JPH06110417A - Sales assisting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To accurately grasp customer's needs in environment wherein presentation provided so as to explain an article is made easy for a salesperson and customers to see and listened to. CONSTITUTION:Portable equipments 1P and 1C equipped with display means 4P and 4C, input means 3P and 3C, and speech output means 5P and 5C are provided to enable the same contents, etc., to be seen and listened to and then while the portable equipment 1C other than the portable equipment 1P as a master machine is provided with a speech input means 12, the portable equipment 1P as the master machine is provided with a sound volume variation rate detecting means which detects the rate of variation in sound volume on the basis of an inputted speech; when customer's interest varies and the variation rate of the sound volume exceeds a threshold value, an alarm means warns that to accurately grasp the customer's needs.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sales support device for supporting a sales sales activity by a salesperson.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been a sales support robot as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-220989 for the purpose of supporting sales. This is a stationary type in a store, and is intended to assist a salesperson by displaying a demonstration display to visitors. Therefore, it does not support door-to-door sales activities.

There is also a product explanation device for office equipment as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-176780. This was done in consideration of the fact that it takes a lot of effort to bring in and explain a multifunctional and large-sized product to the customer, and a portable device that operates only on the operation panel of the product is manufactured. With this portable device, the customer tries to make the customer experience the product in a simulated manner. Therefore,
Other than these, it does not have a support function for sales activities of ordinary products.

On the other hand, in recent years, portable computers have been commercialized, and product presentations are often made using them. In particular, if a huge amount of information such as sound and images for presentation is stored in a large-capacity storage medium such as a CD-ROM and played back by a portable computer, the product according to the conventional catalog or the like can be used. A presentation that is more impressive and easier to understand than an explanation.

[0005]

However, since an ordinary portable computer has only one liquid crystal (LCD) display screen, the operator (salesperson) and the customer sit face-to-face and have a business negotiation. In the state, since both cannot see the same screen at the same time, there is a problem that smooth sales activities cannot be performed even if the portable computer is used.

In consideration of such a point, display screens are provided on both the inside and outside of the lid of the portable computer so that both seated face-to-face can see each display screen at the same time. What has been proposed is proposed. However, in a portable computer, a liquid crystal display is generally used, it has directivity, and the angle at which the displayed contents can be clearly seen is limited, and normally it is not clear unless viewed from the front. . As a result, if there are liquid crystal display screens on both sides of the vertically standing lid, it is necessary to set the display screen so that it is located at the height of the line of sight between the salesperson and the customer. In (1), it is almost impractical to put the device on a table or the like which is located considerably below the eye level, and it is not practical. Therefore, it is desired to provide an environment in which sales personnel and customers can easily see and operate in sales activities.

Further, in the case of a presentation using this type of portable computer, since the speaker, especially the built-in speaker has directivity, it is not possible to convey sound to a plurality of people at the same level, which is inconvenient in business negotiations. is there.

[0008] In a normal presentation, as a means for exploring the needs of customers, it is general to guess what the customer wants or to hear it directly. However, it is not objective because there are many cases where the guess is wrong without any special reason. In addition, in the method of directly listening, some customers may not want to answer or may be offended if directly listened to, and may hinder smooth sales activities.

On the other hand, when giving a presentation, if the customer's needs are not understood at all and explained randomly, it cannot be said that the presentation is very effective, and it is not very valuable as sales support. It becomes a thing.

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the invention, display means for displaying characters and images, input means having a touch panel structure laminated on the display means, and voice for reproducing and outputting voice information are provided. At least two portable devices each provided with an output unit are connected to each other, and one of these portable devices is used as a master unit to store information such as characters, images, and sounds. A storage means and a control means for controlling the respective means are built-in, and a voice input means for inputting voice information from the outside to a portable device other than the master unit is provided, and the same or different information is displayed on each display means. Display control means, input control means for inputting the same or different information from each input means, sound output control means for outputting the same or different sound from each sound output means, and input from the sound input means And volume change rate detecting means for detecting the volume change rate of the speech, the rate of change is provided a warning means for warning to that effect when it becomes equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value to the base unit.

