Wellss

Channel sales

My company just added Gong to the tech stack

My company is going on a shopping spree with new tools & the newest one they just added to the stack is Gong. I know people have posted about Gong in here before & I don't know too much about it, but I'm simply looking for advice and thoughts around being a new Gong user.

Do people like the tool? Is it just another tool that I'll have to update with my call recordings? What's the overall consensus here?

From my understanding, it's a tool that will basically record my calls & give the managers a way to be even nosier than they already are. But maybe there's something I'm missing...

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JustGonnaSendIt

Politicker

Burn Towns, Get Money

Did you get the thong yet?

Gotta wear the Gong thong during the call so it can sense sphincter movements and report on that also. Somewhat like a high-end polygraph.

Fenderbaum

Politicker

Retired Choirboy🪕

I'm not sure that would be comfortable.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Discomfort is part of sales. :)

Rosie

Catalyst

Sales Director

Actually thongs are more comfortable than normal undies...

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

And discomfort is still part of sales. :)

Rosie

Catalyst

Sales Director

Of course

Rosie

Catalyst

Sales Director

This 😂😂😂😂🤌

Epictetus

Valued Contributor

SaaSy

It tightens every time you feature dump or go in front of the pendulum.

Wellss

Tycoon

Channel sales

I am now expecting a thong as part of the Gong onboarding. I will let my manager know asap

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

Bravado's Resident Asshole

@JustGonnaSendItthis name tied to this comment wins the thread.

salezkween

Opinionated

Enterprise Account Executive

We use Chorus and it’s my best friend. I don’t waste time taking notes in calls, I focus on what the prospect is saying and know I can always catch any nuance to what they said afterwards (if I miss it).

I send the call recording after the call to my prospect - snipped down only valuable moments.

I snip down valuable product feedback and share it with our product team. I snip and share technical questions and send it to my SE. I snip competitor mentions and share it to our competitive channel.

If I get a new question, I search Chorus analytics to see if other customers have talked about it to other reps before.

It pissed me TF off when reps don’t record their calls in Chorus (or Gong). Customers end up repeating themselves in subsequent calls when you bring in other people from your team. If someone leaves your organization and you inherit an opp mid funnel and there isn’t a recording you have to rely on their shitty SF notes.

Call recording is your best friend if you aren’t stubborn or shady enough not to use it.

Twenty20

Account Executive - MM

+1…

How many times has a customer agreed to something or been okay with something and then tried to rescind later on like it was a problem all along?

No longer an issue when you share the call recording right after.

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

My condolences. Let us know if you need a virtual hug at some point.

sleepingjaguar

Opinionated

CSM, Emerging Markets

Is it bad?

Wellss

Tycoon

Channel sales

Oh nooo 😂 this is what I was afraid of

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

May Gong have mercy on your soul...

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!

We aren't fans of it around here. Your understanding is correct.

Wellss

Tycoon

Channel sales

NOOOOOOO 😂 I was trying to be optimistic

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

One thing that confused me is don’t you need permission to record a call, that’s why in meetings when you hit record it says you are?

I know it depends on the state, like the show Crank Yankers did their calls in Nevada due to the law.

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

oh man...that would be a great way to screw with some BDR/AE who keeps bugging you and you know uses Gong. Tell them upfront that "I don't consent to being recorded" and see what happens. They probably wouldn't know what to do.

SoccerandSales

Big Shot

Account Executive

Personally, I don't hate it, but I also won't let gong into some of my calls so I can say whatever the hell I want

saaskicker

Celebrated Contributor

Enterprise AE

Check out the jobs tab!!!

Hosshead

Opinionated

Retired

I never was a fan.

ChumpChange

Politicker

Channel Manager

Sorry to hear that. Bravado group hug for @Wellss

Wellss

Tycoon

Channel sales

much needed it sounds like, thanks fam

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

We have Chorus for much the same reason. However, I kick it out of any call where my customer doesn't want it, or is not appropriate for recording.

The ai in these things is suspect, although I will say, grudgingly, I do appreciate the transcoding so I don't have to take as many notes. It's supposed to identify calls to action and next steps too, but it's erratic.

If it's truly used as a tool, so it goes, but as an EAE, I'm always leery of data for data's sake. It's super easy to make decisions based on either faulty data, or a misinterpretation of the data. Same goes for intel gathered by any AI.

You have my condolences.

thedue

Valued Contributor

VP of Sales

I am a fan. I use it on the calls that I lead and stronger encourage the team to use it throughout the deal cycle.

Some thoughts:

1- Are you worried about being exposed? Do you have something to hide? If not, let them listen. If you are missing your number, not as impactful, and know the gig is up, obviously you do not want to be exposed.

