Affinity

What is Affinity?

Affinity is a relationship intelligence CRM. Firms that sell through networks use it: investment banks, private equity, consulting and professional services. It builds records automatically from email and calendar data, shows who in the firm knows whom, and tracks opportunities in lists rather than a rigid pipeline.

In these firms the relationship is the asset and the pitch is where it gets spent. Affinity knows the history: who met the client last, how often, what was discussed, which partner has the strongest tie. The pitch book or the proposal is still assembled by an associate who sees none of that, working late from last quarter's deck.

Let the relationship history decide what the pitch says

Cobl reads organizations, people, opportunities and lists in Affinity, along with their field values and notes. That context sits inside a deal workspace next to the business proposal, the pitch deck and the business case for the same client.

The notes matter most. A partner's note after dinner with the CFO says more about what the client cares about than any public filing. Built from those notes, the pitch leads on the client's actual priorities rather than the firm's standard credentials page.

What Affinity and Cobl look like on a live deal

A consulting firm is invited to pitch for a transformation program at a company where two partners have long relationships. The opportunity sits in an Affinity list with notes from six meetings over the past year. The engagement manager opens a deal workspace in Cobl, which reads the organization, the people involved, the opportunity fields and the notes. The first draft of the proposal leads on the cost pressure the CFO raised twice, with relevant case evidence from the Shared Drive.

The associates stop reconstructing relationship history from a partner's memory at eleven at night. The deck and the proposal share one context, so the story is consistent across both. Exports come out as editable Word and PowerPoint, and nothing goes to the client without partner review.

Key features of the Cobl Affinity integration

Organizations, people and opportunities as context

Cobl reads the organizations, people and opportunities you connect, including list entries and field values. The document starts from what the firm already knows about the client, not from a blank template.

Meeting notes shape the argument

Notes attached to organizations, people and opportunities inform what the proposal leads on. What the client said in private conversations reaches the page, framed for the client rather than copied from an internal note.

Pitch deck and proposal on one deal

The pitch deck, the proposal and the business case sit on the same deal and share the same context. The numbers and the story stay consistent when the partner edits one of them the night before the meeting.

Works with your inbox and knowledge base

Affinity context combines with client threads in Gmail or Outlook and methodology pages in Notion, so the document reflects the relationship, the correspondence and the firm's own expertise.

Frequently asked questions

Does Cobl integrate with Affinity?

Yes. Cobl connects to Affinity so organizations, people, opportunities and notes can inform proposals, pitch decks and business cases. The relationship history becomes context for every document in the deal workspace.

What Affinity data does Cobl access?

Organizations, people, opportunities, lists, field values and notes, read through the access the connected account already holds. Relationship data your account cannot see in Affinity is not visible to Cobl either.

Will private meeting notes appear in client documents?

Only if someone on your team decides they should. Cobl uses notes as context to decide what the document argues, and every draft is reviewed before it reaches the client. Sensitive detail stays internal unless a person chooses otherwise.

Does this work for pitch books as well as proposals?

Yes. Pitch decks and slide decks are document types Cobl produces, exported as editable PowerPoint. A firm can keep its own look by building a design system from an existing pitch book.

Do partners keep control of the output?

Yes. Cobl produces drafts. Precise changes go through the inline editor, and nothing goes out without review. More on data handling sits on the security page.