Before you start: get the transcripts in one place
You need plain text transcripts from this week's calls. Most recorders export them.
- Zoom: turn on cloud recording with audio transcript, then download the
.vtt or copy the text.
- Fathom, Granola, Otter: each has a copy or export option on the call page.
- Gong: export the transcript from the call view.
Put them in one Claude chat, or better, a Claude Project called "Customer calls" so the memos pile up in one place. Label each one at the top like this before you paste:
=== CALL 3 | Acme Corp | Head of Ops | 45 seats | demo | Sept 24 ===
[transcript]
That header line matters. It's what lets Claude tell you whether a pain comes from big accounts or small ones, and from buyers or users.
Privacy check: strip credit card numbers, health details or anything a customer wouldn't want in a third-party tool. And check your plan's data settings before you upload customer conversations.
Prompt 1: Extract, don't summarize
The first pass pulls raw material. No opinions yet. This is the prompt that stops paraphrasing.
Below are transcripts of customer calls from this week. Each starts with a header line: call number, company, role, size, call type, date.
Go through every call and extract, as a table:
- Call number
- Quote: the customer's EXACT words, copied verbatim. Never paraphrase. If you can't find exact words for something, skip it.
- Type: one of [pain, desire, objection, praise, competitor mention, churn signal, feature request]
- Topic: 2 to 4 words
Only extract things the CUSTOMER said, never what our team said. Aim for 5 to 12 rows per call. Don't add conclusions yet.
Spot-check three quotes against the transcript. If any are paraphrased, reply "Row X isn't verbatim. Redo all rows with exact wording only." It usually fixes itself on the second pass.
Prompt 2: Count and rank
Now turn the pile into patterns. The key word is "count". Without it you get the loudest customer's opinion dressed up as a trend.
Using only the table above:
1. Group rows by Topic. Merge topics that mean the same thing.
2. For each group, count how many DIFFERENT calls mention it (not how many rows).
3. Rank the groups by that count, highest first.
4. For each of the top 5, give me: the count, which types of customer raised it (size and role from the headers), and the single strongest verbatim quote.
5. Separately, list every churn signal and competitor mention, with the call number.
If a topic appears in only one call, put it in a "one-offs" list at the bottom. Don't rank it.
The "different calls" rule matters. One angry customer who mentions pricing six times is one data point, not six.
Prompt 3: Write the memo
The last prompt turns the ranking into something your team reads. Keep the format fixed every week so people learn where to look.
Write this week's customer insight memo using the ranking above. Rules:
- Max one page. Plain language. No corporate voice.
- Every claim must cite a call number in brackets, like [Call 4].
- Quotes stay verbatim.
Format:
**Calls this week:** [number] ([breakdown by call type])
**Top pain:** one sentence, the count, one quote
**What they're trying to get done:** 2 to 3 bullets
**Objections we heard:** bullets with counts
**Competitors mentioned:** name, count, what they said
**Churn watch:** any account that sounded at risk, and why
**Changed since last week:** anything new, or anything that disappeared
**One thing to change on Monday:** a single, specific action and who owns it
That last line is the point of the whole exercise. A memo without a decision is a report. If Claude's suggestion is vague, push back: "Make the Monday action something one person can finish in a day."
The weekly rhythm
| When | What | Time |
|---|
| During the week | Save every transcript with the header line | 30 sec per call |
| Friday | Run Prompts 1, 2 and 3 in order | 20 min |
| Friday | Check 3 quotes, edit the Monday action | 5 min |
| Friday | Post the memo in Slack or email it to the team | 2 min |
| Monthly | Ask Claude to compare the last 4 memos for trends | 5 min |
For the monthly pass, if your memos live in the same Project, this works well:
Compare the last four weekly insight memos in this Project. Which pains are growing, which are fading, and which Monday actions actually changed what customers say? Be blunt.
Run it today
- Grab the transcripts from your last five customer calls, even if they're a couple of weeks old.
- Add the header line to each and paste them into one chat.
- Run the three prompts in order and send the memo to one person on your team.
You'll know it worked when someone replies with "wait, three people said that?"