US20050171859A1 - Augmentation of lead with attractiveness information from external source - Google Patents
Augmentation of lead with attractiveness information from external source Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- US20050171859A1 US20050171859A1 US10/979,631 US97963104A US2005171859A1 US 20050171859 A1 US20050171859 A1 US 20050171859A1 US 97963104 A US97963104 A US 97963104A US 2005171859 A1 US2005171859 A1 US 2005171859A1
- Authority
- US
- United States
- Prior art keywords
- information
- lead
- sales lead
- sales
- information database
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Abandoned
Links
Images
Classifications
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
- G06Q10/10—Office automation; Time management
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G06Q30/00—Commerce
- G06Q30/02—Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
- G06Q30/0207—Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
- G06Q30/0234—Rebates after completed purchase
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G06Q30/00—Commerce
- G06Q30/06—Buying, selling or leasing transactions
- G06Q30/0601—Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G06Q40/00—Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G06Q40/00—Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
- G06Q40/03—Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
Definitions
- the present invention relates generally to the management and development of sales leads. More specifically, the disclosure relates to methods of augmenting leads with supplemental information useful for developing the leads.
- Leads can be generated in many different ways. For example, a customer of the business might refer a new customer, resulting in a lead for that new customer. Or, potential customer might request information from the company, resulting in a lead for that potential customer. Often, lists of people and associated demographic data are purchased from business that assemble and sell such lists, and the information is used to develop potential leads for would-be customers. As is well-understood in the business world, leads can manifest in a variety of different forms, and can be valuable tools for new business generation if used effectively.
- sales leads generally include only very basic information, such as identification of a potential customer and identification of a product or service that the customer may be likely to purchase.
- lead information due to the common constraint of having to create universally formatted sales leads makes it difficult for the ultimate recipients of the sales leads to fully develop the leads and make a sale.
- a method of developing a sales lead includes receiving a sales lead from a sales lead source, including an identification of a potential customer, requesting supplemental information from an information database relevant to the likelihood that the potential customer will make a purchase, receiving the supplemental information from the information database, and delivering the sales lead to a recipient for follow-up together with attractiveness information relevant to the likelihood that the potential customer will make a purchase based on the supplemental information received from the information database.
- computer-readable media embodying a program of instructions is executable by a computer to perform a method of developing a sales lead.
- the method includes receiving a sales lead from a sales lead source, including an identification of a potential customer, requesting supplemental information from an information database relevant to the likelihood that the potential customer will make a purchase, receiving the supplemental information from the information database, and delivering the sales lead to a recipient for follow-up together with attractiveness information relevant to the likelihood that the potential customer will make a purchase based on the supplemental information received from the information database.
- a lead development system includes an input port configured to receive a sales lead from a sales lead source, including an identification of a potential customer, a processor configured to request supplemental information from an information database relevant to the likelihood that the potential customer will make a purchase, the processor further configured to receive the supplemental information from the information database, and an output port configured to send the sales lead to a recipient for follow-up together with attractiveness information relevant to the likelihood that the potential customer will make a purchase based on the supplemental information received from the information database.
- a lead development system includes means for receiving a sales lead from a sales lead source, including an identification of a potential customer, means for requesting supplemental information from an information database relevant to the likelihood that the potential customer will make a purchase, means for receiving the supplemental information from the information database, and means for delivering the sales lead to a recipient for follow-up together with attractiveness information relevant to the likelihood that the potential customer will make a purchase based on the supplemental information received from the information database.
- FIG. 1 illustrates components of a system for developing a sales lead
- FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of developing a sales lead
- FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an additional method of developing a sales lead.
- FIG. 4 illustrates computer readable media embodying a program of instructions executable by a computer to perform a method of developing a sales lead.
- FIG. 1 illustrates components of a system for developing a sales lead.
- a sales lead source 100 may interact with people, collect information from them, and generate sales leads relating to those people.
- the sales leads may be collected for the purpose of generating sales by eventual recipients of the leads.
- a sales lead based on information collected from a person 102 may indicate to an eventual recipient 104 of the sales lead, which products or services the person 102 may be likely to purchase from the recipient.
- the sales lead may include identification information to assist the recipient 104 in locating the person 102 to whom the sales lead relates.
- the sales lead may comprise software code describing the identification information.
- the software code may be organized into various fields that contain data representing the identification information.
- the identification information may include, for example, location information, basic demographic information, contact information and the like.
- the sales lead may also include product identification information related to the product or service that the person 104 may be likely to purchase.
- the sales lead source 100 may be, for example, data collection agency, a product manufacturer or a retailer.