In addition, according to the second aspect of the present invention, the master unit includes a storage unit for storing the volume change rate information detected by the volume change rate detection unit and a reproducing unit for reproducing the stored change rate information. Set up in.

In the invention according to claim 3, the main unit is provided with a notifying means for notifying that the warning is not given within a fixed time by the warning means. In the invention according to claim 4, the notifying means notifies. The master unit is provided with a teaching means for teaching an appropriate value of the threshold when receiving a response.

Further, in these inventions, claim 5
In the above-described invention, the base unit is provided with the variable means for changing the threshold value with respect to the change rate.

[0014]

According to the first aspect of the invention, as a basic operation thereof, a plurality of portable devices each having a display unit, an input unit and a voice output unit are provided, and the same or different display information, voice output information, etc. Can be output, so that the salesperson and the customer who are seated face-to-face can see the display screen at the same time in a comfortable posture, and the playback sound can be heard at the same time. Will be able to support you. In such a situation, regarding the voice uttered by the customer, when the rate of change of the volume is detected and the threshold value is exceeded, the master unit warns the fact and notifies the salesperson. As a result, it becomes possible to more accurately grasp the needs such as where the target of the customer's interest in the presentation or the like is directed, and it becomes possible to carry out more accurate and effective sales activities.

In this case, according to the invention of claim 2,
The detected volume change rate information is stored in the base unit,
Since it can be played back at any time, even if you miss the change in the customer's interest during the presentation, you can analyze it by playing back the volume change rate information arbitrarily later, and it will be useful for sales activities at the next presentation. be able to.

Further, in the invention according to claim 3, when the volume change rate never exceeds the threshold value, the fact is notified, so that the threshold value at that time is not appropriate to the salesperson. Therefore, it is possible to take a measure such as prompting the change of the value, and for example, even a customer with a small voice can not miss the change in the volume reflected by the change in the interest level. In this case, according to the invention of claim 4, an appropriate threshold value is taught, so that more accurate correspondence can be taken.

Further, in the invention according to claim 5,
Since the threshold for the rate of change is variable, you can obtain an appropriate result by setting an appropriate threshold according to the situation at that time, such as the volume of customer's voice and the distance between the mobile device and the customer. be able to.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 2, the sales support apparatus of the present embodiment connects two portable devices, a parent device 1 _P and a child device 1 _C, to a connection cable 2
Connect with. These master unit 1 _P and slave unit 1 _C are
Input device (input means) 3 _P , 3 _C and display device (display means) 4
_P , 4 _C and speakers (voice output means) 5 _P , 5 _C are provided, and control circuits 6 _P , 6 _C , 7 _P , 7 _C , 8 are provided in each.
_P and 8 _C are provided. An external storage device (storage means) 9 is provided in the parent device 1 _P , and an external storage control circuit 10 is provided corresponding to the external storage device 9. Furthermore, base unit 1
A central processing unit (control means) 11 for controlling each of these means is provided in _P. On the other hand, a small microphone (voice input means) 12 for taking in a customer's voice is provided in the child device 1 _C , and is connected to the central processing unit 11 through a voice recognition circuit 13.

