If you’re in sales, you’re swimming in leads, but most of them are a waste of time. You need to spot the good ones, fast—and get more face time with real buyers. This guide breaks down how to use Nooks AI features to separate the signal from the noise and actually book more meetings. No fluff, no B.S.—just a practical walkthrough for SDRs, AEs, and anyone tired of chasing ghosts.
1. Get Oriented: What Nooks AI Actually Does (and Doesn’t)
Before diving into steps, let’s call out what Nooks’ AI does well—and what to ignore:
- Good at: Flagging engaged leads, surfacing useful call insights, and automating some follow-ups.
- Overhyped: It won’t magically close deals or read minds. The AI is only as good as the signals and data you work with.
- Ignore for now: Fancy dashboards that promise “deep pipeline analytics” but don’t help you move the ball today.
Nooks shines when you use it to cut through noise and focus on leads who actually want to talk.
2. Step 1: Connect Your Tools and Clean Up Your Data
You can’t prioritize what you can’t see. The first step is boring but critical.
What to do: - Sync your CRM: Plug Nooks into Salesforce, HubSpot, or wherever your leads live. If you haven’t cleaned up your data in a while, now’s the time. - Import your lead lists: If you work from spreadsheets, upload them. Garbage in, garbage out—make sure emails and phone numbers are accurate. - Set up calendar and email integration: This lets Nooks track communication and meeting history.
Pro tip: Don’t trust “automatic enrichment” to fix everything. Skim your main lead list for obvious junk (like “asdf@company.com” or phone numbers with all 9s).
3. Step 2: Use AI Scoring—But Don’t Blindly Trust It
Nooks uses AI to score your leads based on recent activity, company fit, and engagement signals (like email opens, replies, or call behavior). This is handy, but don’t turn your brain off.
How to get the most out of it: - Sort leads by score, but sanity-check the top results. Sometimes a lead is “hot” just because they opened your email five times by accident. - Check the activity timeline: Nooks shows you a timeline for each lead—calls, emails, replies, meetings. Use this to spot real buying signals (actual replies, call participation) versus tire-kicking. - Custom filters: If your best customers are all in SaaS or a certain region, set filters to boost those leads.
What not to do: - Don’t spend all day fiddling with AI settings. The default models are fine to start.
4. Step 3: Surface “Hidden” Buying Signals with AI Call Summaries
Nooks automatically records and transcribes calls (assuming you’ve got consent—don’t skip that). The AI then summarizes what happened, flags objections, and highlights next steps.
How to make this actually useful: - After each call, review the AI summary. Look for keywords like “budget,” “timeline,” or “decision-maker.” If a lead mentions buying soon, bump them up your follow-up list. - Spot objections early: Nooks tries to flag concerns (“too expensive,” “not a fit right now”). Use these to tailor your next outreach. - Share key moments: You can clip parts of calls and share with your team or manager. Good for coaching, but don’t overdo it.
Honest take: The AI summaries are a time-saver, but they’re not perfect. Always double-check anything that sounds off, especially before a big meeting.
5. Step 4: Automate (Some) Follow-Ups Without Sounding Like a Robot
Nooks can draft follow-up emails after calls or meetings based on what was discussed. This is great for speed, but don’t just hit send.
How to get it right: - Personalize the first two lines. The AI’s drafts are generic—add a real detail from your call. - Use templates for routine stuff: Scheduling, rescheduling, or sending a case study? Let the AI handle most of it. - Review before sending: AI sometimes invents details or gets names wrong. Fix these.
What to ignore: - Don’t rely on “AI-powered nurture sequences” unless you’ve checked every step. Bad automated emails kill more deals than they win.
6. Step 5: Prioritize Your Day—Don’t Let AI Turn You Into a Robot
Nooks will spit out a “top leads to call today” list. This is helpful, but still requires human judgment.
How to actually use it: - Start with the top 5-10: These are the most engaged based on recent signals. Call or email them first thing in the morning. - Block time for manual review: Spend 10 minutes checking the next 10-20 leads—sometimes the AI misses people who are a perfect fit but haven’t tripped an engagement trigger yet. - Ignore the rest (for now): Don’t waste time chasing cold leads unless you’re desperate to hit a call quota.
Pro tip: Use the “recently active” filter in Nooks to spot leads who just opened your last email or clicked a link.
7. Step 6: Book Meetings Directly from Nooks—But Don’t Overcomplicate
Nooks has built-in scheduling tools. You can share your calendar, send booking links, or book on the fly during a call.
Best practices: - Send calendar links only after you’ve confirmed interest. Blasting links too early is a turnoff. - Use “find a time” features live: When you’re on a call and a prospect is ready, lock down a time before you hang up. - Sync with your real calendar: Double bookings make you look disorganized.
Honest take: Nooks’ scheduler is fine. If you already use Calendly or Google Calendar, you might not need to switch. Use what’s fastest for you.
8. Step 7: Track What’s Working (and Ignore Vanity Metrics)
Nooks gives you a bunch of analytics—call volume, reply rates, meetings booked, etc. Some of these matter; some don’t.
Focus on: - Meetings booked: This is the only number that really matters for most reps. - Lead-to-meeting conversion rate: Are your prioritized leads actually turning into meetings? - Time spent per meeting booked: If it’s taking you hours per meeting, something’s off.
Ignore: - “Engagement scores” that don’t tie to meetings. - Call length stats—long calls don’t always mean good calls.
Wrapping Up: Don’t Overthink It
Nooks has some genuinely useful AI features, but the real power is in helping you focus on what matters: talking to real people who want to meet. Set it up, use the tools to cut through noise, and don’t get distracted by shiny features. Keep it simple, stay skeptical, and tweak as you go. Your calendar—and your sanity—will thank you.