- the recipient 104 may be, for example, a retailer or direct seller of products or services to people such as the person 102 .
- a sales lead development system including a computing system 106 may be used to perform a method of developing the sales lead that was obtained by the sales lead source 100 .
- the computing system 106 may be in communication with an information database 108 .
- the information database 108 may comprise, for example, an SQL server, though it will be recognized by those skilled in the art that other databases may also be implemented in accordance with the teachings herein.
- the information database 108 and computing system 106 may be a single entity or two or more individual entities communicatively operated to each other.
- the information database 108 may be at the same location as the computing system 106 , as indicated by box 110 . Alternatively, the information database 108 may be at a location that is remote to the computing system 106 , as indicated by dividing line 112 .
- Information for populating the information database 108 may be obtained, for example, from third party service providers or other sources of public information that may be relevant to targeted product sales. Information may also be obtained, for example, from proprietary sources such as from product retailers themselves. Proprietary information may include information regarding contact made between a retailer or sales lead source and potential consumers, such as telephone inquiries by a potential consumer, brochure requests, marketing campaign mailing lists, and the like. Proprietary information may also include data regarding sales history of previous customers, for example. Such proprietary information may be collected from customers or potential customers at the time of a sale or sales pitch, or via post-sales surveys, then retained for use in the information database 108 for developing future leads, as will be described in further detail below.
- the information database 108 may also include information regarding the location of particular lead recipients, which can be matched to location information of a person identified in a sales lead in order to direct a lead to the most appropriately or conveniently located recipient. Moreover, the information database 108 may include relationship information regarding particular lead recipients and their known customers, which can also be matched to location information of a person identified in a sales lead in order to direct a lead to recipients with whom a customer has had previous contact. Additionally, the information database may include data indicative of a previous customer's perceived experience with a particular lead recipients, so that sales leads can be directed to recipients with whom an identified person had a positive experience, and diverted from recipients with whom an identified person had a negative experience.
- the information database 108 may include supplemental information such as information about the products or services offered by the recipient 104 , information about the person 102 , or information about other details relevant to developing the sales lead.
- the information database 108 may include statistical information indicative of how demographic information relates to the probability of a particular person consummating a sale.
- the information database 108 may also include information regarding purchase histories of past customers of the recipient 104 , such as which products or services a past customer has purchased, the frequency with which such purchases have been made, the most recent date of such a purchase, and other related statistical information.
- the information database 108 may also include current ownership information, such as which products the person 102 currently owns.
- Such information may indicate whether the person 102 owns products sold by the recipient 104 , or similar products sold by competitors of the recipient 104 .
- the information database 108 may also include information such as decision factors important to the person 102 when making purchase decisions, financial attributes of the person 102 , and other purchase potential indicia.
- the information database 108 may also include information indicative of the person's ongoing contact with a lead recipient 104 , such as post-purchase service calls and the like. It will be recognized by those skilled in the art that many other types of supplemental information may be useful for evaluating the sales lead, and that the examples discussed above are illustrative but not exhaustive.
- FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method of developing a sales lead.
- the method may be performed by a computing system, such as one having the components illustrated in FIG. 1 .
- a computing system receives a sales lead from a sales lead source.
- the computing system may request supplemental information from the information database 202 .
- the request may be formatted as a query to the information database.
- Multiple requests may be submitted by the computing system, and programming logic to manage a queue of requests may be implemented in accordance with the teachings herein.
- Requests may be initialized in real-time, such as by a computing system configured to enhance sales leads as they are received.
- requests may be submitted in batch processes, such as at certain pre-programmed times of the day.
- the supplemental information may be relevant to the person, product, service or other subject of the sales lead.
- a database management system may identify information in the information database that is relevant to the sales lead, and return the identified supplemental information to the computing system.
- the computing system receives the supplemental information, which it may then use to evaluate and develop the sales lead.
- the computing system may determine “attractiveness information” for the sales lead, based upon the received supplemental information.
- the term “attractiveness information” refers to information indicative of the likelihood or probability that a sales lead can be developed into an actual sale.
- attractiveness information may include a rating of the sales lead as compared to other sales leads, a calculated probability that a given sales lead can be developed into an actual sale, or other indicia of the value of the sales lead.
- the supplemental information is relevant to the person, products or other aspects of the sales lead, and because it may be indicative of the probability that the sales lead will result in an eventual sale, the supplemental information can be utilized to determine how likely it is that the person identified in the sales lead will make a purchase. This determination may constitute attractiveness information for the sales lead.
