# Deal brief, buying roles, and AI fields

> Use the deal brief to prepare and follow up, confirm buying roles, win back stalled deals, add approved sales material to emails, and fill CRM fields with AI.

Canonical: https://help.spacebrain.ai/crm/deal-intelligence-and-ai-fields/
Last modified: 2026-09-25T00:00:00.000Z

This guide covers the tools that help you move a deal forward. The deal brief pulls together what's known about a deal. Buying roles record who makes the decision. Re-engage helps you win back a stalled deal. AI fields fill in CRM attributes from your notes and meetings, with you checking every value first.

## Before you begin [#before-you-begin]

* **Role:** anyone who can see a deal can read its brief and choose **Prepare for meeting**. Drafting emails, creating tasks, proposing changes, and editing buying roles need editor access or higher. Setting up AI fields needs an admin or owner.
* **Orbit:** most actions open in Orbit, Spacebrain's AI assistant, for you to review. If you see **Orbit is unavailable for this workspace.**, Orbit isn't turned on.
* **Meetings:** the brief is most useful when meetings are linked to the deal. See [meeting preparation and follow-up](/calendar/meeting-preparation-and-granola/).
* **Credits:** some actions, such as drafting an email or running AI fields, use credits. Spacebrain shows the cost before you confirm. Refreshing the brief and preparing for a meeting don't use AI credits.

## Open the deal brief [#open-the-deal-brief]

1. Open **CRM → Deals**.
2. Select a deal's name. Its panel opens on the **Details** tab.
3. Scroll to **Deal brief**.

The brief shows:

* **Suggested next step**: a short suggestion for what to do next.
* **Recorded deal value** and **Expected close**.
* **Buying roles**: who you've confirmed as decision-makers.
* **Deal evidence**: up to 20 points taken from meetings linked to this deal. Expand one to see the exact quote, and choose **Review meeting source** to open the meeting.
* **Account context**: recent activity with the company, which may include other deals.

The brief refreshes on its own. Choose **Refresh** to update it now. When there's something new, it shows how many points changed since you last looked. Choose **Mark reviewed** once you've read them.

## Act on the brief [#act-on-the-brief]

The brief has four buttons:

| Button                  | What it does                                                                                                                       |
| ----------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Prepare for meeting** | Opens the brief in Orbit with its sources, buying roles, and questions to ask. Uses no AI credits.                                 |
| **Draft follow-up**     | Writes an email draft for you to review. Nothing is sent. The credit cost is shown first.                                          |
| **Create task**         | Prepares an internal task for a team member.                                                                                       |
| **Review CRM change**   | Proposes a change to **Deal title**, **Recorded deal value**, or **Loss reason**. Orbit shows the exact change for you to confirm. |

For each action:

1. Choose the button. A review panel opens.
2. Under **Selected evidence**, tick the sources to use (up to six). The first two are ticked for you.
3. Fill in the details. For a follow-up, check **Subject**, the recipient, and **Send from**. For a task, choose the **Task owner** and optional due date.
4. Tick the confirmation boxes.
5. Choose **Open review in Orbit**.
6. Check the result in Orbit and approve it there.

**What you should see:** the action appears under **Reviewed actions** in the brief. You can dismiss one with a reason, such as **Already handled** or **Wrong source**.

**Draft follow-up** needs a lead with an email address linked to the deal. If there isn't one, use **Edit deal** to link one.

## Confirm buying roles [#confirm-buying-roles]

A job title doesn't prove someone can approve a purchase. Buying roles record what you've actually confirmed.

1. In **Buying roles**, choose **Review roles**.
2. Search for the person in **Find a person** and select them.
3. Tick their roles: **Champion**, **Budget approver**, **Technical reviewer**, **Procurement**, or **Legal**.
4. Choose **Save confirmed roles**.

Roles you haven't filled show as **Unconfirmed**, so you can see who you still need to meet. To remove someone, clear all their roles and save.

**Example:** your contact at Acme is keen (Champion), but nobody has confirmed budget. The brief shows "Unconfirmed: Budget approver", so your next meeting should include the finance lead.

## Win back a stalled or lost deal (Re-engage) [#win-back-a-stalled-or-lost-deal-re-engage]

Re-engage reminds you to reach out again at the right time, based on a reason and a date you've agreed.

1. In the deal brief, expand **Re-engage**. The deal must have a linked lead.
2. Choose **Set recovery watch**.
3. Under **Documented obstacle**, write why the deal paused, for example "Budget frozen until Q1".
4. Tick the sources that support it, such as a meeting or email.
5. Choose a **Date type**: **Agreed revisit** or **Explicit renewal**, and set the date. Alternatively, watch a linked Inbox conversation for a reply.
6. Tick the confirmation and choose **Save recovery watch**.

