If you work in B2B sales, marketing, or customer success, you can’t avoid video calls. Chances are, your team uses Zoom. But does it actually make your go-to-market process better, or is it just another tool everyone tolerates? This review cuts through the hype and looks at the real impact of Zoom on B2B teams—warts and all.
Why Zoom Took Over: The Good, the Bad, and the Meh
Zoom didn’t become the default by accident. It’s stable, easy to use, and doesn’t melt down when you invite a dozen people from three continents. But let’s not pretend it’s perfect, or that it solves problems it really doesn’t.
What Zoom Does Well: - Reliability: It almost always works, even with spotty Wi-Fi. - Low Friction: Guests don’t need to sign up or install anything complicated. You click a link, you’re in. - Scalability: Handles everything from 1:1s to 500-person webinars without skipping a beat. - Integrations: Plays nice with Google and Outlook calendars, Slack, Salesforce, and more. - Recording & Transcripts: Meetings can be recorded with a click, and searchable transcripts are genuinely helpful for sales and CS teams.
Where Zoom Falls Short: - Fatigue: All-day Zooming is exhausting, and no, “fun backgrounds” don’t fix that. - Mediocre Chat: The in-meeting chat is barebones and gets lost after the meeting ends. - Follow-Up: Notes, action items, and next steps are easy to lose track of. - Feature Bloat: There are a ton of extra features (like “Zoom Apps”) that most B2B teams ignore.
Bottom Line: Zoom nails the basics. It’s not going to run your sales process for you, but it won’t get in the way, either—which is probably the best you can hope for.
How B2B Go-To-Market Teams Actually Use Zoom
Let’s get specific. Here’s how sales, marketing, and customer teams use Zoom day-to-day—and what’s worth your attention.
1. Sales Calls and Demos
What Works: - Screen Sharing: Dead simple. You can walk a prospect through a deck or a live product demo with minimal friction. - Calendar Integration: Meetings slot right into reps’ schedules, with reminders. No one’s hunting for links. - Recording: Sales managers can review calls for coaching, or share with teammates who missed the meeting.
What’s Lacking: - CRM Integration: Yes, you can connect Zoom to Salesforce and HubSpot, but you’ll still need to jump through hoops to log notes and outcomes. - Engagement Tracking: You don’t get deep analytics on who was engaged, who tuned out, or what questions hit home. There are add-ons, but they’re extra cost and hassle.
Pro Tip: Use the “waiting room” feature if you’re running back-to-back calls. Otherwise, you’ll get interrupted by over-eager prospects.
2. Team Standups and Internal Syncs
What Works: - Breakout Rooms: Actually useful for small group brainstorms, if you ever do that sort of thing. - Screen Annotation: Handy for quick whiteboarding (although don’t expect a Miro-level experience).
What’s Lacking: - Persistent Chat/Notes: Once the meeting ends, so does the chat. If you want a record, you’ll have to copy-paste into Slack or email. - Meeting Overload: Zoom makes it too easy to call a meeting. Sometimes you need a doc, not a video call.
Ignore: The built-in “Whiteboard” is fine for scribbles, but clunky for anything more. Use a real tool if visual collaboration is critical.
3. Webinars and Virtual Events
What Works: - Scale: Zoom Webinars handle hundreds (or thousands) of attendees with very little tech drama. - Q&A and Polls: Attendees can submit questions and answer live polls, but don’t expect anything fancy.
What’s Lacking: - Branding: Customization is limited. Your events will always feel a little… Zoom-y. - Follow-Up: You get a spreadsheet of registrants, but nurturing those leads is still on you.
Pro Tip: Always do a dry-run. Zoom’s webinar controls are a little different from regular meetings, and nobody wants to fumble live.
4. Customer Training and Onboarding
What Works: - Screen Sharing + Recording: Perfect for walking customers through setup, and sending them the recording afterward. - Breakout Rooms: For onboarding multiple customers, you can split them up by use case or region.
What’s Lacking: - In-Call Engagement: No built-in way to track if customers are lost or zoning out. - Documentation: You’re still on your own for sharing guides and next steps after the call.
Ignore: Zoom’s in-meeting file transfers are clunky and easy to miss. Send follow-up docs by email or your helpdesk.
Does Zoom Actually Improve B2B Sales and Customer Engagement?
Let’s be real: Zoom doesn’t “transform” anything by itself. It’s a tool—sometimes a good one, sometimes just the default. Here’s the honest take.
The Real Benefits
- Faster Connections: You no longer need to fly across the country for a first meeting. That’s a win for everyone.
- Global Reach: Time zones are still annoying, but you can talk to a prospect in Singapore at 10pm and a customer in London at 7am, all from your kitchen.
- Record Keeping: Recordings and transcripts are invaluable for sales coaching, onboarding new reps, and clarifying “what was promised.”
The Limitations
- No Magic Bullet: Zoom doesn’t make people better at sales or customer success. If your pitch is boring, it’ll be boring on Zoom, too.
- Relationship Building: Video helps, but it’s not the same as shaking hands or grabbing coffee. Zoom can’t fix that.
- Feature Fatigue: Many teams ignore half the features—because they’re not needed, or they just get in the way.
The “Transformation” Myth
Vendors love to say their software “transforms” your process. In reality, Zoom is more like plumbing—it’s invisible when it works, and you only notice it when it doesn’t. The real transformation comes from how your team uses it: prepping well, following up, reviewing calls, and iterating your process.
What’s Worth Paying For (and What Isn’t)
If you’re running a B2B sales or CS team, here’s where to spend and where to save:
Worth Paying For: - Pro or Business Plan: You’ll want longer meeting times, cloud recordings, and admin controls. - Webinar Add-On: If you run events, the Webinar add-on is solid and cheaper (and simpler) than most alternatives. - Transcripts: Searchable transcripts are a game changer for reviewing calls and catching up.
Skip (Unless You Really Need): - Phone System (Zoom Phone): Only makes sense if you’re already ditching your old desk phones. - Zoom Apps Marketplace: Most apps are half-baked or irrelevant for B2B teams. - Virtual Backgrounds and Filters: Fun for five minutes, then everyone disables them.
Tips for Making Zoom Actually Useful
Don’t just turn on the camera and hope for the best. Here’s how to make Zoom work for your team:
- Prep Your Calls: Send an agenda. Know your demo flow. Don’t wing it.
- Use Transcripts and Recordings: Review key calls for coaching or to clarify what happened.
- Follow Up Fast: Send notes and action items right after the meeting. Don’t rely on in-meeting chat.
- Camera On, But No Pressure: Video helps, but don’t force it—especially for introverts or long calls.
- Audit Your Meetings: If you’re on Zoom all day, something’s broken. Replace status meetings with async updates where you can.
The Final Word
Zoom isn’t magic, but it’s solid. Don’t expect it to do your selling or customer engagement for you. Use it to connect faster, record what matters, and cut the busywork where you can. Keep your process simple, skip the bells and whistles, and tweak things as your team learns what actually works. That’s how you get value—no transformation required.