Activity Objects

The Essence

A Call is a phone conversation—logged, recorded, and analyzed. Calls capture the voice of your relationships: what was said, how it was said, what was agreed, and what happens next.

Unlike text-based activities (emails, notes), Calls carry tone, nuance, and real-time interaction. They're where relationships deepen, objections surface, and commitments form.

HubSpot's Conversation Intelligence transforms these moments from ephemeral conversations into searchable, analyzable, coachable assets.

"Every meaningful phone conversation deserves to be captured. Not for surveillance—for continuity. So the next person who engages this relationship knows what was discussed, what was promised, and what matters."


Unified View Contribution


Sarah's Story

Sarah Chen's relationship with Value-First Team was built through conversations. Each Call added layers of understanding that text alone couldn't capture.

The Discovery Call: The Discovery Call marked her transition from Researcher to Hand Raiser. Sarah requested a conversation after watching several Value Path framework videos. The 32-minute call was recorded and transcribed.

Chris captured detailed notes: Sarah's current state (NetSuite for operations, HubSpot for marketing, Excel bridging gaps), her pain point ("We have customer data everywhere but can't see the full picture"), and her decision process (CFO buy-in needed, 2-3 month evaluation typical).

The AI-generated summary distilled the conversation: "Sarah is VP of Operations at Precision Components, evaluating unified customer platforms. Key pain point is fragmented data across NetSuite, HubSpot, and spreadsheets."

The Technical Validation Call: This 58-minute conversation brought Mike Chen (IT Director) to assess feasibility. Tracked terms detected the technical focus: "NetSuite" mentioned 12 times, "API" 8 times, "integration" 15 times. This data helped Value-First understand the technical concerns driving the decision.

Relationship Continuity: Throughout the engagement — weekly check-in calls, troubleshooting calls, quarterly reviews — all built the relationship history. Any team member could review transcripts to understand where things stood without asking Sarah to repeat herself.


What It Holds

Call Basics

Title, notes, activity date, duration, and owner. The fundamental record of what was discussed.

Direction & Status

Inbound or Outbound. Status: Busy, Completed, Connecting, Failed, In Progress, Missed, No Answer, Queued, Ringing.

Phone Numbers

From number, To number, and associated names. Who called whom.

Recording & Transcription

Recording URL, Transcript availability, AI-generated summary, and tracked terms (Professional+).

Outcomes

Custom call outcomes defined in settings. Enables meaningful categorization beyond just "Connected."

Common Patterns

Scheduled Call via Meeting Scheduler

Contact books time through Meeting link → Call occurs at scheduled time → Call recorded and logged → Transcript generated, AI summary created → Follow-up Task created. The Meeting books it, the Call captures it.

Quick Outbound Call

Rep clicks phone number on Contact record → Call initiated via HubSpot calling → Conversation occurs → Call logged with outcome and notes → Recording available for review. Low-friction calling encourages documentation.

Call-Based Coaching

Manager reviews Call recordings for rep → Uses tracked terms to identify patterns → Shares specific clips with feedback → Rep improves based on real examples. Coaching works best with evidence.

Call Intelligence to CRM Data

Important context shared during call → AI extracts from transcript → Smart property populated on Contact/Company → Data available for workflows, segments, reporting. Conversations contain gold; CI mines it.

Value-First vs. Industrial-Age

Traditional Thinking Value-First Thinking
Log calls for activity metrics Capture calls for relationship continuity
Make 50 dials per day target Understand what matters to this person
Track talk time for performance Build on previous conversations
Calls are performance data points Calls are relationship assets
Quantity over quality emphasis Quality creates relationships

Why This Shift Matters

The phone creates something unique: real-time, voice-to-voice human connection. When you capture Calls properly, you preserve these moments. When someone reviews the transcript or recording, they experience the relationship—not just the data about it.

The difference between industrial-age and value-first approaches determines whether calls become surveillance data or relationship memory.


In Practice

Implementation details

Key Properties

Key Properties

Native HubSpot Properties

Property Type Purpose
hs_call_title Native Text Name of the call for easy reference
hs_call_body Native Rich text Notes about what was discussed
hs_timestamp Native DateTime When the call occurred
hs_call_duration Native Number Length in milliseconds
hubspot_owner_id Native User Who made or logged the call
hs_call_direction Native Enumeration INBOUND or OUTBOUND
hs_call_status Native Enumeration Call completion status
hs_call_disposition Native Enumeration Custom call outcome
hs_call_recording_url Native Text Link to recording
hs_call_has_transcript Native Boolean Whether transcript is available

Conversation Intelligence (Professional+)

Automatic transcription, AI call summaries, coaching insights, and smart properties from transcripts. Enterprise adds tracked terms for competitor mentions, pricing discussions, and objection patterns.


See It In Action

Discovery Call Timeline: See how Sarah's first meaningful conversation was captured—recording, transcript, AI summary.
Tracked Terms Intelligence: Watch how Enterprise-tier tracked terms identify patterns across calls.
Experience Call in the Value Path Simulator


Explore Further