When the date arrives, or the customer replies, a card appears, for example **Review follow-up timing**. Choose **Prepare draft** to create an email for you to review, or **Snooze** it. Spacebrain holds back outreach if it could be unwelcome or a duplicate, for example if the contact has opted out, an email sequence is active, or someone has already contacted them. The card explains why.

When the customer replies or books a meeting, record it with **Save reviewed result**. The counters **Reviewed**, **Contacted**, **Replied**, and **Booked** show how well re-engagement is working over a 30-day window.

## Add approved sales material to an email draft [#add-approved-sales-material-to-an-email-draft]

You can add approved text or links from your Knowledge library to an email draft, such as a case study or an answer to a common objection.

### Step 1: Approve material in Knowledge [#step-1-approve-material-in-knowledge]

1. Open a knowledge base in **Knowledge** and find a document with a ready status.
2. From the row's menu, choose **Sales use**.
3. Choose **Preview indexed excerpts** and pick the passage to use.
4. Set **Allowed use** to **Customer approved** (or **Internal guidance** for team-only use).
5. Add a **Content owner** and a **Review due** date, and optionally a public link.
6. Tick the confirmation and choose **Save sales use**.

When the review date passes, the material stops being suggested until someone reviews it again.

### Step 2: Insert it into a draft [#step-2-insert-it-into-a-draft]

This works on a saved email draft, for example one created by **Draft follow-up** or **Prepare draft**.

1. Open the draft and choose **Review approved material**.
2. Pick a **Knowledge base** and describe the **Customer objection or question**, for example "How do we move our existing contacts?".
3. Choose **Find approved material**.
4. Choose **Insert approved text**, **Insert approved link**, or **Insert text and link**. You can add up to three items.
5. Choose **Save draft**. The message **Draft saved. No email was sent.** confirms it.

Spacebrain checks the approval again before the email is sent. Save any other edits to the draft before you choose material.

## Fill CRM fields with AI [#fill-crm-fields-with-ai]

AI fields (shown as **AI suggestions**) read your CRM notes and linked meetings and suggest a value for a field. You review every value before it's saved.

**What works:** custom **Text**, **Long Text**, **Single Select**, and **Multi Select** attributes on Leads, Companies, or People. Deal fields can't use AI suggestions.

### Step 1: Configure [#step-1-configure]

1. Open **CRM → Attributes**. Create the attribute if needed, then choose **Edit** on it.
2. Choose **AI suggestions**.
3. On **1. Configure**, pick a preset or write **What should this field extract?**. For example: "The competitor the customer mentions most recently, or leave empty."
4. Choose **Allowed sources**: **CRM record and permitted notes** and/or **Explicitly linked meetings**.
5. Set **Look back (days)**, for example 90.
6. Choose **Save AI settings**.

### Step 2: Test on a sample [#step-2-test-on-a-sample]

1. Open **2. Test sample**.
2. Select up to 10 records. Pick a mix you know well.
3. Choose **Preview cost** and check the credits.
4. Choose **Open sample in Orbit** and run it there.

### Step 3: Review sources and apply [#step-3-review-sources-and-apply]

1. Open **3. Review results** and choose **Refresh results**.
2. For each record, compare **Current:** with **Proposed:**.
3. Choose **Inspect sources** to read the exact text behind the suggestion.
4. Tick **Apply this reviewed value** for the ones you trust.
5. Tick the sharing confirmation and choose **Apply selected values**.

If nothing supports a value, the result says **No supported value found. Your current value is kept.**

### Keep values up to date (optional) [#keep-values-up-to-date-optional]

Under **Automatic suggestion refresh**, set a **Daily cap** in credits and choose **Enable refresh for selected records**. Spacebrain checks those records when their sources change. You still review each suggestion before it's applied. Choose **Turn off automatic refresh** to stop.

## If something goes wrong [#if-something-goes-wrong]

* **"Deal context changed."** Close the review and open it again to use the latest information.
* **"This action needs another review."** A source or permission changed. Choose **Refresh** on the brief, then check the existing action in Orbit.
* **"Outreach is paused"** on a Re-engage card. Read the reason, for example **An email sequence is active**, and resolve it first.
* **AI suggestions is greyed out.** Save your field changes first. Check the field is a supported type on a Lead, Company, or Person.
* **"No current customer-approved material matches."** Approve documents in Knowledge, or try different words or tags.

## FAQ [#faq]

### Does anything get sent or changed without me? [#does-anything-get-sent-or-changed-without-me]

No. Drafts aren't sent, tasks and CRM changes wait for your approval in Orbit, and AI field values are only saved when you apply them.

### Why does the brief only show some meetings? [#why-does-the-brief-only-show-some-meetings]

It uses meetings explicitly linked to the deal, up to eight. Link more from **Linked records** on the meeting.

## Next step [#next-step]

Track the month's results in the [sales forecast](/crm/sales-forecast/).