Section 9 · Buyer Psychology & Sales Method

9.6Consultative selling by default

Built in the POC

No.: 9.6
DMA's reference: Decision Book p.21
Phase: Phase 1
Autonomy: L4 · Autonomous
DMA's decision: Yes

What DMA asked for · Decision Book p.21

Understand, explain, prescribe, then close: the posture of a diagnostician.

Why it matters to DMA: It is the baseline tone and structure for the whole agent, blended with Sandler's pain funnel.

In our words, from DMA's Product Decision Book v3, page 21.

How we do it

Consultative is the default method in the strategist's approved instructions (Sandler-style: ask, listen, reflect), and the conversation service sends "consultative" as the method on every turn unless the buyer wants it short.
The rhythm follows it: understand the problem, explain what the review found, suggest the call, then book.
The tone rules apply to every reply: plain, warm, curious, one to three sentences, one question at a time, no hype, no pressure. A test suite checks tone and safety before any new version is approved.

The flow

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

Step 1 of 4

Understand

Ask, listen, reflect: one question at a time.

AI
Screen

Where the data goes

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

1Website chat
Source
What the visitor writes.
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 chat and its notes.
4AI
Claude models, only through DMA's own gateway
The strategist, consultative by default.
5Write gate
The only way back into Nutshell: checked, approved when needed, sent once
Writes the lead, its score and the summary if the visitor books or leaves an email.
6Nutshell
The system of record
The rep sees the summary and the score.

The tables behind it

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.conversations	One row per chat: its stage and the AI version that ran it.	22
conv.messages	Every line of the chat, encrypted.	21
ctrl.decision_log	Every reply and check, with the model, tokens and cost.	28

How the tables connect (8)

Column	Points to	Kept by
conv.conversations.agent_version_id	agent.agent_versions	The application (by id)
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.decision_log.agent_version_id	agent.agent_versions	The application (by id)
ctrl.decision_log.run_id	agent.runs	The application (by id)
ctrl.decision_log.conversation_id	conv.conversations	The application (by id)

Worked example

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

The consultative posture in a real chat

1 / 1

What you see

1.Reflect, then one question

The visitor's problem comes back in plain words, with one question.

A law-firm owner describes the problem: the strategist answers like a consultant, not a brochure.

What happens in the system

Conversation serviceturn context
Method: consultative.
Rule enginereply checks
No prices, promises or invented numbers.

Right-hand values come from a real run of the POC on September 25, 2026 (trace tr_muh5t7yd21f50nl0xe4kx, tr_muh5t8021x0f48ojhiv2d). Rows marked “sample” are illustrative.

One synthetic chat, stage by stage.

The four stages

Stage	What the strategist said
Understand	Sounds like new patients have dropped at two offices. Is that since a particular month?
Explain	The review shows the location pages aren't showing up well on maps, which fits what you're seeing.
Prescribe	A strategist can walk you through a fix on a 45-minute call.
Close	Pick a time in the card.

In the running POC

1 / 2A law-firm owner describes the problem: the strategist answers like a consultant, not a brochure.

1The visitor's problem, in their own words.
2A short reply that reflects the problem and asks one question.

Website chat · Harbor & Finch Law demo site. Captured from the running POC on September 25, 2026; synthetic data.

See it live

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

Open	Where	What to try
Harbor & Finch Law demo site	Demo prospect website	Describe a problem and see it diagnose.

Status

Built in the POC

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