Using Deal Workspaces for Sales

Deal Workspaces are Agency Hero’s purpose-built environment for managing active sales opportunities. From the first qualified conversation through contract close, everything the deal generates — meetings, transcripts, intelligence, and deliverables — lives in one organized place. This guide covers how to set one up, how the pipeline stage system works, what happens automatically after every meeting, and how to track deal health over time.

What Is a Deal Workspace?#Copy link

A Deal Workspace is a specialized workspace type designed for pre-revenue sales activity — prospecting, discovery, scoping, proposal, and negotiation — before an opportunity becomes a billable client engagement.

When to create one#Copy link

Create a Deal Workspace when you:

• Have a qualified prospect you’re actively pursuing
• Need to track conversations across multiple contacts at the same account
• Want AI to extract sales-specific signals (objections, commitments, competitor mentions) from your calls
• Are preparing proposals, pricing, or a scoped SOW

How it differs from a Work Workspace#Copy link

Deal Workspaces are lightweight by design — no engagement mode to configure, no billing setup. They’re focused on one job: helping you win the deal.

Creating a Deal Workspace#Copy link

1. Open the workspace selector from the left sidebar and click + New Workspace.
2. Select the Deal type from the workspace type options.
3. Name the workspace — use the account or opportunity name (e.g., “Acme Corp — Enterprise Deal”).
4. Set the initial pipeline stage — choose the stage that reflects where you are right now (e.g., Discovery).
5. Configure meeting rules — add the prospect’s email domain or specific attendee addresses so meetings are automatically routed to this workspace.
6. Add context sources — the workspace is pre-seeded with structural slots for a Proposal, Statement of Work, Commercials, and Objectives. Fill these in as your deal progresses.

Tip: You can always update meeting rules and stage later. The important thing is to create the workspace as soon as a deal enters your pipeline so meetings start routing correctly from day one.

Once created, the workspace sidebar exposes: Meetings, Intelligence, Deliverables, Timeline, and Settings.

Pipeline Stages#Copy link

Every Deal Workspace has a pipeline stage that reflects where you are in the sales cycle. Stages drive how AI extracts intelligence from your meetings — different stages emphasize different signals.

Default stages#Copy link

How to update the stage#Copy link

You can change the workspace stage at any time from the Deal Stage selector at the top of the workspace (or in Workspace Settings → Pipeline). When you advance the stage:

• Extraction prompts for future meetings are automatically updated to emphasize the intelligence types most relevant to that stage
• Any configured stage-triggered deliverables (e.g., auto-draft a Scope of Work when you hit Scoping) will fire
• The timeline records the stage change event with a timestamp

Customizing stages#Copy link

Org admins can configure custom pipeline stages and stage names from Settings → Sales → Pipelines. Each stage can have its own intelligence emphasis matrix and gap requirements, giving your team a tailored qualification framework.

Meeting Types and Pipeline Stage Detection#Copy link

Meeting types are the mechanism that ties individual meetings to pipeline stages — and they’re one of the most powerful automation levers in Agency Hero.

How it works#Copy link

When a meeting is associated with a Deal Workspace, Agency Hero looks at the meeting’s type (set at the time of the meeting or auto-suggested from the title) to determine which pipeline stage that meeting belongs to. This stage drives the extraction prompt used to analyze the transcript.

Sales meeting types#Copy link

Agency Hero ships with a catalog of suggested sales meeting types you can add with one click from Settings → Meeting Types → Sales:

Auto-stage detection from meeting titles#Copy link

Before you even set a meeting type, Agency Hero scans the meeting title for keywords to suggest the right stage:

• Titles containing “discovery,” “intro,” “initial,” “exploratory” → Discovery stage
• Titles containing “scoping,” “requirements,” “deep dive,” “demo” → Scoping stage
• Titles containing “proposal,” “pricing,” “quote,” “commercial” → Proposal stage
• Titles containing “negotiation,” “contract,” “terms,” “legal” → Negotiation stage
• Titles containing “kickoff,” “handoff,” “onboarding” → Closed Won

The suggested stage appears on the meeting detail view before processing. You can confirm it, override it with any other stage, or wait and change it later. Manual override always wins — your explicit choice takes precedence over suggestions.

Setting up meeting type → stage mappings#Copy link

1. Go to Settings → Sales → Pipelines and select your pipeline.
2. In the Meeting Type Stage Mapping section, connect each meeting type to the appropriate stage.
3. From that point on, any meeting tagged with that type will use the corresponding stage-aware extraction prompt.

