Gong.io AI Tool

Gong is a Revenue Intelligence Platform designed to help sales teams capture, analyze, and optimize customer interactions. It records calls, transcribes conversations, and uses AI to provide insights that improve sales performance. By integrating with CRM tools like Salesforce and HubSpot, Gong automates data entry and highlights deal risks, coaching opportunities, and pipeline trends.

Gong AI is an advanced, purpose-built artificial intelligence solution for revenue teams. It leverages patented technologies to detect, generate, guide, automate, and predict critical aspects of the sales process, helping teams boost productivity, increase predictability, and drive revenue growth.

What is Revenue Intelligence?

Revenue Intelligence is the process of using AI-driven insights from sales conversations to drive smarter decision-making. Unlike basic call transcription tools, it analyzes speech patterns, sentiment, and customer objections to improve sales strategies. Companies use it to track trends, predict deal success, and coach sales teams based on real interactions.

How Gong’s AI Works

• Concept-Based Tracking – Instead of just detecting keywords, Gong identifies broader topics and trends.

• Talk Ratio Analysis – Measures how much each participant speaks.

• Basic Sentiment Analysis – Identifies positive or negative tones based on predefined language markers.

While Gong presents itself as an effortless, AI-powered revenue intelligence tool, the reality is far more complicated. Businesses expecting a simple meeting recorder or an easy-to-use analytics platform often find themselves buried in complex integrations, data overload, and hidden costs.

From syncing your entire calendar to having an AI record and analyze every conversation, Gong demands deep system access and a level of technical expertise that most teams aren’t prepared for. Even after onboarding, users report inaccurate transcriptions, unnecessary data, and privacy concerns—all while paying a hefty price tag. There are plenty of discussions online about Gong in places such as G2, TrustRadius, and Reddit, if you are interested in how the tool is viewed by users.

How Gong Captures & Analyzes Sales Conversations

Gong functions as a virtual meeting participant, joining scheduled calls through Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and other conferencing platforms. It identifies meetings by integrating with Google Calendar or Outlook, allowing it to either automatically join based on preset rules or be manually invited by a sales rep. Once in the call, Gong records both audio and video, capturing not just the words spoken but also the tone, pacing, and structure of the conversation.

When the meeting ends, Gong uploads the recording to its cloud servers, running speech-to-text processing using Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR). At this stage, Speaker Diarization is applied to differentiate between speakers, ensuring that each segment of the transcript is correctly attributed. The text is then linked to timestamps in the recording so users can click on any sentence and immediately replay the corresponding moment in the conversation.

After transcription, Gong’s Natural Language Processing (NLP) algorithms analyze the conversation, breaking it down into structured data. It identifies patterns such as talk ratio (who spoke the most), objections, competitor mentions, and buying signals, then organizes this information into searchable and filterable categories. Rather than simply transcribing conversations, Gong attempts to provide sales teams with insights into what was said, how it was said, and what that might mean for deal success.

As well as content, Gong’s AI also evaluates tone, pacing, and engagement levels to assess the quality of the interaction. Tracking shifts in sentiment and levels of participation determines whether a prospect is enthusiastic, hesitant, or disengaged. It also measures how much time each participant spends speaking, identifying imbalances that might indicate an ineffective pitch or a lack of active listening from the sales rep.

Once the analysis is complete, Gong presents its findings in an interactive dashboard, where users can search transcripts, filter calls by different criteria, and sync insights to CRM platforms like Salesforce and HubSpot. These insights help sales teams track trends across multiple conversations, refine their messaging, and identify patterns that contribute to closed deals versus lost opportunities.

How Gong Processes Conversations: A Timeline

1. Pre-Call: Gong scans connected calendars (Google Calendar, Outlook) to detect upcoming sales calls. If auto-recording is enabled, Gong will join automatically; otherwise, sales reps can manually invite it.

2. During Call: Gong joins as a participant, recording both audio and video, and capturing verbal and non-verbal cues such as tone and pacing.

3. Post-Call Upload: The recorded conversation is uploaded to Gong’s cloud servers, where Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) converts speech to text and Speaker Diarization assigns dialogue to the correct participants.

4. AI Processing & Analysis: NLP algorithms break the conversation down into structured data points, identifying talk ratios, objections, sentiment shifts, competitor mentions, and buying signals.

5. Insight Delivery: Gong presents its findings in a searchable dashboard and syncs key insights to CRM systems like Salesforce and HubSpot to update deal tracking.

   
   

By automating this process, Gong aims to provide data-driven coaching insights, allowing sales teams to fine-tune their strategy based on real interactions. However, while its AI is powerful, it still requires human oversight to interpret insights accurately, as sentiment detection and objection tracking are not always contextually precise.

Integrating Gong with Your Tech Stack

Gong connects with various tools to automate call tracking, recording, and data updates, ensuring a streamlined workflow for sales teams.

• Calendar Integration: Gong links with Google Calendar and Outlook to detect scheduled sales meetings. If auto-recording is enabled, it joins the meeting automatically; otherwise, sales reps can invite it manually.