- a received sales lead may include information about a person and information about a product he is interested in purchasing.
- the personal information may include the person's name, basic demographic information, address, and contact telephone number.
- the product information may include a type of consumer product that the person is in the market to purchase.
- the computing system may formulate a relevant query, with which it may request supplemental information about the person or the, product from an information database.
- the information database may contain, for example, data related to which versions of the product type identified in the sales lead are most popular in the demographics that are identified in the sales lead. This supplemental “popularity” information may be sent back to the computing system, which can in turn use the information to assess how attractive the sales lead is for the given person and product.
- the lead may not be likely to result in a sale and may thus be an unattractive lead. If, on the other hand, the identified product type is prevalent among members of the identified demographic, the lead may be more likely to result in a sale and may thus be considered an attractive lead.
- This determination constitutes attractiveness information that can be quantified and added to the sales lead in order to supplement its contents and make them more useful to the eventual recipient, as will be discussed in further detail below. It is to be understood that the foregoing example is only one type of attractiveness information that can be assessed, and uses only one type of supplemental information that may be useful in determining attractiveness information.
- the sales lead may be formatted as a data object having various fields for personal identification information, product identification, and the like.
- a separate field may be included in the sales lead to contain attractiveness information where available.
- attractiveness information may be determined as explained above, the information may be inserted into the field, thereby modifying the sales lead by including the new information.
- the modified sales lead thus enhanced, as it includes both the original information and the newly determined attractiveness information.
- the modified sales lead is more useful to an eventual recipient, because it includes not just the basic sales lead information, but also information that can assist the recipient in quickly and efficiently determining the value of the sales lead as a potential sale generator.
- a sales lead recipient may, for example, classify numerous received leads in order of priority, such that greater priority is given to the attractive leads, and fewer efforts are spent on the leads that have been determined to be unattractive.
- FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an additional method of developing a sales lead.
- the additional method is applicable to the method illustrated in FIG. 2 , in which supplemental information may be requested and retrieved from an informational database. This is indicated at arrow 300 .
- the computing system may use it to calculate a value for the sales lead, as indicated at block 304 .
- the value may be a numerical measure of the attractiveness of the lead. For example, after the computing system determines based on the supplemental information whether the sales lead is attractive or unattractive, it may assign a low value to an unattractive lead and a high value to a very attractive lead.
- the calculated value is added to the sales lead.
- the sales lead is delivered along with the value to the lead recipient. The recipient may access the value from the sales lead in order to quickly evaluate the potential of the lead to generate an actual sale.
- FIG. 4 illustrates computer readable media embodying a program of instructions executable by a computer to perform a method of developing a sales lead.
- a computing system 106 may be the same computing system described above with reference to FIG. 1 .
- the computing system 106 may include input and output ports configured to receive sales lead and supplemental data and transmit queries and modified sales leads, respectively.
- the computing system 106 may instead include a combined input/output port for this purpose.
- the computing system 106 may include a memory system having a hard drive, or may include a memory drive such as a CD Rom, disc drive or other type of drive, to receive computer readable media 400 .
- the computer readable media 400 may embody a program of instructions that is executable by the computing system 106 to perform the methods described above, or any portion thereof.
Landscapes
- Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Strategic Management (AREA)
- Accounting & Taxation (AREA)
- Finance (AREA)
- General Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
- Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
- Economics (AREA)
- Marketing (AREA)
- Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Development Economics (AREA)
- General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Entrepreneurship & Innovation (AREA)
- Technology Law (AREA)
- Human Resources & Organizations (AREA)
- Data Mining & Analysis (AREA)
- Operations Research (AREA)
- Quality & Reliability (AREA)
- Tourism & Hospitality (AREA)
- Game Theory and Decision Science (AREA)
- Management, Administration, Business Operations System, And Electronic Commerce (AREA)
- Stored Programmes (AREA)
Abstract
A method of developing a sales lead includes receiving a sales lead from a sales lead source and supplementing it with additional information. The supplemental information may be useful in determining the attractiveness of the sales lead. Attractiveness information may be quantified or otherwise expressed, added to the sales lead, and provided to a sales lead recipient. The sales lead recipient may then quickly and efficiently assess the value of the sales lead.
