Ask questions in the Sales Agent chat

The Sales Agent chat lets you ask questions about your Salesforce data in plain language, without building a report or a list view. This article is for sales users.

Where to find the chat#

The chat is the Sales Agent panel. Its header says SALES AGENT unless your admin gave it another name. Your admin decides where it appears. It can be on record pages (Account, Lead, Opportunity, Contact, Case and other objects the admin enabled), in the utility bar at the bottom of the screen, or on an app page or tab. On a record page the chat knows which record you are looking at. See Work with record context.

If you cannot find the panel, ask your admin. For the admin steps, see Add components to pages.

Ask a question#

1. Click in the box at the bottom of the panel (Ask about your Salesforce data...).
2. Type your question. Press Enter to send it, or Shift+Enter for a new line.
3. Wait for the answer. While the agent works, a short status line appears under the last message.

The AI turns your question into a Salesforce query, runs the query with your own permissions and writes the answer. Answers start with the key numbers and add a sentence on what stands out. When the data shows a real problem, such as overdue items or deals past their close date, the answer names it and suggests one next step.

Some examples:

• "Show my open opportunities above 50k"
• "How many leads did I get this week?"
• "Which of my accounts had no activity in the last 30 days?"
• "Total amount of open opportunities per owner"
• "Compare won and lost opportunities this quarter"

Depending on the question, the result is shown as a table, cards, a chart or a single number. See Tables, cards and charts.

When the chat is empty, the Try asking: section shows sample questions such as "How many leads were created this week?" Click one to run it. If your admin turned on the Modern Interface, example questions are typed into the input box as a hint instead, and in light mode the Try asking: section is hidden.

Ask a follow-up#

The chat sends your last few messages along with each new question, so you can refine an answer without repeating yourself. For example, after "show my open opportunities", type "only the ones closing this month".

To start over, click ✕ Clear in the header. This empties the conversation.

To copy an answer, click ⎘ Copy under it.

What the chat can see#

• The objects and fields your admin enabled. Your admin chooses them in AI Engine's Agent Objects settings. The AI is given that list and can only query those objects, plus tasks, events and users. If a field you need is missing, ask your admin to add it. See Agent Objects.
• Only records and fields you can access in Salesforce. The chat runs its queries with your own sharing rules, object permissions and field-level security, so the results contain only records and fields you could open yourself.
• Personal data may be masked. Depending on your admin's settings, values such as email addresses and phone numbers are replaced with placeholders before anything is sent to the AI provider. See PII masking.

Asking a question does not change your data. Records, tasks, emails and files are only created when you click a button that does it, such as + Task or ✉ Send.

Get better answers#

• Be specific. "Open opportunities in stage Negotiation closing this month" works better than "how is my pipeline".
• Ask about one object at a time. Start with one object, then ask a follow-up.
• Name the time frame. "This week", "last quarter" and "in the last 90 days" all work.
• Check before you act. The AI can make mistakes. Check anything you are about to send to a customer.

To look something up on the internet from the chat, ask for it directly, for example "news about Example Ltd", "what does Example Ltd do?" or, on a lead, "research this lead". The AI decides when a question needs a web search instead of a Salesforce query; if it runs a Salesforce query instead, rephrase the question to ask for news or research. See Web Check and Company News.

Good to know#

• A typical question uses two AI requests: one to build the query and one to write the answer. Comparisons, web searches and queries that need a correction can use more.
• If you ask for a "report" without saying how you want it, the chat asks How would you like it? and offers 💬 Show in chat or 📄 PDF document. See Create PDF documents.
• AI Engine does not store the full text of your questions and the AI's answers. The activity log records usage metadata, such as feature, user, object, model, token counts, duration and status, plus a short error message when a call fails. The Salesforce query built from your question is kept for four hours so that Show all and export can run it again. See How AI Engine handles your data.

Troubleshooting#