URL: /capabilities/agents/ae · Id: `page:/capabilities/agents/ae`

# AE

> Owns each deal from first call to won or lost, drafts every quote at list price, and hands each win to onboarding.

Owns each [deal](https://startupbuilder.dev/business/nouns/deal) from first call to won or lost, drafts every [quote](https://startupbuilder.dev/business/nouns/quote) at list price, and hands each win to onboarding.

- **File convention:** `agents/sales/sales-lead.mdx`
- **Noun:** [`noun:role`](https://startupbuilder.dev/business/nouns/role)
- **Role:** [`role:sales-lead`](https://startupbuilder.dev/agents/sales/sales-lead)

```text title="Run it · Ask"
Book a call with Dana Whitfield on Thursday at 4pm UTC, and show me the invite first.
```

```ts title="Run it · SDK"
import { $ } from 'startup-builder'

const result = await $.try.Meeting.book({ contact: 'contacts/dana-whitfield', at: '2026-10-30T16:00:00Z' })
```

```json title="Run it · Response"
{
  "mode": "try",
  "stored": false,
  "meeting": {
    "contact": "contacts/dana-whitfield",
    "at": "2026-10-30T16:00:00Z",
    "minutes": 15,
    "brief": "deals/harborview-pm/brief"
  }
}
```

## Responsibilities
- Books a call from every interested reply within 60 minutes, at a time both calendars hold free.
- Moves every open deal forward or closes it within 30 days, and names the next step on each.
- Drafts each quote at list price from the offer, so a discount is always a choice you make.
- Hands each won deal to onboarding the moment it is signed, with the promises in the brief.

## Verbs
| Verb | Object | Event |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [`Meeting.book`](/code/apps/scheduling/book) | [`noun:meeting`](https://startupbuilder.dev/business/nouns/meeting) | `Meeting.booked` |
| `Deal.advance` | [`noun:deal`](https://startupbuilder.dev/business/nouns/deal) | `Deal.advanced` |
| `Deal.propose` | [`noun:deal`](https://startupbuilder.dev/business/nouns/deal) | `Deal.proposed` |
| `Quote.send` | [`noun:quote`](https://startupbuilder.dev/business/nouns/quote) | `Quote.sent` |
| `Deal.win` | [`noun:deal`](https://startupbuilder.dev/business/nouns/deal) | `Deal.won` |
| `Deal.lose` | [`noun:deal`](https://startupbuilder.dev/business/nouns/deal) | `Deal.lost` |
| [`Lead.qualify`](/code/apps/crm/qualify) | [`noun:lead`](https://startupbuilder.dev/business/nouns/lead) | `Lead.qualified` |

## Role contract
| Part | This seat |
| --- | --- |
| Purpose | Turn qualified interest into signed customers on terms the startup can keep. |
| Results | Outside paid orders; Paid listing conversion |
| Target | At least 20% of first calls end in a paid order, read at 20 first calls, and no open deal older than 30 days without a dated next step ([Planning estimate](/strategy/numbers#assumptions)). |
| Standards | Answers every qualified lead within one business hour. Moves every open deal forward or closes it within 30 days. |
| Limits | `Deal.propose` up to $25,000 a deal ([the hub Sales lead’s limit](https://startupbuilder.dev/agents/sales/sales-lead)), and every quote at the offer’s list price |
| Schedule | Daily |
| Channels | `email`, `chat`, `phone` |
| Also called | Account Executive, Head of Sales |
| Filled by | A role agent books and drafts; you take the calls until a person fills the seat. |

## Hands off to
- [Onboarding](/capabilities/agents/onboarding): `Deal.won`: it starts onboarding the same business day, with the quote’s promises in the brief.
- [SE](/capabilities/agents/se): A buyer asks to see the product work on their own data before they sign.

## Processes owned
[`process:inbound-sales`](https://startupbuilder.dev/workflows/processes/inbound-sales) · [`process:quoting`](https://startupbuilder.dev/workflows/processes/quoting) · [`workflow:send-quote`](https://startupbuilder.dev/workflows/processes/quoting/send-quote)

## Metrics
[`metric:outside-paid-orders`](https://startupbuilder.dev/agents/sales#outside-paid-orders) · [`metric:paid-listing-conversion`](https://startupbuilder.dev/agents/sales#paid-listing-conversion)

## Approvals
You see the plan and its price before anything runs. Sends and posts go out within the limits you set; one approval rule on a class such as `send` makes every action in it wait for you, and going over a limit always asks.

| It asks you | When | Answered by |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Propose a deal past its limit | A deal above the seat’s `Deal.propose` limit | You |
| Offer a discount below the floor | Any price under the floor your offer sets | You |

Each class and its default amount: the hub’s [approvals](https://startupbuilder.dev/agents/approvals) page.

## Works with
- [Account brief](/capabilities/reach-out/account-brief) (agent task): Two hours before each call: why they are buying now, the objection to expect, the story to tell and the question to ask, all sourced.
- [Answer every inbound](/capabilities/convert-visitors/answer-every-inbound) (agent task): Every inbound question answered within 5 minutes from your own pages, with the next step set: a call booked, a trial, or you.
- [Sales closing](/capabilities/convert-visitors/sales-closing) (Service): Your qualified leads taken to signed orders by a commissioned closer, with agents on the briefs and proposals; billed only on collected revenue.
- [Booked first calls](/capabilities/reach-out/booked-first-calls) (Service): Held first calls with buyers who fit, a budget owner confirmed on each, billed per held meeting against a monthly target you set.

It trades hand-offs with [You, as head of sales](/capabilities/agents/founder), [SDR](/capabilities/agents/sdr), [SE](/capabilities/agents/se), [Onboarding](/capabilities/agents/onboarding), [CSM](/capabilities/agents/csm) and [Partnerships](/capabilities/agents/partnerships).

## Example
Rosa Alvarez, owner of Northgate Rentals with 140 units, books a call from the reply. The agent drafts a quote at $149 a month, and when she signs, onboarding gets the brief before the end of the day.