Description
- This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/872,648, filed Jun. 21, 2004, entitled “Systems and Methods of Distributing Centrally Received Leads” (which claims priority to provisional Ser. No. 60/497,378, filed Aug. 22, 2003, entitled “Lead Distribution and Routing Application (LDRA)”), the contents of both of which are incorporated herein by reference. This application is also related to and claims the benefit of the filing date of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/547,356, filed Feb. 23, 2004, entitled “Lead Distribution and Routing System Lead Augmentation: Electronic Customer Relations Management (ECRM),” the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
- 1. Field of the Invention
- The present invention relates generally to the management and development of sales leads. More specifically, the disclosure relates to methods of augmenting leads with supplemental information useful for developing the leads.
- 2. Description of Related Art
- Many businesses involved in sales attempt to generate and utilize leads in order to create new business and increase sales. Leads can be generated in many different ways. For example, a customer of the business might refer a new customer, resulting in a lead for that new customer. Or, potential customer might request information from the company, resulting in a lead for that potential customer. Often, lists of people and associated demographic data are purchased from business that assemble and sell such lists, and the information is used to develop potential leads for would-be customers. As is well-understood in the business world, leads can manifest in a variety of different forms, and can be valuable tools for new business generation if used effectively.
- Unfortunately, very large companies with multiple points of distribution and sales are faced with difficulties in harnessing and utilizing their leads. Although large expenditures of time and money are often incurred to generate and develop leads, effective use and implementation of the leads has proven to be a formidable task. For example, the need for a large company to distribute leads to many different sales points each having their own lead management requirements often results in universally formatted leads that are limited in the amount and type of content that they can include. Thus, sales leads generally include only very basic information, such as identification of a potential customer and identification of a product or service that the customer may be likely to purchase. The limitation of lead information due to the common constraint of having to create universally formatted sales leads makes it difficult for the ultimate recipients of the sales leads to fully develop the leads and make a sale. Also, it causes recipients to spend equal amounts of time on all sales leads, irrespective of whether some of those leads are more likely than others to lead to actual sales. Thus, sales lead recipients may waste valuable time following-up on unlikely sales leads, when the time would be better spent on sales leads with greater potential, unbeknownst to the recipient of those sales leads.
- In view of the various problems discussed above, there is a need for a method of and system for developing sales leads that includes the inclusion of additional useful information within the sales leads themselves.
- In one aspect of the present invention, a method of developing a sales lead includes receiving a sales lead from a sales lead source, including an identification of a potential customer, requesting supplemental information from an information database relevant to the likelihood that the potential customer will make a purchase, receiving the supplemental information from the information database, and delivering the sales lead to a recipient for follow-up together with attractiveness information relevant to the likelihood that the potential customer will make a purchase based on the supplemental information received from the information database.
- In another aspect of the present invention, computer-readable media embodying a program of instructions is executable by a computer to perform a method of developing a sales lead. The method includes receiving a sales lead from a sales lead source, including an identification of a potential customer, requesting supplemental information from an information database relevant to the likelihood that the potential customer will make a purchase, receiving the supplemental information from the information database, and delivering the sales lead to a recipient for follow-up together with attractiveness information relevant to the likelihood that the potential customer will make a purchase based on the supplemental information received from the information database.
- In yet another aspect of the present invention, a lead development system includes an input port configured to receive a sales lead from a sales lead source, including an identification of a potential customer, a processor configured to request supplemental information from an information database relevant to the likelihood that the potential customer will make a purchase, the processor further configured to receive the supplemental information from the information database, and an output port configured to send the sales lead to a recipient for follow-up together with attractiveness information relevant to the likelihood that the potential customer will make a purchase based on the supplemental information received from the information database.
- In a further aspect of the present invention, a lead development system includes means for receiving a sales lead from a sales lead source, including an identification of a potential customer, means for requesting supplemental information from an information database relevant to the likelihood that the potential customer will make a purchase, means for receiving the supplemental information from the information database, and means for delivering the sales lead to a recipient for follow-up together with attractiveness information relevant to the likelihood that the potential customer will make a purchase based on the supplemental information received from the information database.
- It is understood that other embodiments of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, wherein it is shown and described only exemplary embodiments of the invention by way of illustration. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments and its several details are capable of modification in various other respects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the drawings and detailed description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.
- Aspects of the present invention are illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the accompanying drawings, wherein:
-
FIG. 1 illustrates components of a system for developing a sales lead; -
FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of developing a sales lead; -
FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an additional method of developing a sales lead; and -
FIG. 4 illustrates computer readable media embodying a program of instructions executable by a computer to perform a method of developing a sales lead. - The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention and is not intended to represent the only embodiments in which the present invention can be practiced. The term “exemplary” used throughout this description means “serving as an example, instance, or illustration,” and should not necessarily be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the concepts of the present invention.
