Call Summary Template: Decisions, Actions, Open Questions

The template

Copy this into your notes app and fill it in straight after the call:

Call: [topic], [date], with [people]
Overview: [one or two sentences on where things stand]

Decisions
- [what was agreed]

Action items
- [what], [owner], by [date]

Open questions
- [what we still don’t know], [who will find out]

Corrections (if any)
- [what was said], the correct version is [what’s right]

A filled-in example

Here’s the template applied to a supplier call:

Call: Packaging renewal, with Dana (Northline)
Overview: Northline offers 8% off list, tied to 50,000 units a year. Price and delivery are still open against our other quote.

Decisions
- We compare once the written quote arrives, and don’t commit before then.

Action items
- Send delivery schedule and written quote: Dana, by Friday
- Share the volume forecast with Dana: me, by Friday

Open questions
- Are the delivery dates firm? Dana to check with the plant.
- What does DAP mean for who pays for freight?

Corrections
- I said the contract renews in June. The term ends on 30 April.

How to write each section

• Overview: write it so someone who wasn’t on the call knows where things stand. Lead with the outcome, not the agenda.
• Decisions: list only what’s really settled. If you’re not sure both sides agreed, it belongs under open questions.
• Action items: every item gets one owner and a date. “We should look into pricing” isn’t an action. “Sam sends pricing by Tuesday” is.
• Open questions: don’t leave these out to make the call look tidier. They’re what your next call is for.
• Corrections: skip this if nothing changed. If something did, say so here so that the corrected version is the one people remember.

What you leave out matters as well. A summary isn’t minutes. Nobody needs the order in which things came up or who said what first, unless it affects the outcome.

A follow-up email you can send

Keep the note around the summary short. People should be able to reply with one line:

That last sentence does a lot of work. It invites corrections, so a misunderstanding surfaces now and not in three months, and it gives you a written record that the other side had a chance to object.

Getting the summary without writing it

A summary is only as good as what you caught during the call, so good live notes are what make this quick. You can also let software produce the draft. psstbee ends each call with a summary in this shape: overview, key points, decisions, action items with owners and due dates, open questions, corrections, and which of your goals were answered. You can copy it as Markdown.

Review any AI summary before you send it. Check names, numbers and owners in particular, since those are the mistakes that cost you.

Common questions