Nobody dreams of spending more time in meetings, especially if you’re on a Go-To-Market (GTM) team where your job is to actually get things done. Sales, marketing, customer success—all of you live and die by how well you execute, not by how many hours you sit in Zoom rooms. But here’s the rub: meetings are everywhere, and it’s tough to know if they’re helping or hurting.
That’s where Vowel comes in. Vowel bills itself as a smarter meeting platform, but for our purposes, the real draw is its analytics. If you want to cut wasted time, spot what’s working, and prove meeting value to your team (or your boss), Vowel’s analytics can help. But don’t expect magic. You still need to know what to look for, what to ignore, and how to keep the data honest.
This guide walks through how to actually use Vowel analytics to measure GTM meeting productivity—without falling into the trap of chasing vanity metrics or turning into a meeting cop.
1. Get Clear on What “Productive” Means for Your Team
Before you start looking at data, do some thinking (yes, actual thinking). “Productive” means different things depending on your GTM goals:
- Sales: Are your pipeline reviews helping close deals, or just repeating the CRM?
- Marketing: Are you making decisions, or just sharing updates?
- Customer Success: Are blockers being removed, or is it a status parade?
Pro tip: Don’t try to optimize for everything. Pick 1-2 outcomes you care about—like next steps being assigned, blockers resolved, or real decisions logged.
Why bother? If you don’t define “productive,” you’ll stare at Vowel’s charts and see whatever you want. That’s a waste of everyone’s time.
2. Set Up Vowel for Your GTM Meetings
If you’re not already using Vowel for your GTM meetings, get the basics in place:
- Connect your calendars: Schedule recurring GTM meetings directly so Vowel can auto-capture them.
- Invite the whole team: Don’t just add managers or the “usual suspects.” You want complete data.
- Standardize meeting names: Use simple, obvious titles (“Weekly Pipeline Review,” not “Q2 Smarketing Sync”) so you can filter analytics later.
Honest take: Vowel works best if you run all your core GTM meetings through it. If half your team is on Google Meet, your data will be a mess.
3. Use Vowel’s Analytics Dashboard—But Don’t Get Distracted
Vowel’s dashboard surfaces a bunch of stats. Some are useful; some are noise.
What actually matters:
- Talk time by person: Are a few voices dominating? Is your AE team silent while managers monologue? That’s a warning sign.
- Action items and follow-ups created: Did the meeting end with clear next steps, or just fade out?
- Meeting duration trends: Are you running over (or under) every time? Consistency matters.
- Number of meetings per week: Are you stacking back-to-back meetings with the same agenda? That’s usually a sign of low-value repetition.
What to mostly ignore:
- Filler word counters: It’s fun to know how many times someone says “um,” but it won’t close more deals.
- Total words spoken: Volume doesn’t mean value. Meetings aren’t a talking contest.
Pro tip: Check the dashboard right after meetings for quick wins, but set a calendar reminder to do a real review every 2-4 weeks. Trends matter more than one-offs.
4. Look for Red Flags and Quick Wins
Don’t overthink it. Start by scanning for obvious problems:
- One person talks 80% of the time: Probably not a team conversation. Dig in—are others checked out, or is this meeting not needed?
- No action items week after week: If nothing gets logged, either the meeting is a status update (which could be an email) or folks don’t know how to use Vowel’s action logging. Both are fixable.
- Meetings keep running over: Could be poor time management, or too much agenda. Trim or split the meeting.
How to act on this:
- Share the data without shaming—“Hey, looks like we’re light on next steps from the last three pipeline reviews. What can we tweak?”
- If meetings are dominated by one or two people, try rotating facilitators, or do a quick round-robin update at the start.
- If meetings get too long, use timers or a visible agenda. Vowel’s live notes can help keep things on track.
Honest take: Don’t expect everyone to love the data at first. People get defensive. Frame it as a tool to help, not a scorecard.
5. Define—and Track—One or Two Simple Metrics
This is where most teams screw up: they try to “instrument” everything. Resist that urge.
Pick one or two metrics that actually tie to value, like:
- Percent of GTM meetings with at least one action item logged
- Number of meetings with clear owners for each follow-up
- Average talk time split (no one person above 50% for team meetings)
Track these each month. Don’t obsess over daily or weekly swings—look for real movement over time.
What to skip: Don’t bother tracking “total meeting minutes.” More meetings don’t mean more progress (and might mean the opposite).
6. Use Analytics to Make Real Changes—Not Just Reports
Here’s the part most teams miss: the point isn’t to have analytics, it’s to do something with them.
- If meetings are low on outcomes: Try sending agendas in advance, or ending each meeting with a quick “what’s next?” round.
- If talk time is lopsided: Call it out gently and ask for more voices. Sometimes all it takes is an invite—“We haven’t heard from a few folks yet.”
- If you’re having too many meetings: Use the data to justify combining or killing some. “We’ve had three status meetings a week—let’s try one and see if anything breaks.”
Document what you try. Next month, check the analytics. If things improve, great. If not, try something else. Keep it light—this isn’t Six Sigma.
7. Avoid the Common Pitfalls
A few traps to dodge as you go:
- Don’t chase perfect data: Someone will always forget to log an action item or run a meeting outside Vowel. Close enough is good enough.
- Don’t weaponize the data: If you use analytics to call people out, you’ll kill trust fast. Use it for coaching, not policing.
- Don’t drown in metrics: If your dashboard looks like an airplane cockpit, you’re doing it wrong. Stick to a couple of actionable numbers.
8. Keep It Simple and Iterate
You’re not trying to win an analytics prize—you just want fewer, better meetings that move things forward. Start with simple tracking, make one change at a time, and keep the feedback loop short.
If Vowel helps you cut two meetings a week or makes your pipeline reviews 20 minutes shorter, that’s a win. Don’t get sucked into endless tweaking. Meeting productivity isn’t about the fanciest dashboard—it’s about making the most of everyone’s time, then getting back to work.
Bottom line: Use Vowel’s analytics as a flashlight, not a microscope. Look for patterns, pick one thing to improve, and check back in a month. Rinse and repeat. Keep it honest, keep it simple, and don’t let the data become the work.