People.ai (Backstory) Platform Help
People.ai rebranded to Backstory on April 21, 2026. Same platform, same data infrastructure, new name. This skill uses "People.ai" throughout since that's what most users search for.
Step 1 — Gather context
If references/learnings.md exists, read it first for accumulated platform knowledge.
-
Which People.ai capability are you asking about?
- A) Activity Capture (auto-logging emails, calls, meetings → CRM)
- B) Deal Intelligence (risk signals, stakeholder mapping, single-threading detection)
- C) Pipeline & Forecasting (pipeline health, revenue predictions, coverage analysis)
- D) MCP Integration (connecting AI agents to People.ai data)
- E) CRM Sync & Data Quality (Salesforce/Dynamics/Oracle sync issues)
- F) Pricing, plan selection, or comparison with another tool
- G) Something else — describe it -
Which CRM are you on?
- A) Salesforce
- B) Microsoft Dynamics
- C) Oracle
- D) Multiple CRMs -
How big is your sales team?
- A) Under 20 reps
- B) 20-100 reps
- C) 100-500 reps
- D) 500+ reps
Skip-ahead rule: if the user's prompt already contains enough context, skip to Step 2.
Step 2 — Route or answer directly
| If the question is about... | Route to... |
|---|---|
| Conversation intelligence / call recording / coaching | /sales-gong [question] or /sales-note-taker [question] |
| Revenue forecasting strategy across tools | /sales-forecast [question] |
| Deal health assessment methodology | /sales-deal-inspect [question] |
| CRM data quality strategy (not People.ai-specific) | /sales-data-hygiene [question] |
| Building outbound sequences | /sales-cadence [question] |
When routing, provide the exact command.
Step 3 — People.ai platform reference
Read references/platform-guide.md for the full platform reference — modules, integrations, MCP setup, pricing, known issues.
Answer the user's question using only the relevant section. Don't dump the full reference.
Step 4 — Actionable guidance
Focus on the user's specific situation:
- Activity Capture setup: Connect email (Gmail/Outlook) and calendar first — immediate value from auto-logging. Call integrations (Zoom/Teams) come second. Historical data analysis starts on day one (2 years back).
- Deal Intelligence adoption: Start with pipeline health dashboards for managers, then roll out risk alerts. Single-threading detection is the highest-signal feature for deal risk.
- Forecast accuracy: People.ai improves forecasts by replacing rep-entered data with activity-backed data. It doesn't generate forecast numbers — pair with CRM native forecasting or Clari for roll-ups.
- MCP integration: Connects to Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot. Useful for natural language queries against your revenue data. Enterprise tier required.
- vs Gong: People.ai captures activity data (emails, meetings, calendar); Gong captures conversation data (call recordings, transcripts). They're complementary, not competing. Many enterprises run both.
- vs Clari: Clari focuses on forecast roll-ups and submission workflows; People.ai focuses on the data layer (activity capture + deal intelligence). People.ai feeds Clari — they're often stacked.
If you discover a gotcha, workaround, or tip not covered in references/learnings.md, append it there.
Gotchas
- No call recording or transcription — People.ai captures activity metadata (who emailed whom, which meetings happened, call duration) but does NOT record or transcribe calls. For call recording, use Gong, Fathom, or another CI tool.
- Enterprise pricing only — no public pricing, no free tier, no self-serve signup. Custom quotes based on team size and modules. Budget $50-100+/user/month based on market reports.
- Salesforce sync delays — activity data can take 1-2 days to fully process and appear in CRM. Don't expect real-time dashboards for call data.
- Adoption requires executive sponsorship — reps see People.ai as "management watching" if not positioned as a productivity tool. Frame as "no more manual CRM logging" not "we're tracking your activity."
- Multi-CRM complexity — supporting Salesforce + Dynamics across regions is a strength but adds implementation complexity. Plan for 2-4 week deployment per CRM instance.
- Data quality depends on email/calendar hygiene — People.ai can only associate activities with CRM records if contacts exist. Garbage contacts = garbage activity mapping.