You can also configure these mappings directly from Settings → Meeting Types, where you’ll find the full catalog of your org’s meeting types alongside the suggested types library.

Why it matters: Stage-aware prompts mean the AI focuses on what actually matters at each point in your deal. A Discovery call extraction prioritizes pain points and stakeholder mapping. A Proposal call extraction prioritizes objections, pricing reactions, and commitments. The same transcript will yield very different — and more useful — intelligence depending on stage.

Post-Meeting Workflows#Copy link

When a meeting in a Deal Workspace is processed, Agency Hero runs a deal-flavored post-meeting workflow that goes well beyond a standard meeting summary.

What happens after a sales meeting is captured#Copy link

1. Transcript is ready — The meeting recording is transcribed (via Fathom or another connected source) and the workflow begins.
2. Stage is determined — The system reads the meeting’s associated stage (from the meeting type mapping, title keywords, or manual override) and selects the appropriate extraction prompt.
3. Intelligence is extracted — The AI runs a stage-aware pass over the transcript, extracting deal-specific intelligence items (see the full list in the next section). Each item receives a confidence score.
4. Items enter the HITL review queue — Extracted items appear in your ABox (Attention Box) grouped by confidence:
   • High confidence (≥ 0.85): Bulk-confirm available — green indicator
   • Medium confidence (0.60–0.84): Individual review recommended — yellow indicator
   • Low confidence (< 0.60): Requires your attention — red indicator
5. Gap analysis runs — After extraction, the post-meeting agent compares what was captured against what’s expected for the current deal stage. Missing intelligence becomes a Gap item — a first-class intelligence record with suggested questions to ask in your next call.
6. Action items are surfaced — Commitments and tasks mentioned in the meeting are extracted and linked to their source quote in the transcript.
7. Stage-triggered deliverables fire — If the meeting’s stage is configured to auto-generate a deliverable (e.g., Scoping stage → auto-draft a Scope of Work), that generation kicks off automatically.
8. Pipeline stage can be updated — If the meeting content signals a stage change (e.g., a Proposal Review just happened and you’re now in Negotiation), you update the workspace stage manually. This is always user-initiated; the system will suggest but never auto-advance.
9. Timeline is updated — The meeting, its extracted intelligence items, and any deliverables generated are added to the workspace timeline in chronological order.

Deal Intelligence Types#Copy link

Deal Workspaces unlock a sales-specific taxonomy of intelligence types that are extracted from every meeting. These are the building blocks of your deal knowledge base.

Commitment#Copy link

What it is: Something the prospect or your team agreed to do.
Example: “They’ll send the security questionnaire by end of week.” or *“If the demo goes well, we’ll move to contract review.”
Why it matters: Commitments are your audit trail. Unmet commitments are deal-stoppers — having them on record means nothing slips.

Objection#Copy link

What it is: A concern, pushback, or hesitation that could block the deal. Classified by type (price, timing, authority, trust) and severity.
Example: “That timeline seems aggressive.” or *“We need to see an ROI case before the CFO will consider this.”
Why it matters: Objections that aren’t addressed kill deals in the final stages. Tracking them lets you prepare responses and coach your champion.

Assumption#Copy link

What it is: A statement believed to be true that needs validation. Tracked by source (stated vs. inferred).
Example: “They’re using Salesforce for CRM” (stated) or “Budget is probably around $50k” (inferred).
Why it matters: Unvalidated assumptions are landmines. Surfacing them early prevents late-stage surprises.

Dependency#Copy link

What it is: Something that must happen — or be true — for the deal to progress. Tracked by owner (prospect, seller, third party).
Example: “CFO approval required for anything over $25k.” or *“IT needs to validate the integration before we can proceed.”
Why it matters: Dependencies define your critical path. Knowing them lets you work proactively rather than waiting on a call to learn there’s a blocker.

Constraint#Copy link

What it is: A hard or soft limitation on the engagement — budget, timeline, technical, or legal. Flagged as hard (non-negotiable) or soft (flexible).
Example: “Budget cannot exceed $50k” (hard) or “Prefer not to use AWS, but open to it” (soft).
Why it matters: Constraints shape what you can propose. Capturing them prevents you from sending a proposal that’s immediately out of scope.

Competitor#Copy link

What it is: An alternative solution or vendor being evaluated. Classified as direct, indirect, status quo, or build-in-house, with a threat level.
Example: “We’re also looking at Gong” (direct, high threat) or “Our dev team could probably build something” (build-in-house, low threat).
Why it matters: Knowing the competitive landscape lets you position proactively and address specific comparisons before they become objections.

