sales-gong

What this skill does

# Gong 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) Call recording, transcription, or Smart Tracker setup
   - B) API integration (transcripts, calls, deals, users)
   - C) Webhook automation rules
   - D) Gong Forecast module
   - E) Gong Engage (sequences/sales engagement)
   - F) Coaching scorecards and deal boards
   - G) CRM sync (Salesforce, HubSpot, Dynamics)
   - H) Pricing, plan selection, or ROI justification
   - I) Other

2. **What's your role?**
   - A) RevOps / admin configuring Gong
   - B) Developer integrating Gong API
   - C) Sales manager using coaching features
   - D) Rep using Gong day-to-day
   - E) Evaluating Gong vs alternatives

3. **Team size?**
   - A) <20 reps (may be overkill for Gong)
   - B) 20-100 reps (Gong sweet spot)
   - C) 100+ reps (enterprise)

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 |
|---|---|
| Picking a note-taker (Gong vs Fathom vs Fireflies vs Avoma) | `/sales-note-taker {user's question}` |
| Building a coaching program or training cadence | `/sales-coaching {user's question}` |
| Reviewing a specific sales call for coaching | `/sales-call-review {user's question}` |
| Revenue forecasting strategy (not Gong Forecast module) | `/sales-forecast {user's question}` |
| General CRM-to-tool integration patterns (Zapier, webhooks) | `/sales-integration {user's question}` |
| Deal health inspection or MEDDPICC assessment | `/sales-deal-inspect {user's question}` |

Otherwise, answer directly below.

## Step 3 — Gong 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.

**For Smart Tracker problems**: Start with fewer, more specific phrases (10-15 per tracker). Add negative examples to train the model. Review false positives weekly and refine. Expect 50-100 examples before accuracy improves meaningfully.

**For API integrations**: Queue all outbound calls — 3 req/sec is aggressive. Cache call metadata. Use webhooks for real-time, polling for backfill. The transcript endpoint is POST, not GET (common gotcha).

**For CRM sync**: Gong can only connect to one CRM at a time. Web conference calls appear in CRM within 15 minutes; config changes can take 2-24 hours. Initial sync can take up to 24 hours.

**For cost justification**: Frame ROI around coaching impact (ramp time reduction, win rate improvement) not feature count. Enterprise (100+ seats) sees best ROI. Mid-market (20-100) breaks even with high adoption. Under 20 reps, suggest Fathom or Fireflies instead.

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.*

- **Mandatory bundling (2024+)**: New contracts often require Forecast + Engage bundles at $250/user/month even if you only want conversation intelligence. Negotiate hard for CI-only pricing if that's all you need.
- **Transcript endpoint is POST, not GET.** Every other vendor uses GET for transcripts — Gong is the exception. This is the most common first-integration bug.
- **3 req/sec rate limit is real.** At 500 calls/day you'll hit it fast when fetching metadata + transcript + participants per call. Queue everything, cache aggressively, honor `Retry-After` headers.
- **Smart Trackers need 50-100 examples for accuracy.** Out of the box they rely on keyword matching, which generates high false-positive rates. Budget 40+ RevOps hours/month for training and tuning.
- **Gong Forecast is widely considered weak.** ~40% of Gong customers stack Clari on top for forecasting. If forecasting is your primary need, evaluate Clari first.
- **Gong Engage has known stability issues.** Multiple reviews report slowness and bugs. If sales engagement is your primary need, evaluate Salesloft or Outreach first.
- **CRM sync is one-way for many fields.** Gong logs activities (tasks/meetings) to CRM but does not auto-populate custom methodology fields, opportunity stages, or MEDDIC fields. You need automation rules or Zapier for that.
- **No bulk data export via UI.** Exporting calls requires downloading individually. For bulk access, you must build against the API — budget development time for this.
- **Support quality has declined (2024-2025).** Onboarding is often outsourced. Ticket resolution can take weeks. Factor in self-sufficiency when planning implementation.
- **Platform fee is mandatory.** $5K-$50K/year on top of per-user licensing, regardless of team size. This makes Gong disproportionately expensive for small teams.

## Related skills

- `/sales-note-taker` — Picking an AI note-taker (Gong vs Fathom vs Fireflies vs Avoma) or wiring its API into downstream systems
- `/sales-call-review` — Review a specific sales call for coaching or scoring
- `/sales-coaching` — Build coaching programs that consume Gong call data
- `/sales-forecast` — Revenue forecasting strategy (Gong Forecast is one tool, not the only approach)
- `/sales-deal-inspect` — Inspect deal health using Gong deal board data
- `/sales-integration` — General CRM/tool integration patterns (Zapier, webhooks, iPaaS)
- `/sales-salesloft` — Salesloft platform help (Salesloft Conversations is an alternative to Gong for call intelligence)
- `/sales-zoominfo` — ZoomInfo platform help (Chorus is an alternative to Gong for conversation intelligence)
- `/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: Smart Trackers returning false positives
**User says**: "Our Gong Smart Trackers keep flagging competitor mentions when the rep just says 'like' followed by a brand name — how do I reduce noise?"
**Skill does**:
1. Reads platform guide for Smart Tracker configuration details
2. Recommends switching from single-word triggers to multi-word phrases with context
3. Suggests adding negative example phrases to train the model
4. Advises a weekly review cadence for false positives (budget 2-3 hours/week)
5. Notes that 50-100 training examples are needed before accuracy improves meaningfully
**Result**: Specific tracker tuning plan with expected timeline

### Example 2: API integration for transcript pipeline
**User says**: "I need to pipe every Gong transcript into Snowflake for our BI team"
**Skill does**:
1. Reads platform guide and API reference for endpoint details
2. Recommends webhook-first architecture (automation rule fires on call processed)
3. Walks through the POST transcript endpoint (not GET — common gotcha)
4. Designs rate-limit-aware queueing (2 req/sec target against 3/sec limit)
5. Adds nightly reconcile job to catch missed webhooks
**Result**: Production-shaped pipeline architecture with specific endpoints and rate-limit design

### Example 3: Justifying Gong cost to leadership
**User says**: "My VP wants to know if Gong is worth $300K/year for 100 reps"
**Skill does**:
1. Reads platform guide pricing section for TCO breakdown
2. Frames ROI around coaching impact: ramp time reduction (target 20%), win rate improvement, deal velocity
3. Flags that ~40% of teams also add Clari for forecasting — factor that into TCO
4. Suggests piloting with 20-30 power users before full rollout
5. Provides Fathom/Fireflies as alternatives if the team can't justify enterprise pricing
**Result**: Balanced ROI analysis with honest caveats and alternatives

## Troubleshooting

### Smart Trackers miss importan