Section 9 · Buyer Psychology & Sales Method
9.1Detect buyer type
Built in the POC- No.
- 9.1
- DMA's reference
- Decision Book p.20
- Phase
- Phase 1
- Autonomy
- L4 · Autonomous
- DMA's decision
- Yes
What DMA asked for · Decision Book p.20
Recognise an urgent buyer, a skeptic, a researcher, a price shopper or an executive who wants it short.
Why it matters to DMA: So the agent adapts its pace and tone instead of running one script for everyone.
In our words, from DMA's Product Decision Book v3, page 20.
How we do it
- After every exchange, a smaller AI model (the note-taker) reads the recent chat and records the buyer type as one of six fixed values: urgent, skeptic, researcher, price shopper, brevity executive or not yet known.
- The conversation service passes that buyer type to the strategist before its next reply, and the strategist's approved instructions say how to adapt to each.
- The note-taker can only choose from the fixed list, and the visitor's words reach it marked as untrusted data, so a visitor can't talk it into anything else.
The flow
It plays on its own while it's on screen; hover or use the controls to pause or step through.
The visitor writes
"Every agency promised us the world. Why would you be different?"
- Person
- AI
- Stored data
- Rule in code
- 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
Keeps the running notes, including the buyer type.
- 4AI
Claude models, only through DMA's own gateway
A smaller model records the buyer type; the strategist adapts to it.
- 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.
Adapting in a real chat
What you see
1.The visitor's message
The note-taker reads it after the reply and updates the notes, including the buyer type.
What happens in the system
- LLM gateway
note-takerClaude Haiku 4.5, structured output only: the buyer type is one of six fixed values.
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.
The six types and how the strategist adapts (the adaptations are in its approved instructions).
Buyer types
| Buyer type | Sounds like | The strategist |
|---|---|---|
| Urgent | "We need more calls this month" | A shorter path to the call. |
| Skeptic | "Every agency promised us the world" | Leads with the evidence from their own site. |
| Researcher | "Just looking at options for now" | Teaches first, no push to book. |
| Price shopper | "What do you charge for SEO?" | No price: a strategist covers it on the call, or a person takes over. |
| Brevity executive | "Short answers please" | Two sentences at most; the shortest qualification. |
In the running POC
A 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 | Ask for short answers, or say you've been burned before, and watch it adapt. |
Status
Built in the POC. This capability runs in the POC today, on synthetic data, end to end.