Sales Call Prep: Never Go Into a Call Blind Again

Calendar notification: "Acme Corp CFO call in 30 minutes."

You scramble:

1. Open CRM → read account notes (5 minutes)
2. Search email → find last correspondence (5 minutes)
3. Check calendar → review past meeting notes (3 minutes)
4. Ask Slack: "Anyone talked to Acme recently?" (wait for responses, 5-10 minutes)
5. Check pricing discussions, competitor mentions, feature requests
6. Total time: 20-25 minutes

You still miss: CS team Slack mention from yesterday (they're evaluating competitors). Email from procurement (sent the security questionnaire). Meeting recording from 3 weeks ago where CFO asked about SOC2 compliance.

You go into the call half-informed. When the CFO says "We sent over that security questionnaire," you pause: "Let me look into that and get back to you." Not a confidence builder.

Zine transforms call prep: Search "Acme Corp" → Get CRM notes + email threads + Slack mentions + meeting transcripts. Complete context in 30 seconds.

Table of Contents

1. The Manual Prep Problem
2. The Zine Auto-Prep Solution
3. Setup: One-Time Configuration
4. Before Every Call: The 30-Second Prep
5. During the Call: Real-Time Context Search
6. After the Call: Automated Documentation
7. Real Sales Scenarios
8. Best Practices

The Manual Prep Problem

Typical Pre-Call Workflow (20-30 minutes)

Step 1: Check CRM (5 minutes)

• Open Salesforce/HubSpot/Attio
• Find account: "Acme Corp"
• Read:
  • Deal stage (Negotiation)
  • Last activity (2 weeks ago - demo call)
  • Notes (PM mentioned SOC2 compliance)

Step 2: Search Email (5-7 minutes)

• Gmail search: "Acme Corp"
• 47 results (noisy)
• Manually find relevant threads:
  • Pricing discussion (3 emails)
  • Technical questions (5 emails)
  • Procurement inquiry (sent yesterday - easy to miss)

Step 3: Check Meeting History (3-5 minutes)

• Search calendar for past Acme meetings
• Find 3 past calls
• Try to locate notes (if anyone wrote them)
• Skim for key points

Step 4: Ask Team (5-10 minutes)

• Slack #sales: "Anyone talked to Acme recently?"
• Wait for responses
• Maybe someone mentions: "CS team chatted with them yesterday"
• Search #customer-success manually

Step 5: Check Competitors (2-3 minutes)

• Email search: "Acme + [competitor name]"
• Slack search: Same
• Try to remember if they mentioned competitors in past calls

Total: 20-30 minutes of frantic searching.

Result: Incomplete context. You found 70% of information, missed critical 30% (yesterday's CS Slack discussion, procurement email, feature request buried in old email).

The Zine Auto-Prep Solution

The 30-Second Pre-Call Workflow

Step 1: Open Zine, search customer name

Acme Corp

30 seconds later, Zine returns:

CRM Summary (Attio):

• Deal stage: Negotiation ($150k ARR)
• Decision makers: CFO (John), VP Eng (Sarah)
• Status: Waiting on security review

Recent Email Threads (5 most relevant):

1. Yesterday: Procurement sent security questionnaire
2. Last week: Pricing discussion (they want 20% discount)
3. 2 weeks ago: Follow-up from demo call
4. 3 weeks ago: Initial inquiry
5. 1 month ago: Feature request (SSO)

Slack Mentions (across #sales, #customer-success):

1. Yesterday: CS team noted they're evaluating Competitor X
2. Last week: AE mentioned CFO is budget-constrained
3. 2 weeks ago: Demo feedback (loved integrations, asked about mobile)

Meeting Transcripts (3 past calls):

1. 3 weeks ago: Initial discovery call
   • Key quote (14:32): "SOC2 compliance is mandatory for us"
   • Key quote (28:15): "Mobile app is a nice-to-have, not required"
2. 2 weeks ago: Product demo
   • Key quote (05:20): "Impressed by API integrations"
   • Key quote (31:10): "How does pricing work for our team size?"
3. 1 week ago: Technical deep-dive
   • Key quote (18:45): "VP Eng asked about on-premise deployment"

GitHub/Notion Context (if relevant):

• Notion: SSO feature in Q4 roadmap (they asked about this)
• GitHub: On-premise deployment not supported (they asked about this)

You now know:

• ✅ Security questionnaire sent yesterday (address in call)
• ✅ CS team mentioned competitor evaluation (counter in call)
• ✅ Pricing is a sticking point (prepare discount justification)
• ✅ CFO asked about SOC2 (we have it, mention)
• ✅ They want SSO (it's in roadmap, share timeline)
• ✅ They asked about on-premise (we don't support, offer cloud alternatives)

Prep time: 30 seconds of search + 2 minutes of reading.