2- It should encourage the MGMT to NOT meddle to be honest. They will see and hear your calls, see your consistency, objectively determine how well you are articulating the company's POV and value, and after a few listens, will back off!

3- It helps you to speed up sales cycles by sharing prior recordings with VE, SE, CS or marketing. You can share parts of the call to support your internal partners to prioritize your business and ops. Once they hear the customer say something you hear every day, this will help them to hear the customer, without actually riding shotgun with you and the customer, and throwing off your mojo.

To be honest, if you are super engaged on all other tools, and communication platforms, hitting your outbound metrics, meetings and closed deals, you can probably get away with telling mgmt to stuff it! If not, I would encourage you to level up the above thoughts and toe the line a bit!

SDM

Politicker

Sales development manager

Never used it but heard a lot bad things about it here

TheIncarceration

Politicker

SDR Manager

From my experience its only helpful for someone new that's onboarding

Rosie

Catalyst

Sales Director

How can someone make a product that is so hated by sales people 😂

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

It's not as much the product as the ecosystem and "culture" they've evolved around it.

Rosie

Catalyst

Sales Director

True, company culture seems really cool though but apparently their product culture is something else. Strange

Rallier

Politicker

SDR Manager and Consultant

Unpopular opinion here I guess, but I actually love Gong. I can listen to other people's calls, record my own, and go back to take notes. The transcript is great because I can command f for certain words and parts of the call

KendallRoy

Politicker

Just turn it off like 90% of reps that are forced to use Gong, Chorus etc. I’ve had Chorus turned off for 6 months and haven’t been asked about it

Wellss

Tycoon

Channel sales

Good to know that I have that option 🙌

ObtaintheGrain

Opinionated

Account Executive

Gong is phenomenal... depending on how tenured you are it might be less helpful. For new reps, you can listen to any recorded call from more experienced reps and learn from them.

For experienced reps, it helps because you don't have to take as many notes and it help if you need to go back and remember something really specific the customer said. Also helps with training new reps because you can just send them a link to your old calls.

SaaStronaut

Executive

I worked at Gong, and have used it at a few companies. Here are a couple of thoughts:

1. The tool can be used for good or evil. Managers shouldn't be using it (they shouldn't have the time) to micromanage you, they should be using it to understand what's going on at a macro level.
2. Gong sells it's "Deals board" as basically an alternative to Clari and as a forecasting solution, but I think maybe like 10-20% of it's customers really use that functionality.
3. Bread and butter is the call recording and transcription. It's *such* a valuable solution for purposes of going back to review calls in detail - you pick up things you missed, and can use to move deals forward.
4. It can/should be used for prospecting as well. If there are closed/losts you can go after in SFDC, go into Gong and see if they've spoken to your company. If they have, listen to the highlights and use that context to reach back out.
5. Use the "Calls" page. If you're curious how to beat a certain competitor, use the filters to find discovery, demo, negotiation, etc calls your best reps have had against said competitor. This can be extrapolated to "how do I pitch this new product, this new pricing, etc.
6. You can impress others in your org by pulling "snippets" (specific meeting moments)and sending into slack to provide updates/context around deals; especially if you're selling as a team. E.g. "Team- an update on 'x'; their CRO can move forward but only if we're willing to include 'y' - you can hear additional context here (insert snippet).

Hope this is helpful

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

Bravado's Resident Asshole

Well… sorry about your luck

Wellss

Tycoon

Channel sales

Thanks bud, I appreciate it lol

ARRisLife

Politicker

Account Executive

In my opinion it could be great or terrible- all depending on how management wants to use the tool.

the pro's: having recordings of all your calls is great to go back and re-listen to meetings, im terrible at note taking and have chicken scratch and tend to lose focus from being "in" the conversation so gong lets me fully focus on having the best meeting and I can go back after.

Additionally, with everyones calls recorded, great opportunity to hear other people's calls, learn from their stakeholders, objections, and positioning. I never was fan of having new ppl join calls to spectate so this helps in that avenue.

the cons: leadership could overstep and start to micromanage, are you using their "approved" pitch and positioning.. it also tracks activity so you should be all over it but can open you up to vulnerability if you're hiding bad follow ups ect.

Overall- I think it's pretty cool, benefits are there. But all depends on how the org implements and manages it going forward.

Douglo

Opinionated

Sr Account Executive

I could not sell without Gong. Don't look at it like a tool to spy on you (you should be good enough to not mind your manager watching you) think of it as a way to look back on exactly what a customer said and easily share demo recordings with your team or customers.

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Wellss

My company just added Gong to the tech stack

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