-
FIG. 1 illustrates components of a system for developing a sales lead. Asales lead source 100 may interact with people, collect information from them, and generate sales leads relating to those people. The sales leads may be collected for the purpose of generating sales by eventual recipients of the leads. For example, a sales lead based on information collected from aperson 102 may indicate to aneventual recipient 104 of the sales lead, which products or services theperson 102 may be likely to purchase from the recipient. The sales lead may include identification information to assist therecipient 104 in locating theperson 102 to whom the sales lead relates. In one embodiment, the sales lead may comprise software code describing the identification information. The software code may be organized into various fields that contain data representing the identification information. It will be recognized by those skilled in the art that the software code may be written in numerous different programming languages, and that the teachings herein are not limited to any particular software type. The identification information may include, for example, location information, basic demographic information, contact information and the like. The sales lead may also include product identification information related to the product or service that theperson 104 may be likely to purchase. Thesales lead source 100 may be, for example, data collection agency, a product manufacturer or a retailer. Therecipient 104 may be, for example, a retailer or direct seller of products or services to people such as theperson 102. - A sales lead development system including a
computing system 106 may be used to perform a method of developing the sales lead that was obtained by thesales lead source 100. Thecomputing system 106 may be in communication with aninformation database 108. Theinformation database 108 may comprise, for example, an SQL server, though it will be recognized by those skilled in the art that other databases may also be implemented in accordance with the teachings herein. Theinformation database 108 andcomputing system 106 may be a single entity or two or more individual entities communicatively operated to each other. Theinformation database 108 may be at the same location as thecomputing system 106, as indicated bybox 110. Alternatively, theinformation database 108 may be at a location that is remote to thecomputing system 106, as indicated by dividingline 112. - Information for populating the
information database 108 may be obtained, for example, from third party service providers or other sources of public information that may be relevant to targeted product sales. Information may also be obtained, for example, from proprietary sources such as from product retailers themselves. Proprietary information may include information regarding contact made between a retailer or sales lead source and potential consumers, such as telephone inquiries by a potential consumer, brochure requests, marketing campaign mailing lists, and the like. Proprietary information may also include data regarding sales history of previous customers, for example. Such proprietary information may be collected from customers or potential customers at the time of a sale or sales pitch, or via post-sales surveys, then retained for use in theinformation database 108 for developing future leads, as will be described in further detail below. Theinformation database 108 may also include information regarding the location of particular lead recipients, which can be matched to location information of a person identified in a sales lead in order to direct a lead to the most appropriately or conveniently located recipient. Moreover, theinformation database 108 may include relationship information regarding particular lead recipients and their known customers, which can also be matched to location information of a person identified in a sales lead in order to direct a lead to recipients with whom a customer has had previous contact. Additionally, the information database may include data indicative of a previous customer's perceived experience with a particular lead recipients, so that sales leads can be directed to recipients with whom an identified person had a positive experience, and diverted from recipients with whom an identified person had a negative experience. - The
information database 108 may include supplemental information such as information about the products or services offered by therecipient 104, information about theperson 102, or information about other details relevant to developing the sales lead. For example, theinformation database 108 may include statistical information indicative of how demographic information relates to the probability of a particular person consummating a sale. Theinformation database 108 may also include information regarding purchase histories of past customers of therecipient 104, such as which products or services a past customer has purchased, the frequency with which such purchases have been made, the most recent date of such a purchase, and other related statistical information. Theinformation database 108 may also include current ownership information, such as which products theperson 102 currently owns. Such information may indicate whether theperson 102 owns products sold by therecipient 104, or similar products sold by competitors of therecipient 104. Theinformation database 108 may also include information such as decision factors important to theperson 102 when making purchase decisions, financial attributes of theperson 102, and other purchase potential indicia. Theinformation database 108 may also include information indicative of the person's ongoing contact with alead recipient 104, such as post-purchase service calls and the like. It will be recognized by those skilled in the art that many other types of supplemental information may be useful for evaluating the sales lead, and that the examples discussed above are illustrative but not exhaustive. -
FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method of developing a sales lead. The method may be performed by a computing system, such as one having the components illustrated inFIG. 1 . In the exemplary method, at block 200 a computing system receives a sales lead from a sales lead source. Atblock 202, the computing system may request supplemental information from theinformation database 202. The request may be formatted as a query to the information database. Multiple requests may be submitted by the computing system, and programming logic to manage a queue of requests may be implemented in accordance with the teachings herein. Requests may be initialized in real-time, such as by a computing system configured to enhance sales leads as they are received. Alternatively, requests may be submitted in batch processes, such as at certain pre-programmed times of the day. As discussed above, the supplemental information may be relevant to the person, product, service or other subject of the sales lead. A database management system may identify information in the information database that is relevant to the sales lead, and return the identified supplemental information to the computing system. Atblock 204, the computing system receives the supplemental information, which it may then use to evaluate and develop the sales lead. - At