You go into the call fully informed.

Setup: One-Time Configuration

Step 1: Connect Sales & CS Tools

Required:

1. CRM: Attio (or Salesforce/HubSpot via custom integration)
2. Email: Gmail or Outlook
3. Calendar: Google Calendar or Microsoft Calendar
4. Slack: #sales, #customer-success channels

Recommended: 5. Meeting recordings: Zoom, Google Meet, Teams transcripts 6. Support tickets: Zendesk, Intercom (if CS team uses)

Initial sync: 1-3 hours (one-time)

Step 2: Tag Customer Accounts (Optional)

In Zine, create Collections for account segments:

"Active Deals": All prospects in negotiation "Enterprise Accounts": High-value customers "At-Risk": Accounts with churn signals

Filter by collection for focused prep.

Step 3: Create Saved Searches

"My Accounts":

from:my-email-address OR assigned-to:me

"This Week's Calls":

source:calendar after:today

"Pricing Discussions":

pricing OR discount OR contract

Before Every Call: The 30-Second Prep

Query Template

[Customer Name]

Or be more specific:

[Customer Name] pricing OR objection OR feature request

What to Look For

1. Recent Activity (last 7 days):

• New emails (especially procurement, legal, executive)
• Slack mentions (what's your team saying about them?)
• CRM updates (deal stage changes, notes added)

2. Open Issues:

• Unresolved objections
• Pending questions
• Blocked items

3. Past Promises:

• "We'll get back to you on X" (from meeting transcripts)
• Feature requests (from email, Slack)
• Timeline commitments

4. Competitor Mentions:

• "They're looking at Competitor X"
• Why they're considering alternatives
• How we compare

5. Decision Maker Preferences:

• CFO cares about ROI (mentioned in past calls)
• VP Eng cares about security (asked about SOC2, encryption)
• IT admin cares about ease of deployment (asked about on-premise)

During the Call: Real-Time Context Search

Keep Zine open (laptop, second monitor).

Mid-call, customer asks: "What's your integration with Salesforce like?"

Quick search:

Salesforce integration

Zine returns:

• Notion: "Integrations List" (Salesforce marked as supported)
• GitHub: salesforce-connector repo
• Customer email: Past customer asked about Salesforce, confirmed working

You respond confidently: "Yes, we support Salesforce. In fact, [Customer X] uses it daily. I can show you a demo after this call."

No awkward pause. No "I'll get back to you."

After the Call: Automated Documentation

Record the Call

Option 1: Auto-Sync Meeting Recordings

• If Zoom/Google Meet/Teams recording auto-saves to Drive/OneDrive
• Zine ingests automatically (next sync)

Option 2: Manual Upload

• Upload recording to Zine
• Zine transcribes (5-10 minutes processing)

Generate Call Summary

Query Zine:

Summarize my call with Acme Corp on November 13

Zine AI generates:

## Acme Corp CFO Call - November 13, 2025

### Attendees
- Acme Corp: John (CFO), Sarah (VP Eng)
- Our team: You, Sales Engineer (Bob)

### Key Discussions
1. **Pricing**: CFO requested 20% discount for 50-user plan
   - Justification: Budget constraints
   - Our response: Offered 10% for annual commitment
   - Status: CFO will discuss with finance team

2. **Security**: CFO confirmed SOC2 compliance mandatory
   - Our response: Confirmed we have SOC2 Type II
   - Action item: Send security documentation by Friday

3. **SSO Request**: VP Eng asked about SSO timeline
   - Our response: Q4 roadmap, beta in December
   - They're willing to wait if timeline is firm

### Action Items
- [ ] Send SOC2 documentation to John (Due: Friday)
- [ ] Schedule technical deep-dive with Sarah (Next week)
- [ ] Follow up on pricing after finance review (Monday)

### Next Steps
- CFO will review pricing internally
- Decision expected by end of month
- Strong signal: "This looks promising"

Export to CRM: Click "Export" → Updates Attio/Salesforce with call notes.

