How do I turn customer calls or meeting transcripts into LinkedIn content?

85%

say B2B buyers trust the customers of vendors in their industry, against 29% for vendors' salespeople, in Forrester's 2023 survey

Why are customer calls such good material?

Because they are where your buyers tell you, in their own words, what they are worried about. A post built on a question three customers asked this month is more likely to matter to the next prospect who reads it than a topic picked from a list of ideas.

Customers are also the voice buyers believe. In Forrester's 2023 survey on who B2B buyers trust, 85 percent said buyers trust the customers of vendors in their industry, while vendors' salespeople were the least trusted group at 29 percent. That is a reason to ground posts in what customers actually say, as long as you are honest about where it came from.

What should you look for in a transcript?

Read for patterns across several calls rather than the detail of one. These are the things worth marking.

• Questions that come up again and again, which make clear posts with direct answers.
• The exact words customers use for their problem, which are often plainer than yours.
• Objections and doubts, which make good posts when you answer them openly.
• Moments when a customer explained why they chose you, or nearly didn't.

Keep a running list as you go. One pattern seen across five calls is worth more than one striking line from a single call, because it is far more likely to be true of the people you want to reach.

How do you turn a pattern into a post?

Write it from your side of the conversation. Instead of reporting what a customer said, explain what you have learned from hearing it many times and what you would tell someone facing the same problem. The insight is yours, so the post is too.

The quickest route is often to talk it through. Read the pattern back, then explain your view out loud, by voice or on camera, as if a new customer had just asked. That answer usually makes a better first draft than anything you could lift from the call.

What permissions do you need?

Start with the recording itself. Rules on recording calls differ from place to place, so the simple habit is to tell everyone at the start that you are recording and why, and to use a tool your company has approved for customer data.

Then treat what is said as confidential by default. Keep customers anonymous unless they have agreed to be named, and change details such as the industry or the size of a deal if they would give someone away.

If a post passes on a customer's opinion of your product, the FTC's guidance on endorsements is the reference point in the United States. It says an endorsement must reflect the honest opinion of the person giving it, and the Endorsement Guides say a customer's words may not be reworded to distort their opinion. So never stretch what a customer said, even in a paraphrase.

What should stay out of your posts?

Anything a customer told you in confidence, such as their numbers, their plans, their problems with a colleague or a supplier, or anything they said while upset. Leave out prices or terms you agreed with them too. The test is simple. If the customer read the post, would they be glad you wrote it? If not, rework it or drop it.