block 206, the computing system may determine “attractiveness information” for the sales lead, based upon the received supplemental information. As used herein, the term “attractiveness information” refers to information indicative of the likelihood or probability that a sales lead can be developed into an actual sale. For example, attractiveness information may include a rating of the sales lead as compared to other sales leads, a calculated probability that a given sales lead can be developed into an actual sale, or other indicia of the value of the sales lead. Because the supplemental information is relevant to the person, products or other aspects of the sales lead, and because it may be indicative of the probability that the sales lead will result in an eventual sale, the supplemental information can be utilized to determine how likely it is that the person identified in the sales lead will make a purchase. This determination may constitute attractiveness information for the sales lead. - As an example, a received sales lead may include information about a person and information about a product he is interested in purchasing. The personal information may include the person's name, basic demographic information, address, and contact telephone number. The product information may include a type of consumer product that the person is in the market to purchase. After the computing system receives this particular sales lead, it may formulate a relevant query, with which it may request supplemental information about the person or the, product from an information database. The information database may contain, for example, data related to which versions of the product type identified in the sales lead are most popular in the demographics that are identified in the sales lead. This supplemental “popularity” information may be sent back to the computing system, which can in turn use the information to assess how attractive the sales lead is for the given person and product. For example, if the identified product type is not very popular in the identified demographic, the lead may not be likely to result in a sale and may thus be an unattractive lead. If, on the other hand, the identified product type is prevalent among members of the identified demographic, the lead may be more likely to result in a sale and may thus be considered an attractive lead. This determination constitutes attractiveness information that can be quantified and added to the sales lead in order to supplement its contents and make them more useful to the eventual recipient, as will be discussed in further detail below. It is to be understood that the foregoing example is only one type of attractiveness information that can be assessed, and uses only one type of supplemental information that may be useful in determining attractiveness information.
- Once the attractiveness information is determined, it may be added to the sales lead, as indicated at
block 208. For example, the sales lead may be formatted as a data object having various fields for personal identification information, product identification, and the like. A separate field may be included in the sales lead to contain attractiveness information where available. Thus, when attractiveness information may be determined as explained above, the information may be inserted into the field, thereby modifying the sales lead by including the new information. The modified sales lead thus enhanced, as it includes both the original information and the newly determined attractiveness information. As such, the modified sales lead is more useful to an eventual recipient, because it includes not just the basic sales lead information, but also information that can assist the recipient in quickly and efficiently determining the value of the sales lead as a potential sale generator. By knowing whether or not a particular lead is attractive, a sales lead recipient may, for example, classify numerous received leads in order of priority, such that greater priority is given to the attractive leads, and fewer efforts are spent on the leads that have been determined to be unattractive. -
FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an additional method of developing a sales lead. The additional method is applicable to the method illustrated inFIG. 2 , in which supplemental information may be requested and retrieved from an informational database. This is indicated atarrow 300. After the supplemental information is received atblock 302, as described above, the computing system may use it to calculate a value for the sales lead, as indicated atblock 304. The value may be a numerical measure of the attractiveness of the lead. For example, after the computing system determines based on the supplemental information whether the sales lead is attractive or unattractive, it may assign a low value to an unattractive lead and a high value to a very attractive lead. It will be recognized by those skilled in the art that numerous scoring mechanisms are possible and that various types of values may be calculated according to the various types of supplemental information that are available for sales leads. Atblock 306, the calculated value is added to the sales lead. Finally, atblock 308 the sales lead is delivered along with the value to the lead recipient. The recipient may access the value from the sales lead in order to quickly evaluate the potential of the lead to generate an actual sale. -
FIG. 4 illustrates computer readable media embodying a program of instructions executable by a computer to perform a method of developing a sales lead. Acomputing system 106 may be the same computing system described above with reference toFIG. 1 . Thecomputing system 106 may include input and output ports configured to receive sales lead and supplemental data and transmit queries and modified sales leads, respectively. Thecomputing system 106 may instead include a combined input/output port for this purpose. Thecomputing system 106 may include a memory system having a hard drive, or may include a memory drive such as a CD Rom, disc drive or other type of drive, to receive computerreadable media 400. The computerreadable media 400 may embody a program of instructions that is executable by thecomputing system 106 to perform the methods described above, or any portion thereof. - The previous description of the disclosed embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present invention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.
