You typed, it typed back. Files in, files out — but it never touched anything else on your computer.
Now
Claude reaches into your apps.
C
Gmail
Calendar
Drive
Slack
What this unlocks
"Find all emails from [prospect] and summarize what we've talked about"
"Draft a follow-up to everyone I emailed last week who didn't respond"
"What does Thursday look like? Block 2 hours for [thing]."
"Pull last quarter's revenue from my Drive sheet and summarize the trend"
Safety · two kinds of access
Read
Claude can see it
Reads your emails. Looks at your calendar. Sees files. That's it — no changes.
Write
Claude can change it
Drafts an email. Creates an event. Edits a file. (Always with your review.)
Claude drafts. You send.
Never let Claude auto-send. It's a junior employee, not a manager.
What Claude sees when you connect Gmail.
Cloudflare shows you the exact permissions Google is granting. Read them. Don't just click yes.
Common permissions: read email, compose drafts, send mail. You can also revoke any of these at any time in your Google account.
Hands-on
Connect Gmail.
Settings → Connectors → Gmail
OAuth screen → sign in with your business email
Read the permissions list
Allow
Confirm the connector shows green / connected
Demo · summarize the inbox
Demo · drafting a reply
Hands-on
Draft 5 prospect emails.
Mix of homeowner, commercial, solar-curious, bundle. Each one personalized.
Draft a cold-open email to [PROSPECT NAME], who is
[DETAIL — e.g. property manager for 12 strip malls,
roofs 15+ yrs old].
Angle: [storm season — free portfolio inspection].
Use my sales voice. Save as draft in Gmail. Subject
line specific to this prospect.
Hands-on
Connect Calendar.
Settings → Connectors → Google Calendar
Same OAuth flow
Test: "What does my week look like?"
Demo · view + schedule
The killer feature
Meeting prep brief.
Before a meeting, ask Claude to pull together a brief from your past emails + calendar. Walk in prepared in 30 seconds.
Demo · meeting prep brief
Other connectors that exist
Google Drive
Contracts, sheets, photos you've stored.
Slack
If you ever use Slack — channels, DMs, drafts.
Notion
Notes, project boards, internal docs.
HubSpot / Linear / Asana
CRM, task trackers — when you adopt them.
Don't connect everything. Each connection is a permission you granted.
Your new Monday morning
Open Claude
"What does my week look like?"
"Unread emails from this weekend. Which need a reply today?"
"Draft a reply to [sender] — my answer is [X]"
Gmail → review drafts → send the ones that look good
Schedule any follow-ups on your calendar
A 2-hour Monday morning, compressed to 25 minutes.
You can disconnect any connector anytime.
Settings → Connectors → click connector → Disconnect. Nothing is permanent. If something feels off, just unplug it.
You can also revoke from your Google account directly: myaccount.google.com → Security → Third-party apps.
Three things tonight
1. Connectors = Claude in your apps
Read and write — with safety rails.
2. Claude drafts. You send.
Always. Forever.
3. Gmail + Calendar = 80% of time savings
Add others only when you actually need them.
Monday morning
What's the first thing you do?
Specific. Not "use Claude" — something like "send the 5 prospect drafts."
Next session
Session 6 — Sales & Marketing
Your favorite session. Personas, content calendar, ad keywords, landing page copy. Claude becomes your full-time junior marketer.
Bring: thoughts on your top 3 customer types. Screenshots of competitor ads if you have any.