Here, the display units 4 _P and 4 _C are for visualizing characters and image information based on the data created by the display control circuits 7 _P and 7 _C , and are constituted by a CRT or an LCD with a backlight. Has been done. Also, the input devices 3 _P , 3
_C is of the touch panel structure of a transparent material which is laminated on the display unit 4 _P, 4 on _C, and a pressing operation such as a finger or a pen on the display unit 4 _P, 4 _C by the displayed screen The coordinate information is input. Input control circuit 6 _P, 6 _C in the display device 4 _P, 4 and coordinate information input from the _C indicator 4 _P, 4 converts the display contents displayed in the _C to the appropriate code by matching the center Processor 11
To input. The speakers 5 _P and 5 _C reproduce and output the audio data created by the audio output circuits 8 _P and 8 _C. The external storage device 9 is configured as a CD-ROM drive, a hard disk drive, or the like, and can store a large amount of data regarding characters, images, voices, etc., and can read the stored data at high speed. This data input / output is controlled by the external storage control circuit 10. The voice recognition circuit 13 is a small microphone 1
The volume (volume) of the voice that is converted into the current vibration signal and input by 2 is converted into a numerical value and output.

The master unit 1 _P and the slave unit 1 _C of this embodiment are
The size of the B5 is about 3 cm and the weight is about 2 kg, which can be realized by the current technical level, so that the salesperson can easily carry both machines. However, it is natural that the size and weight can be further reduced by future technological progress. Since the external storage device 9 such as a CD-ROM drive is not required on the slave unit 1 _C side, it may be thinner and lighter than the master unit 1 _P side. The connection cable 2 is supposed to have a sufficient length.

[0021] In any case, it carries these parent machine 1 _P slave unit 1 _C as a pair, in a presentation point, salesperson has to hand the parent machine 1 _P, to hand the customer a cordless handset 1 _C Each person can carry it in a position that is easy for them to see and handle.

In such a structure, the basic operation of this embodiment will be described first. First, the external storage device 9 stores information about sounds and images to be reproduced at the time of presentation,
It is stored as illustrated in FIG. That is, the content of this presentation is made up of several scenes like a picture-story show, and the displayed content is different for each scene. Also, each scene is paired with audio information corresponding to each scene. This audio information may be an explanatory sound about the display contents, a sound effect for giving a sense of presence, or a BGM for giving an atmosphere. Each scene is stored in advance in the order of screening,
The show time is also stored. According to the information example shown in FIG. 3, first, the scene 1 is shown for 10 seconds, and then the scene 2 is displayed.
Will be screened for 8 seconds, and all the scenes will be automatically screened in sequence until the final scene (automatic screening). Therefore, if the data as shown in FIG. 3 is created and stored in the external storage device 9, the salesperson can explain the product without any special operation.

The processing will be described with reference to FIG. 1. First, the central processing unit 11 reads the above-mentioned information stored in the external storage device 9 via the external storage control circuit 10, Among them, the image information is the display control circuit 7 _P , 7
_The information is displayed on the indicators 4 _P and 4 _C via _C , and the audio information is output via the audio output circuits 8 _P and 8 _C to the speakers 5 _P and 4 _C , respectively.
Playback output from 5 _C. After the sound and image have finished playing,
When the preset screening time comes, the central processing unit 1
1 requests the data of the next scene from the external storage device 9.

In the case of automatic screening, processing is performed according to the above procedure. However, in the situation where the product is actually explained to the customer, depending on the degree of interest of the customer, it may be necessary to display the screen longer than the preset exhibition time, or There are various cases such as when wanting to move to the next screen on the way.

In order to properly respond to such various situations during the presentation, the display 4 (4 _P ,
4 _C ), together with the image display unit 21, "pause"
A key display unit 22 for performing six functions such as “resume”, “skip”, “stop”, “previous screen”, and “next screen” appears, and is configured to be operated arbitrarily. Here, "pause" is to stop while maintaining the current display contents, and is the same as a pause in a normal audio device. The paused time is not included in the show time. "Resume" is to return from a paused state to a continuous playback state. "Skip" is to interrupt the currently displayed scene and start the next scene. "Cancel" ends the screening. The "previous screen" is for interrupting the currently displayed scene and displaying the image information of the immediately preceding scene. The "next screen" stops the display of the scene redisplayed by the previous screen function and displays the image of the next scene. In this case, the sound is not reproduced and the display state is maintained until the operator (salesperson or customer) gives an instruction.