Claims (20)
1. A method of developing a sales lead, comprising:
receiving a sales lead from a sales lead source, including an identification of a potential customer;
requesting supplemental information from an information database relevant to the likelihood that the potential customer will make a purchase;
receiving the supplemental information from the information database; and
delivering the sales lead to a recipient for follow-up together with attractiveness information relevant to the likelihood that the potential customer will make a purchase based on the supplemental information received from the information database.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the information database is located remotely from the sales lead source.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving the sales lead, the requesting the supplemental information, the receiving the supplemental information, and the delivering the sales lead is performed at a location.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein the information database is located remotely from the location.
5. The method of claim 3 wherein the information database is at the location.
6. The method of claim 5 further comprising storing the sales lead in the information database.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein the information database includes information about products that the potential customer has owned and the received supplemental information includes the ownership information.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the information database includes information about a product that the potential customer currently owns and the receiving the supplemental information includes this ownership information.
9. The method of claim 8 wherein the product that the potential customer currently owns is of the same type as a product that is the subject of the sales lead.
10. The method of claim 1 further comprising calculating a value representing the likelihood that the sales lead would lead to a purchase based at least in part on the supplemental information.
11. The method of claim 10 wherein the attractiveness information that is delivered to the recipient includes the value.
12. The method of claim 1 wherein the lead source comprises an automobile distributor.
13. The method of claim 1 wherein the recipient comprises an automobile dealer.
14. Computer-readable media embodying a program of instructions executable by a computer to perform a method of developing a sales lead, the method comprising:
receiving a sales lead from a sales lead source, including an identification of a potential customer;
requesting supplemental information from an information database relevant to the likelihood that the potential customer will make a purchase;
receiving the supplemental information from the information database; and
delivering the sales lead to a recipient for follow-up together with attractiveness information relevant to the likelihood that the potential customer will make a purchase based on the supplemental information received from the information database.
15. The computer-readable media of claim 14 , wherein the method further comprises calculating a value representing the likelihood that the sales lead would lead to a purchase based at least in part on the supplemental information.
16. The computer-readable media of claim 15 , wherein the attractiveness information that is delivered to the recipient includes the value.
17. A lead development system, comprising:
an input port configured to receive a sales lead from a sales lead source, including an identification of a potential customer;
a processor configured to request supplemental information from an information database relevant to the likelihood that the potential customer will make a purchase;
the processor further configured to receive the supplemental information from the information database; and
an output port configured to send the sales lead to a recipient for follow-up together with attractiveness information relevant to the likelihood that the potential customer will make a purchase based on the supplemental information received from the information database.
18. The lead development system of claim 17 wherein the processor is further configured to calculate a value representing the likelihood that the sales lead would lead to a purchase based at least in part on the supplemental information.
19. The lead development system of claim 18 wherein the attractiveness information that is delivered to the recipient includes the value.
20. A lead development system, comprising:
means for receiving a sales lead from a sales lead source, including an identification of a potential customer;
means for requesting supplemental information from an information database relevant to the likelihood that the potential customer will make a purchase;
means for receiving the supplemental information from the information database; and
means for delivering the sales lead to a recipient for follow-up together with attractiveness information relevant to the likelihood that the potential customer will make a purchase based on the supplemental information received from the information database.