- Backstory rebrand (April 2026) — all people.ai URLs redirect to backstory.ai. App login remains app.people.ai. Documentation and community content still references "People.ai."
Related skills
/sales-gong— Gong platform help (conversation intelligence — complementary to People.ai's activity capture)/sales-note-taker— Comparing AI note-takers or wiring their APIs into CRM/warehouse/sales-forecast— Revenue forecasting strategy, pipeline coverage, commit validation/sales-deal-inspect— Deal health assessment, stakeholder mapping, MEDDPICC extraction/sales-data-hygiene— CRM data quality, deduplication, enrichment strategy/sales-coaching— Building a sales coaching program, onboarding reps/sales-scratchpad— Scratchpad platform help (Salesforce-native AI workspace — lighter-weight alternative)/sales-weflow— Weflow platform help (Salesforce-native revenue AI with activity capture, CI, forecasting)/sales-clari-copilot— Clari Copilot platform help (conversation intelligence + Clari forecasting)/sales-do— Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install:npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-do
Examples
Example 1: CRM data is stale — reps don't log activities
User says: "Our Salesforce data is terrible. Reps don't log emails or meetings. We're evaluating People.ai to fix this."
Skill does:
1. Confirms People.ai's core value: automatic activity capture — every email, call, and meeting logged without rep action
2. Explains the deployment path: connect Gmail/Outlook → connect calendar → connect Zoom/Teams → 2 weeks to full visibility
3. Notes that People.ai captures 2 years of historical data on day one
4. Warns about contact matching: People.ai maps activities to CRM records, so contact data must be reasonably clean first
Result: Implementation plan with realistic timeline and prerequisites
Example 2: People.ai vs Gong for a 50-person sales team
User says: "We're choosing between People.ai and Gong. 50 reps on Salesforce."
Skill does:
1. Clarifies they solve different problems: People.ai = activity data (emails, meetings, calendar); Gong = conversation data (call recordings, transcripts, coaching)
2. Notes many enterprises run both — People.ai feeds the data layer, Gong provides call-level insights
3. If budget allows one: Gong if coaching and call review are the priority; People.ai if CRM data quality and pipeline visibility are the priority
4. Flags pricing: both are enterprise-only with custom quotes
Result: Clear decision framework based on primary pain point
Example 3: Connecting People.ai to Claude via MCP
User says: "We have People.ai and want to query our revenue data through Claude."
Skill does:
1. Confirms People.ai announced MCP integration in February 2026
2. Explains what it enables: natural language queries against structured CRM + unstructured conversation data
3. Notes enterprise tier is required for MCP access
4. Suggests example queries: "Which deals are single-threaded?" "Which accounts had declining engagement this quarter?"
Result: MCP setup guidance with practical query examples
Troubleshooting
Activity data not appearing in Salesforce
Symptom: Emails and meetings are happening but not showing in CRM
Solution: Check email/calendar connections in People.ai admin. Verify the contact exists in Salesforce — People.ai can only associate activities with known CRM records. Check sync status in the People.ai dashboard. Activity processing can take up to 24-48 hours for call data. If specific emails are missing, check if those email domains are excluded in sync settings.
Low team adoption
Symptom: People.ai is deployed but reps ignore it / don't see value
Solution: Position as a productivity tool ("no more manual CRM logging"), not a tracking tool. Show reps their own data — "here are 15 hours you saved this month on data entry." Enable pipeline views that are faster than native Salesforce. Get manager buy-in to use People.ai data in 1:1s and forecast calls — once managers use it, reps follow.
Inaccurate contact/account matching
Symptom: Activities are logged but associated with the wrong contacts or accounts
Solution: People.ai matches activities to CRM records based on email addresses and calendar invitees. If contacts have outdated email addresses in CRM, activities won't match correctly. Run a data hygiene pass on contact emails first (use /sales-data-hygiene). Check People.ai's matching rules — some require exact email match, others use domain-level inference.
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