If you’re handling sales or customer success, you know the gold is in the calls. But recording and actually learning from customer calls? That’s usually where things fall apart. This guide is for teams who use Demodesk and want to get real value out of their call recordings—without drowning in features or busywork.
Let’s walk through how to record, review, and act on customer calls in Demodesk, so you can actually improve your team (not just tick a compliance box).
1. Setting Up Call Recording in Demodesk
Before you can analyze anything, you need good, reliable call recordings. Demodesk makes this pretty painless, but there are a few things to watch for.
Enable Recording for Meetings
- Default Settings: Go to your Demodesk dashboard, find the “Meeting Types” section, and check if recording is enabled for your main call types (demos, onboarding, support, etc). If not, flip the switch—done.
- User Permissions: Make sure your team members have the right permissions. Sometimes, only admins can toggle recording. If you hit a wall, ask your admin to check user roles.
Pro Tip: Don’t record every single meeting by default. Internal check-ins, quick preps, and “just coffee” calls don’t need to be saved forever. Focus on customer-facing meetings.
Legal Stuff: Don’t Skip This
- Consent: Depending on your country (and the customer’s), you might need to tell people they’re being recorded. Demodesk lets you add a disclaimer at the start of the meeting—use it. No one wants a compliance headache later.
- Privacy: Recordings are stored in the cloud. Make sure only the right people have access. If someone leaves your team, revoke their permissions.
2. Running an Effective Recorded Call
Recording is only half the job. If you want useful material to review later, make sure your calls are structured.
Use Demodesk’s Playbooks (But Don’t Overdo It)
- Templates: Demodesk lets you build “playbooks”—basically, call agendas with slides, notes, and questions. They keep calls on track.
- But…: Don’t cram every possible question into the playbook. Keep it light. If your team is just reading scripts, you’ll get boring, useless recordings.
Mark Important Moments
- Bookmarking: During a call, you can drop bookmarks or notes in Demodesk. Got a tough objection? Bookmark it. Customer lights up at a feature? Bookmark that too.
- This saves you hours when reviewing later. You don’t need to rewatch the entire call—just jump to the juicy parts.
Audio Quality Matters
- Make sure everyone’s using a decent mic. Nothing fancy—just not a laptop speaker in a noisy café.
- Test screen sharing before the call. Demodesk is pretty stable, but the occasional browser hiccup happens.
3. Reviewing and Analyzing Call Recordings
Here’s where most teams lose momentum. They record everything, but never watch anything. Here’s how to avoid that trap.
Find and Organize Your Recordings
- Dashboard: All recordings live in your Demodesk “Meetings” dashboard. You can filter by team member, meeting type, or date.
- Naming: Have your team add quick, specific titles or tags. “Acme Corp - Demo - Objection Handling” is 100x more useful than “Thursday Call.”
Make Review a Habit, Not a Chore
- Don’t try to review every call. Set aside 1-2 hours a week to watch highlights or pick one call per rep to dig into.
- Use bookmarks and notes to jump straight to the moments that matter.
What to Look For
- Objection Handling: Did your team fumble or nail tough questions?
- Product Demos: Are reps showing the right features, or getting lost in the weeds?
- Customer Feedback: Listen for recurring issues, requests, or pain points.
- Talk Time: Is your team talking too much? (Hint: They probably are.)
Sharing and Coaching
- Share clips, not entire calls. Nobody wants to watch an hour-long video. Use Demodesk’s sharing tools to send short, relevant segments.
- Give specific, actionable feedback. “Ask more open-ended questions” is better than “Do better next time.”
Pro Tip: If you see the same mistake three times in a week, it’s probably a process problem, not a “bad rep” problem.
4. Using Data for Continuous Improvement
Okay, you’ve got recordings and you’re actually reviewing them. Now what?
Spotting Patterns
- Use Demodesk’s analytics to track trends over time—like average talk time, objection frequency, or feature requests.
- If you see a dip in close rates after a new pitch deck rolls out, check the recordings. Maybe the deck is confusing, or reps are skipping key slides.
Updating Playbooks and Training
- Don’t let playbooks get stale. After a few weeks of reviews, update your templates to reflect what’s working (and ditch what isn’t).
- Turn good calls into training material. Build a mini-library of “great objection handling” or “how to set next steps” clips.
Don’t Get Sucked Into Metrics Overload
- Demodesk offers a lot of data—don’t try to track everything. Pick 2-3 metrics that actually matter for your team. Ignore the rest, at least for now.
5. What Works, What Doesn’t, and What to Ignore
What Actually Helps
- Bookmarking and Notes: These save hours. Use them.
- Short, Focused Reviews: Watch highlights, not marathons.
- Real Feedback Loops: Use what you learn to update your process, not just to tick a box.
What’s Overhyped
- AI-Powered Insights: Demodesk (and every other tool) promises magic with AI. Sometimes it helps, mostly it spits out generic “action items.” Trust your own ears; use AI for summaries at best.
- Endless Metrics: Don’t drown in dashboards. Most teams need a handful of numbers, not a wall of graphs.
What to Skip
- Recording Everything, Forever: You don’t need a library of every call ever made. Review, learn, and move on.
- Over-Scripting: If your team sounds like robots, you’ll get bad calls and worse recordings.
6. Keeping It Simple and Iterating
The real value in recording and analyzing customer calls isn’t in the tech—it’s in building a habit. Start small: record your main calls, pick a few to review each week, and actually use what you learn to make your team better. Don’t wait for “perfect” processes or buy into every new feature.
Keep it simple, get feedback, and adjust as you go. The tools will change, the basics won’t.