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Record every remodel meeting with Otter and have Claude flag which client decisions are made or still pending
Ashley Sheaffer, principal at KBF Design Gallery, a remodeling and design firm in Maitland, Florida, interviewed by Custom Builder
Otter AI records every client, internal and sales meeting. She aggregated her years of experience into a sales playbook uploaded to Claude Cowork, along with each client's contract, conversations, emails and project data, as a sales intelligence system. A "Single Source of Truth" contract tool built with Claude Cowork takes the material details in one place and parses them into the proposal's sections; when Otter transcripts are uploaded after a meeting, it flags the team on which decisions are still pending and which were made.
Otter.ai Pro $8.33/user/mo billed annually (free Basic plan with 300 min/mo) · Claude $17/mo billed annually ($20 monthly)
Medium · or we do it from $149/mo
Otter.ai, Claude, Claude Cowork
The problem
When a client changes something as simple as a countertop or backsplash, that change has to be translated in six different places, and if it isn't documented everywhere it can become a serious issue at build time. Contracts live in QuickBooks, Excel or Word.
What happened
She says it has helped her step back from day-to-day sales management into a leadership role. She calls team reception mixed, and says the biggest change was simply recording client meetings: "just having a searchable record of what was discussed is incredibly powerful." No time figures are given.
Quoted in the source: Ashley Sheaffer, principal, KBF Design Gallery. Source: Custom Builder: Why This Remodeler Stopped Treating AI Like a Search Engine (Catherine Sweeney) (2026-05-20) · Added 2026-10-16.
How to set it up yourself
- What KBF Design Gallery used: Otter AI to record every meeting, a sales playbook plus client contracts, emails and project data in Claude Cowork, and a Single Source of Truth contract tool that flags decisions made and pending.
- Start by recording: tell clients the meeting is recorded, and in the Otter mobile app tap the blue microphone icon. Each conversation is saved with a searchable transcript.
- A simpler version to try (not KBF's exact build): in Claude click Projects, then + New Project for each job, and upload the signed proposal and selections sheet to the project knowledge.
- After each meeting, paste the Otter transcript into a chat in that job's project with the prompt below, then update the proposal, selections sheet and purchase list yourself and send the decision list to the team.
Copy-paste prompt
This is the transcript of today's meeting with {CLIENT NAME} about their {PROJECT TYPE}: {TRANSCRIPT}. Compare it with the proposal and selections in the project knowledge. List: 1) decisions made today (item, choice, who agreed), 2) decisions still pending and who owes the answer, 3) every document that needs changing, e.g. proposal section, selections sheet, purchase order. Quote the transcript for each decision. Don't assume anything not said.One short email a day: 3 new AI use cases from real small businesses, each with its source and setup steps, plus a Tool of the Day. Free, no spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Tools used
Otter.ai
AI meeting notes and transcription.
From Pro $8.33/user/mo billed annually ($16.99 monthly); free Basic plan with 300 min/mo (checked 2026-10-16)
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Claude
AI assistant for writing, long documents, analysis and coding help.
From $17/mo billed annually ($20 monthly) (checked 2026-10-15)
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Checked prices: Otter.ai: from Pro $8.33/user/mo billed annually ($16.99 monthly); free Basic plan with 300 min/mo (verified 2026-10-16) · Claude: from $17/mo billed annually ($20 monthly) (verified 2026-10-15)
Rather not do it yourself?
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