal tracker. Even a simple copy-paste of the Vowel link can save headaches later. - Keep follow-up items visible. If you promised to send docs, schedule a demo, or check pricing, note it clearly and assign an owner.
What to ignore: - Endless email threads recapping every meeting. The notes and recording are right there in Vowel.
Pro tip:
For recurring deals or accounts, keep a running doc with links to all past Vowel meetings. It’s way faster than searching every time.
Step 6: Review and Prune Old Notes Regularly
Nobody likes digital clutter. Outdated notes can slow you down and confuse new team members.
How to keep things tidy: - Archive or tag closed/lost deals. That way, your active pipeline stays front and center. - Review notes for dead deals quarterly—delete or move them if you’re done. - Clean up duplicate or draft meetings (like those test calls you did).
What to ignore: - Holding onto every single note forever. If you haven’t looked at it in six months and it’s not legally required, consider letting go.
Honest Pros and Cons of Using Vowel for Meeting Notes
Let’s be real—no tool is perfect. Here’s how Vowel stacks up:
What works well: - One place for notes, recordings, transcripts, and action items. - Search is fast and covers transcripts, notes, and titles. - Easy sharing and linking for collaboration.
Where things can get messy: - Inconsistent note-taking across team members can make searching a pain. - Transcripts aren’t always perfect. Heavy accents, crosstalk, or jargon can trip up the AI. - If you don’t organize as you go, it’s hard to fix later. Clean-up is possible, but nobody has time for that.
What to ignore: - Hype about “AI doing it all for you.” It’s helpful, but you still need to be intentional about structure and clarity.
A Few Quick Wins to Try Today
- Make a basic meeting notes template and save it in Vowel’s agenda.
- Rename your last five meetings with clear, searchable titles.
- Try searching for a recent action item and see how fast you can find it.
- Share your next meeting note link with your team or CRM.
- Archive one old deal to keep your workspace clean.
Keep it simple. Don’t chase fancy workflows—just get the basics right, and you’ll spend less time searching and more time closing. Iterate as you go, and remember: organized notes aren’t just for you—they’re for future you (and your team), too.