sales-cresta

What this skill does

# Cresta Platform Help

## Step 1 — Gather context

If `references/learnings.md` exists, read it first for accumulated platform knowledge.

1. **What do you need help with?**
   - A) AI Agent setup (virtual agents for voice/chat)
   - B) Agent Assist configuration (real-time coaching, Knowledge Agent, AI Summaries)
   - C) Conversation Intelligence (Insights, Coach, Quality Management, AI Analyst)
   - D) Agent Operations Center (monitoring human + AI agents)
   - E) Integrations (CCaaS, CRM, knowledge management)
   - F) Comparing Cresta to another platform
   - G) Implementation planning
   - H) Other

2. **What's your current setup?**
   - A) Evaluating Cresta — haven't started
   - B) Purchased but in implementation
   - C) Running but having issues
   - D) Expanding to additional modules or teams

3. **What's your CCaaS / telephony?**
   - A) Five9
   - B) Amazon Connect
   - C) NICE CXone
   - D) Genesys Cloud CX
   - E) Avaya
   - F) Twilio
   - G) Cisco
   - H) LivePerson
   - I) Other

4. **Primary use case?**
   - A) Sales (revenue growth, upsell/cross-sell)
   - B) Customer care (cost optimization, CSAT)
   - C) Retention (churn reduction)
   - D) Collections (compliance + efficiency)
   - E) Multiple

Skip-ahead rule: if the user's prompt already contains enough context, skip to Step 2.

## Step 2 — Route or answer directly

| Problem domain | Route to |
|---|---|
| Building a coaching program or training cadence | `/sales-coaching {user's question}` |
| Reviewing a specific call transcript for coaching | `/sales-call-review {user's question}` |
| Choosing between note-taker/conversation intelligence platforms | `/sales-note-taker {user's question}` |
| General CRM/tool integration patterns (Zapier, webhooks) | `/sales-integration {user's question}` |

Otherwise, answer directly using the platform reference below.

## Step 3 — Cresta platform reference

**Read `references/platform-guide.md`** for the full platform reference — modules, pricing, integrations, data model, workflows.

Answer the user's question using only the relevant section. Don't dump the full reference.

## Step 4 — Actionable guidance

You no longer need the platform guide — focus on the user's specific situation.

**Implementation priority order:**
1. Define use case scope — which conversations (sales, care, retention, collections) and channels (voice, chat, both)
2. Connect your CCaaS platform — Cresta needs the audio/text stream before anything works
3. Feed historical conversation data — Cresta's AI trains on your org's past conversations to learn winning behaviors
4. Deploy Agent Assist first — real-time coaching for human agents is the fastest time-to-value
5. Configure Quality Management — automated QA scoring on 100% of conversations
6. Build AI Agents last — virtual agents require the most tuning and testing before production

**When comparing to Balto:** Cresta is broader (AI virtual agents + agent assist + conversation intelligence vs Balto's real-time guidance focus). Cresta targets larger enterprises with deeper analytics and AI agent capabilities. Balto deploys faster (45-60 days vs Cresta's months) and has more transparent pricing.

**When comparing to Gong:** Cresta is contact center-focused (high-volume, many agents, compliance). Gong is sales-focused (deal intelligence, forecasting, field sales coaching). Different buyers, different problems.

If you discover a gotcha, workaround, or tip not covered in `references/learnings.md`, append it there.

## Gotchas

> *Best-effort from research — review these, especially items about plan-gated features and integration gotchas that may be outdated.*

- **No public API documentation.** Developer portal at developers.cresta.com exists but API docs are behind auth/demo request. Can't evaluate API scope before buying. Ask for API docs during evaluation.
- **Implementation timeline is months, not weeks.** Unlike lightweight tools, Cresta requires CCaaS integration, historical data ingestion, AI model training on your conversations, workflow configuration, and agent training. Plan for 3-6 months.
- **Pricing is opaque and enterprise-level.** AWS Marketplace shows $150K/yr for 125K chats or 100K calls, plus $1.20-$1.50 per additional interaction. Smaller deployments reportedly start around $60K/yr. Always get a written quote with module breakdown.
- **Transcription accuracy varies.** G2 reviews report inconsistent transcription, especially with accents, background noise, or fast speech. This affects real-time coaching accuracy since guidance depends on understanding what's being said.
- **Backend integration requires technical resources.** Users report difficulty integrating with existing systems. Expect to involve your engineering team, not just ops.
- **Vendor lock-in risk.** Cresta restricts third-party AI access to your conversation data, limiting architectural flexibility if you want to switch platforms later.

## Related skills

- `/sales-coaching` — Sales coaching and training programs
- `/sales-call-review` — Review specific sales calls and extract coaching insights
- `/sales-note-taker` — AI note-taker selection and API integration
- `/sales-balto` — Balto platform help (real-time AI coaching for contact centers, fastest deployment)
- `/sales-enthu` — Enthu.AI platform help (affordable contact center QA alternative)
- `/sales-salesken` — Salesken platform help (real-time in-call coaching, multilingual, APAC focus)
- `/sales-gong` — Gong platform help (revenue intelligence for sales teams)
- `/sales-integration` — Tool integration patterns
- `/sales-do` — Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install: `npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-do`

## Examples

### Example 1: Evaluating Cresta for a large contact center
**User says**: "We have 500 agents on Five9 and want AI to help with real-time coaching and QA"
**Skill does**:
1. Explains Cresta's Agent Assist module — Knowledge Agent for real-time answers, Behavioral Guidance for coaching prompts
2. Walks through Quality Management for automated QA on 100% of conversations
3. Covers Five9 integration requirements and timeline
4. Compares pricing ($60K-$150K/yr) against Balto (~$100-150/agent/mo) and Enthu.AI (~$15-69/user/mo) for similar capabilities
**Result**: Full evaluation framework with pricing comparison, integration timeline, and module recommendations

### Example 2: AI virtual agent deployment
**User says**: "We want to automate 30% of customer service calls with AI agents"
**Skill does**:
1. Explains Cresta's AI Agent suite — Discovery, Build, Test & Deploy, Optimize lifecycle
2. Walks through the Agent Operations Center for monitoring AI + human agents
3. Covers guardrail strategy (system rules, real-time supervision, adversarial testing)
4. Sets expectations on timeline and training data requirements
**Result**: AI agent deployment plan with monitoring setup and guardrail configuration

### Example 3: Cresta vs Balto for compliance
**User says**: "We're in financial services and need real-time compliance monitoring during calls"
**Skill does**:
1. Compares Cresta's compliance approach (conversation intelligence + QA automation) vs Balto's (real-time PCI/HIPAA scanning with live alerts)
2. Evaluates deployment timelines — Balto at 45-60 days vs Cresta at 3-6 months
3. Reviews certifications — Cresta (ISO 42001, ISO 27701, PCI-DSS) vs Balto (SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, PCI DSS)
4. Provides pricing comparison and recommendation based on team size and urgency
**Result**: Side-by-side compliance comparison with deployment timeline and pricing analysis

## Troubleshooting

### Knowledge Agent returning irrelevant answers
**Symptom**: Real-time knowledge suggestions don't match what the customer is asking about
**Cause**: Knowledge sources may not be properly connected or indexed, or the AI model hasn't been trained on enough domain-specific data
**Solution**: Verify all knowledge sources are connec