In order to use these functions, the operator may press a section in the key display section 22 corresponding to a desired function with a finger or a pen. That is, the input device 3 is mounted on the surface of the display device 4 so as to be in contact therewith, and the input control circuit 6 discriminates the coordinate information of the portion pressed by the operator and converts it into code information corresponding to each function. Output to the central processing unit 11. Therefore, the central processing unit 11 discriminates the input function from such code information, and sends a necessary command to each of the circuits 7, 8 and 10 according to the function to perform each functional processing.

In this way, according to the sales support apparatus of the present embodiment, the salesperson can explain the product instead of the catalog by allowing the customer to have the slave unit 1 _C. In such product description, the response from the customer is expressed in the form of a voice that is appropriately emitted. The voice of the customer is captured through the small microphone 12. The volume of the voice is converted into numerical data by the voice recognition circuit 13, and a volume change rate detecting means (not shown) in the central processing unit 11 is provided.
The change rate of the volume is detected by the process of. here,
The voice is detected by a time interrupt every certain time.

On the basis of such voice data acquisition, the operation control as shown in FIG. 5 is performed. When the rate of change between the current volume data and the previous volume data is obtained by the voice recognition circuit 13, the rate of change is stored in the external storage device 9 through the external storage control circuit 10 under the control of the central processing unit 11 each time. To be done. Then, the value of the rate of change is compared with a preset threshold value, and when the rate of change exceeds the threshold value, the fact is indicated to the parent device 1 _P.
Be warned in. Specifically, the display 4 of the base unit 1 _P
"There is a volume change above the threshold" by using part of _P
It is sufficient to display a warning saying that. Such a process corresponds to the invention described in claim 1.

Such a warning display is not given on the side of the handset 1 _C , and does not give the customer a feeling of strangeness or special consciousness. On the other hand, because in the base unit 1 _P warning display it has been made,
As a salesperson, he / she can surely and objectively know that there has been a big change in the reaction of the customer, and can carry out sales activities such as developing explanations centering on the screen. It is also guessed where the customer's interest is based on the point where the volume change is large, and it is guessed that the presentation prepared as described above is interested by using the function such as "pause". Scenes will be shown longer than the preset show time, but conversely, scenes that are unlikely to be interesting can be skipped, and product explanations suitable for the customer can be developed.

On the other hand, if the rate of change in the detected sound volume does not exceed the threshold value within a certain period of time, the fact is notified by the master unit 1 _P. More specifically, by using a part of the display device 4 _P of the main unit 1 _P, it may be carried out notification display of fact, such as "threshold of volume change is not appropriate". Such processing corresponds to the invention described in claim 3. Therefore, the salesperson who receives such notification display can take countermeasures such as changing the threshold value. Such a case occurs, for example, in the case of a customer with a small voice.

Here, when such notification display is performed, measured change rate information is stored, an appropriate threshold value is indexed based on this change rate information, and an appropriate value of such threshold value is obtained. If the staff are taught together, the salesperson can take a more appropriate response. Such processing corresponds to the invention described in claim 4.

[0032] Incidentally, not only when receiving such a notification display, in order to change always set to an optimum value threshold for appropriately is necessary when the rate of change, as shown in FIG. 6, the master unit 1 _P in addition to the key display unit 22 such as a "pause" on the display unit 4 _P side, by as key display unit 23 comprising a variable means according to the invention of claim 5, wherein becomes "threshold setting" appears Good.

By pressing the key display portion 23 for setting the threshold value, the threshold value can be arbitrarily changed and set according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

By the way, according to the invention of claim 2,
The change rate of the volume in the presentation to a certain customer is stored in the external storage device 9 by the processing shown in FIG. 5 each time, and is reproduced and displayed on the display device 4 _P arbitrarily by a specific key operation later. Therefore, even if you missed the warning display during the presentation, you can analyze the change of the customer by reproducing and outputting the change rate of change rate later, and It can be useful for subsequent presentations.

