Section 5 · Reactivate Old Leads Now

5.6AI handles replies

Built in the POC

What DMA asked for · Decision Book p.16

When an old prospect replies, the AI answers, qualifies, handles objections and books a salesperson.

Why it matters to DMA: It scales reactivation past what reps could answer by hand.

In our words, from DMA's Product Decision Book v3, page 16.

Every reply is threaded to the email it answers, stored encrypted and treated as untrusted text. A fast model reads its intent (interested, a meeting request, a pricing question, not now, not interested, unsubscribe, a complaint, out of office, a bounce and others).
Some things are always handled by code first: an unsubscribe is honoured at once (and a colleague who asks to be removed is removed, not the sender); a bounce suppresses the address; an out-of-office reply reschedules the follow-up for when they're back.
The rule engine decides what needs a person: a pricing question, a request for a person, a refund, a hostile message, a legal threat or low confidence goes to Josh's roster as a case, with a polite holding reply.
Everything else gets a drafted answer (L2) in Approvals, using the thread and DMA's approved wording, so a person approves each reply before it goes.

It plays on its own while it's on screen; hover or use the controls to pause or step through.

Step 1 of 4

A reply

"Thanks for reaching out. What would this cost for three offices?"

The same six stages on every page. Nothing reaches Nutshell except through the write gate.

1The inbox
Source
Replies to outreach.
2Sync
Copies Nutshell changes into the bridge database
Not involved.
3Bridge database
A copy of the CRM data, plus what the AI works out
The reply (encrypted), its intent, the case or the draft.
4AI
Claude models, only through DMA's own gateway
A fast model reads the intent; the draft uses approved wording.
5Write gate
The only way back into Nutshell: checked, approved when needed, sent once
Opt-outs and the reply activity go to Nutshell.
6Nutshell
The system of record
The conversation on the contact's timeline.

Drawn from the POC's database catalogue: structure only, no data.

PK primary keyFK reference the database enforces (solid line)ID reference kept by id (dashed line)

Table	What it holds	Columns
conv.messages	The reply, encrypted and marked untrusted.	21
ctrl.suppressions	The opt-out list that blocks sending in code.	4
ctrl.escalations	Replies that need a person.	33

How the tables connect (7)

Column	Points to	Kept by
conv.messages.conversation_id	conv.conversations	The database (foreign key)
conv.messages.participant_id	conv.participants	The application (by id)
conv.messages.decision_id	ctrl.decision_log	The application (by id)
conv.messages.agent_version_id	agent.agent_versions	The application (by id)
ctrl.escalations.conversation_id	conv.conversations	The application (by id)
ctrl.escalations.run_id	agent.runs	The application (by id)
ctrl.escalations.decision_id	ctrl.decision_log	The application (by id)

Synthetic demo data: every name, business and number is made up.

1 / 2

What you see

1.Josh gets the case

The case arrives with a brief of the thread and the account.

localhost:13301/escalations

What happens in the system

Rule engineescalation rules
A pricing question, a request for a person, a complaint or a legal threat goes to a person, with a response deadline.
AI agentescalation router
Writes the brief; the thread is paused so the AI doesn't reply meanwhile.

What happens to different replies (synthetic).

Reply	What happens
"Please take me off your list."	Unsubscribed at once, a one-line confirmation sent, the opt-out logged in Nutshell
"I'm out until the 14th."	The follow-up moves to after the 14th
"What would this cost?"	A case for Josh, and a polite holding reply
"Sure, next Tuesday works."	A drafted answer with times, waiting for approval
"Not this year."	Read as "not now"; a short, polite reply is drafted and waits for approval

localhost:13301/escalations

1 / 2A case for a person, with its brief.

Dashboard · Escalations, one case open. Captured from the running POC on September 25, 2026; synthetic data.

Opens the exact screen in the running POC, in a new tab.

Open	Where	What to try
Escalations	DMA AI dashboard	Replies that need a person.

Built in the POC

Built in the POC. This capability runs in the POC today, on synthetic data, end to end.