Time saved: 15-20 minutes writing call notes manually.

Real Sales Scenarios

Scenario 1: The Blind-Sided AE

Without Zine:

• AE goes into call with Acme Corp
• Customer: "We're concerned about your competitor's new feature"
• AE: "Oh, I wasn't aware they launched that..." (credibility lost)

With Zine:

• AE searches "Acme Corp" before call
• Zine surfaces: Slack #sales mention from 2 days ago: "Acme evaluating Competitor X's new feature Y"
• AE goes into call prepared: "I saw you're looking at Competitor X's new feature Y. Let me show you how we approach that differently..."
• Credibility maintained, objection handled proactively

Scenario 2: The Forgotten Promise

Without Zine:

• Call with Widget Inc
• Customer: "You said you'd send the case study 2 weeks ago"
• AE: "Oh right, let me... I'll send that today." (looks disorganized)

With Zine:

• AE searches "Widget Inc" before call
• Zine surfaces: Meeting transcript from 2 weeks ago (timestamp: 28:15): "AE promised to send Acme Corp case study"
• AE sends case study before the call
• Mentions in call: "I sent over that case study we discussed"
• Customer: "Yes, got it, thank you!" (competent, organized)

Scenario 3: The Context-Rich Close

Without Zine:

• Call with Startup Co, trying to close deal
• Generic pitch, no personalization
• Doesn't reference their specific concerns
• Close rate: 25%

With Zine:

• AE searches "Startup Co" before call
• Zine shows:
  • Email: They're worried about onboarding complexity
  • Slack #customer-success: Similar customer (TechCorp) onboarded in 1 day
  • Meeting transcript: They mentioned budget is tight
• AE tailors pitch:
  • "I know onboarding is a concern. TechCorp went live in 1 day—I can connect you with them."
  • "On pricing, we have a startup plan at $X/month."
• Close rate: 60% (personalized, addressed concerns)

Best Practices

1. Create "Pre-Call Briefing" Alert

Automate prep:

Alert Name: "Today's Calls Context"
Query:

Customers from today's calendar meetings
AND their recent activity (email, Slack, CRM)
from the last 7 days

Schedule: Daily 8:00 AM
Format: Text summary
Delivery: Email

Benefit: Wake up to prep briefing for all today's calls.

2. Create Saved Views by Deal Stage

"Active Negotiations":

crm:deal-stage=negotiation

"At-Risk Accounts":

crm:health=at-risk OR slack mentions 'cancel' OR 'unhappy'

"Expansion Opportunities":

crm:plan=starter AND email mentions 'upgrade' OR 'more users'

3. Tag Key Accounts

In Zine, tag important accounts:

• Tag: "Enterprise" for large deals
• Tag: "Technical" for eval-heavy prospects
• Tag: "Fast-Close" for hot leads

Filter by tag for focused prep.

4. Use Timeline View for Deal History

Query customer name → Switch to Timeline View

See chronological journey:

Oct 1 - Initial email inquiry
Oct 5 - Demo call (transcript available)
Oct 12 - Follow-up email (pricing questions)
Oct 18 - Slack #sales mention (deal stalled on pricing)
Oct 25 - CFO call (transcript available)
Nov 1 - Email (security questionnaire sent)
Nov 3 - Slack #customer-success (they're evaluating competitors)

Result: Full deal context, narrative flow.

5. Share Call Insights in Slack

After great calls:

• Post key insights in Slack #sales
• Example: "Acme Corp: SOC2 compliance is blocker, mobile app is nice-to-have"

Why: Next AE who talks to Acme finds this in Zine. Team knowledge compounds.

Next Steps

Now that you understand sales call prep with Zine:

1. ✅ Connect Tools: CRM (Attio), Gmail, Google Calendar, Slack #sales
2. ✅ Test Prep: Search a customer you're calling tomorrow
3. ✅ Create Pre-Call Alert: Automate daily call prep briefings
4. ✅ Use Timeline View: Understand deal progression
5. ✅ Document Calls: Let Zine transcribe and summarize
6. ✅ Share with Sales Team: Everyone gets better prep

Related Guides:

• Data Connectors - Connect CRM, email, calendar
• Slack Knowledge Base - Search sales team discussions
• Automated Alerts - Daily call prep briefings

Learn More:

• Try Zine - Free tier available
• Schedule a demo - Get help setting up sales workflow

Stop scrambling before calls. Start showing up prepared.