[0035]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, display means for displaying characters and images, input means having a touch panel structure laminated on the display means, and voice output means for reproducing and outputting voice information. Storage means for providing information such as characters, images, voices, etc., in which at least two portable devices each provided with are connected to each other, and one of these portable devices serves as a master device. And a control means for controlling each of the above means, a display control means for displaying the same or different information on each display means, an input control means for inputting the same or different information from each input means, and each voice output means. Since the voice output control means for outputting the same or different voice from the above is provided, the salesperson who sits face-to-face and the customer can clearly see the display screen in a comfortable posture at the same time, and
In addition to the basic effect of supporting sales activities that the playback sound can be heard clearly at the same time, a voice input means for inputting voice information from the outside to a portable device other than the parent device is provided. The master unit is provided with volume change rate detection means for detecting the change rate of the volume of voice input from the means, and warning means for warning that the change rate exceeds a predetermined threshold value. Regarding the voice uttered by a customer during a business negotiation, when the change rate of the volume is detected and it exceeds a threshold value, the master unit warns the fact and notifies the salesperson. Based on this, it becomes possible to more accurately grasp the needs such as where the customer's interest in the presentation or the like is directed, and it becomes possible to carry out more accurate and effective sales activities.

In addition, according to the second aspect of the present invention, the detected volume change rate information is stored in the master unit so that it can be reproduced at any time, so that the customer's interest level can be changed during the presentation. Even if you miss it, you can analyze it by playing back the volume change rate information arbitrarily later, and it can be useful for sales activities at the next presentation.

According to the third aspect of the invention, when the volume change rate never exceeds the threshold value, the fact is notified so that the sales staff can be notified of the threshold. It is possible to take a measure such as prompting the user to change the value because the value is not appropriate. For example, even a customer with a small voice can not miss the volume change reflected by the change in the interest level. In this case, according to the invention of the fourth aspect, since an appropriate threshold value is taught, it is possible to take a more accurate measure.

Further, in these inventions, claim 5
According to the invention described above, since the threshold value for the rate of change is variable, it is necessary to set an appropriate threshold value according to the situation at that time, such as the volume of the customer's voice or the distance between the portable device and the customer. With, you can get the appropriate result.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an external configuration.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of stored scene information.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing an example of a display screen.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing example.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing an example of a display screen.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of threshold value changing processing.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 _P Master = portable device 1 _C portable device 3 _P , 3 _C input means 4 _P , 4 _C display means 5 _P , 5 _C voice output means 9 storage means, storage means 11 control means 12 voice input means 23 variable means

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. At least two portable types each including display means for displaying characters and images, input means having a touch panel structure laminated on the display means, and audio output means for reproducing and outputting audio information. Equipment is connected to each other,
Using one of these portable devices as a master unit, a storage unit for storing information such as characters, images and voices and a control unit for controlling each unit are built-in, and a unit other than the master unit is provided. Voice input means for inputting voice information from the outside to the portable device is provided, display control means for displaying the same or different information on each display means, and input control means for inputting the same or different information from each input means, Audio output control means for outputting the same or different audio from each audio output means,
The volume change rate detecting means for detecting the change rate of the volume of the voice input from the voice input means, and the warning means for warning that the change rate becomes a predetermined threshold value or more Sales support device characterized by being installed in the machine. 2. The master unit is provided with a storage unit for storing volume change rate information detected by the volume change rate detection unit and a reproducing unit for reproducing the stored change rate information. Item 1. The sales support device according to item 1. 3. The sales support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the warning means does not receive the warning within a predetermined time, a notification means for notifying the fact is provided in the base unit. 4. The sales support device according to claim 3, wherein the master unit is provided with teaching means for teaching an appropriate value of the threshold when the notification is given by the notification means. 5. The master unit is provided with a variable means for varying a threshold value with respect to a rate of change.
The sales support device according to 3 or 4.