• CRM Systems: Gong integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Microsoft Dynamics, syncing conversation insights directly into deal records. This reduces the need for manual updates by adding transcripts, sentiment analysis, and key highlights to the CRM.

• Communication Platforms: Gong works with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, acting as a meeting participant to capture calls without extra setup.

For teams using Slack, email tracking, or custom tools, Gong provides API options and third-party connections, allowing businesses to tailor its functionality to their workflow. These integrations help sales teams keep records accurate, improve follow-ups, and gain useful insights without extra admin work.

Understanding Gong’s AI: Insights or Overload?

Gong’s AI is designed to analyze conversations, extract key insights, and provide sales teams with data-driven recommendations. It does this by running recorded calls through a combination of speech recognition, natural language processing (NLP), and machine learning models trained on thousands of sales interactions.

The AI first transcribes conversations, breaking them down into structured data. It then identifies key sales signals, such as objections, competitor mentions, and buying intent. By tracking talk ratios, engagement levels, and sentiment shifts, Gong attempts to highlight patterns that differentiate successful deals from lost opportunities.

However, while Gong’s AI is powerful, it isn’t perfect. Context matters, and AI models can misinterpret tone, sarcasm, or nuanced objections. Some teams find that data overload becomes a challenge, requiring manual review to determine which insights are actually actionable.

Ultimately, Gong’s AI can provide useful coaching insights, but it still requires human judgment to separate meaningful trends from algorithmic noise.

Setting Up Gong for Your Sales Team

Getting started with Gong requires integrating it into your sales workflow, configuring key settings, and ensuring that your team understands how to manage recordings and insights effectively. This setup phase includes connecting calendars, managing meeting recordings, and syncing data with CRM and other tools.

How To Connect Gong To Your Calendar

Gong integrates with Google Calendar, Outlook, and other scheduling platforms to automatically detect and record sales calls, demos, and meetings. This automation eliminates the need for manual setup, ensuring that key interactions are always captured.

When configuring Gong’s calendar integration, businesses should consider:

• Meeting Selection – Adjust settings to record only relevant meetings while excluding internal or sensitive discussions.

• User Preferences – Some teams may want more control over recording, allowing employees to manage which calls are included. Employee tracking software can help manage this, giving employees control while still ensuring accountability.

• System Compatibility – If using a complex tech stack, businesses may need to resolve syncing issues to ensure scheduled meetings are consistently detected.

While automated calendar integration is a powerful feature, companies should review access permissions, privacy settings, and compliance requirements to align with internal policies and regulatory guidelines.

How to Record a Call with Gong

Once Gong is integrated with your calendar and meeting platforms, it can automatically join and record sales calls without manual input. The system detects scheduled meetings in Google Calendar or Outlook, and if recording is enabled, Gong will enter the call as a participant when the meeting starts.

For manual recording, sales reps can invite Gong to a specific call by adding it through their meeting settings or using the Gong interface. This option is useful for ad-hoc meetings that weren’t pre-scheduled in a connected calendar.

During the call, Gong captures audio and video in real time. The recording is then processed and stored in the system, where it becomes available for transcription, analysis, and integration with CRM platforms.

If auto-recording is enabled, no further action is needed—Gong will simply record all designated meetings. However, businesses should configure settings to ensure that only relevant calls are captured and that compliance policies are followed.

How to Upload a Call to Gong

Uploading calls to Gong is straightforward, with a few different options available. The quickest and easiest method is using the Gong web interface, where you can simply drag and drop a recorded audio or video file into the upload section. Gong will then process the call automatically for transcription and analysis.

For teams handling large volumes of recorded calls, Gong’s API integration allows businesses to automate call uploads directly from a telephony system. This ensures all conversations are analyzed and linked to the right CRM records without manual intervention.

There are also file size limits and supported formats to keep in mind, along with compliance considerations. If you need step-by-step instructions or want to explore advanced upload methods, check out our full guide on how to upload a call to Gong here.

How to Invite Gong to a Call

Gong can join your sales calls automatically if calendar integration is enabled, but you can also manually invite it to a meeting when needed. The easiest way is to add Gong as a participant in your Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams invite. If your organization has a unique Gong Assistant email address, simply forward the meeting invite to that address, and Gong will join and record the call.

For teams using external dialers or non-integrated platforms, there are additional ways to bring Gong into a conversation. If you need a full step-by-step guide, including troubleshooting tips, check out our complete guide on how to invite Gong to a call here.

How to Add Gong to a Zoom Call

To record a Zoom meeting with Gong, you’ll need to ensure it’s invited to the call. If your calendar is integrated with Gong, it will automatically detect and join scheduled Zoom meetings without any manual setup.

If you need to manually add Gong to a Zoom call, the simplest method is to invite the Gong Assistant email as a participant when scheduling the meeting. Once the meeting starts, Gong will join and begin recording.

For unscheduled meetings or last-minute additions, you can forward the meeting invite to the Gong Assistant email while the call is active, and it should join shortly after.

Visit and learn more at Gong AI.