Proof Point#Copy link

What it is: Evidence that your solution delivers value — a buying signal. Classified by type and signal strength.
Example: “That case study with the manufacturing company is exactly our situation” (case study resonance, strong) or “That integration alone would save us three hours a week” (ROI recognition, moderate).
Why it matters: Proof points tell you what’s resonating. Double down on the angles that are working.

Gap (Agent-Created)#Copy link

What it is: Missing intelligence identified by the post-meeting AI agent based on what’s expected for your current deal stage. Unlike the other types, Gaps are not extracted from the transcript — they’re created by the agent after comparing what exists against what stage requirements demand.
Example: *“No budget assumptions captured — critical gap for Discovery stage. Suggested question: ‘What budget range are you working within?’”
Why it matters: Gaps are your pre-call prep list. They tell you exactly what you need to learn before advancing to the next stage.

Universal Types (Also Available)#Copy link

Deal Workspaces also capture the standard intelligence types shared with other workspace types:

• Decision — A choice that was made (“Decided to go with the three-phase approach”)
• Risk — A potential issue (“Integration with their legacy system may be complex”)
• Question — An open item needing an answer (“What’s the budget approval process?”)

Tracking Deal Progress#Copy link

The Timeline view#Copy link

The Timeline tab in every Deal Workspace gives you a chronological story of the deal — meetings, extracted intelligence items, deliverables, and stage changes, all in one view. You can filter by stage, intelligence type, date range, or attendee to zero in on specific threads.

Timeline events include:

• 📅 Stage changes — when the deal moved and what triggered it
• 🎥 Meetings — with child items showing extracted intelligence
• 📄 Deliverables — proposals, SOWs, and other artifacts generated
• 🔍 Intelligence items — surfaced commitments, objections, risks

The Intelligence log#Copy link

The Intelligence tab consolidates all confirmed intelligence items across every meeting in the deal. Filter by type (objections, commitments, competitors) to quickly review a specific dimension of the deal before a call.

Topics#Copy link

Intelligence items are organized into canonical Topics — the “chapters” of your deal story. Default deal topics include Problems, Desired Outcomes, Stakeholders, Requirements, Solution Components, Commercials, and Timeline. Topics accumulate across meetings, so you can see how the deal narrative has built up over time.

AI agents and skills#Copy link

Once intelligence is confirmed, Agency Hero’s deal-focused skills can act on it:

• Gap Finder — Surfaces open gaps by stage and generates suggested questions for your next call
• Agenda Builder — Drafts a next-call agenda based on open gaps, recent commitments, and deal stage
• Recap Writer — Produces a post-meeting recap email grounded in confirmed intelligence
• Objection Disassembler — Analyzes captured objections and suggests response frameworks

Access these from the workspace chat or the Skills panel.

Tips & Best Practices#Copy link

Create the workspace before the first call. Meeting rules route automatically — but only if the workspace exists. Set it up when you schedule the Discovery call, not after.

Set the correct stage before processing. Stage determines the extraction prompt. If you process a Proposal Review meeting with the Discovery stage set, you’ll get discovery-focused intelligence instead of objection and commitment tracking. You can always re-process with the correct stage.

Review your ABox after every sales meeting. High-confidence items can be bulk-confirmed in seconds. Medium-confidence items are worth a quick scan — the AI is usually right, but the 30-second review prevents bad data from polluting your deal record.

Use Gaps as your pre-call prep. Before every meeting, check the Gap intelligence items. They’re the AI’s answer to “what do I need to learn today to advance this deal?”

Don’t skip Assumptions. Teams often focus on commitments and objections and ignore assumptions. Unvalidated assumptions (“they probably have budget authority”) are the most common source of late-stage deal surprises.

Keep the stage current. Pipeline stage drives gap detection and deliverable generation. An outdated stage means irrelevant gaps and missed automation triggers. Update the stage within 24 hours of a meaningful meeting.

Use the Timeline for QBR prep and deal reviews. When your manager asks “where is this deal?”, pull up the Timeline. Every stage change, meeting, and intelligence item is timestamped and traceable back to the source transcript.

Convert a Deal Workspace to a Work Workspace at close. When you win a deal, create a corresponding Work Workspace for the engagement and archive the Deal Workspace. This keeps your pipeline clean and your client delivery organized in the right context.