Priority Applications (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US10/979,631 US20050171859A1 (en) | 2003-08-22 | 2004-11-02 | Augmentation of lead with attractiveness information from external source |
Applications Claiming Priority (4)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US49737803P | 2003-08-22 | 2003-08-22 | |
US54735604P | 2004-02-23 | 2004-02-23 | |
US10/872,648 US7539621B2 (en) | 2003-08-22 | 2004-06-21 | Systems and methods of distributing centrally received leads |
US10/979,631 US20050171859A1 (en) | 2003-08-22 | 2004-11-02 | Augmentation of lead with attractiveness information from external source |
Related Parent Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US10/872,648 Continuation-In-Part US7539621B2 (en) | 2003-08-22 | 2004-06-21 | Systems and methods of distributing centrally received leads |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
US20050171859A1 true US20050171859A1 (en) | 2005-08-04 |
Family
ID=34198993
Family Applications (2)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US10/872,648 Expired - Fee Related US7539621B2 (en) | 2003-08-22 | 2004-06-21 | Systems and methods of distributing centrally received leads |
US10/979,631 Abandoned US20050171859A1 (en) | 2003-08-22 | 2004-11-02 | Augmentation of lead with attractiveness information from external source |
Family Applications Before (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US10/872,648 Expired - Fee Related US7539621B2 (en) | 2003-08-22 | 2004-06-21 | Systems and methods of distributing centrally received leads |
Country Status (2)
Country | Link |
---|---|
US (2) | US7539621B2 (en) |
WO (1) | WO2005020032A2 (en) |
Cited By (26)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US20070073607A1 (en) * | 2005-09-29 | 2007-03-29 | Lev Eydelman | On-line system for buyer seller matching and negotiation |
US20080109445A1 (en) * | 2006-11-03 | 2008-05-08 | Richard Williams | Systems and methods of enhancing leads |
US20080109294A1 (en) * | 2006-11-03 | 2008-05-08 | Richard Williams | Systems and methods of enhancing leads |
US20080201205A1 (en) * | 2007-01-09 | 2008-08-21 | Autobytel Inc. | Systems and methods relating to an opportunity distribution engine and distribution simulation |
US20080201184A1 (en) * | 2007-01-09 | 2008-08-21 | Autobytel Inc. | Systems and methods relating to a lead distribution engine that accommodates internal and imported destination exclusion rules |
US20080201203A1 (en) * | 2007-01-09 | 2008-08-21 | Autobytel Inc. | Systems and methods relating to a lead distribution engine that uses margin scores |
US20080201202A1 (en) * | 2007-01-09 | 2008-08-21 | Autobytel Inc. | Systems and methods relating to a lead distribution engine that accommodates internal and imported destination relationships |
US20080201204A1 (en) * | 2007-01-09 | 2008-08-21 | Autobytel Inc. | Systems and methods relating to a lead distribution engine with quality assessment of lead sources |
US20090171761A1 (en) * | 2007-12-31 | 2009-07-02 | Zag.Com, Inc., A Delaware Corporation | Systems and Methods of Matching Purchase Requests with Consummated Sales |
US20090187513A1 (en) * | 2008-01-22 | 2009-07-23 | Zag.Com Inc., A Delaware Corporation | Systems and methods for upfront vehicle pricing |
US20100070343A1 (en) * | 2008-09-09 | 2010-03-18 | TrueCar.com | System and method for aggregation, analysis, presentation and monetization of pricing data for vehicles and other commodities |
US7778885B1 (en) | 2006-12-04 | 2010-08-17 | Lower My Bills, Inc. | System and method of enhancing leads |
US20100332291A1 (en) * | 2009-06-30 | 2010-12-30 | Adp, Inc. | System, process, and computer program product for evaluating leads |
US20110161197A1 (en) * | 2009-12-30 | 2011-06-30 | Oded Noy | System, method and computer program product for predicting value of lead |
US8285656B1 (en) | 2007-03-30 | 2012-10-09 | Consumerinfo.Com, Inc. | Systems and methods for data verification |
US20130066677A1 (en) * | 2011-09-12 | 2013-03-14 | Scott William Killoh | System and method for media and commerce management |
US8868480B2 (en) | 2011-07-01 | 2014-10-21 | Truecar, Inc. | Method and system for selection, filtering or presentation of available sales outlets |
US20150006248A1 (en) * | 2013-06-28 | 2015-01-01 | Linkedln Corporated | System and method to determine a company account interest score or sales lead interest score |
US9110916B1 (en) | 2006-11-28 | 2015-08-18 | Lower My Bills, Inc. | System and method of removing duplicate leads |
US9767491B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2017-09-19 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for the utilization of pricing models in the aggregation, analysis, presentation and monetization of pricing data for vehicles and other commodities |
US9811847B2 (en) | 2012-12-21 | 2017-11-07 | Truecar, Inc. | System, method and computer program product for tracking and correlating online user activities with sales of physical goods |
US10108989B2 (en) | 2011-07-28 | 2018-10-23 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for analysis and presentation of used vehicle pricing data |
US10296929B2 (en) | 2011-06-30 | 2019-05-21 | Truecar, Inc. | System, method and computer program product for geo-specific vehicle pricing |
US10373198B1 (en) | 2008-06-13 | 2019-08-06 | Lmb Mortgage Services, Inc. | System and method of generating existing customer leads |
US10453093B1 (en) | 2010-04-30 | 2019-10-22 | Lmb Mortgage Services, Inc. | System and method of optimizing matching of leads |
US10504159B2 (en) | 2013-01-29 | 2019-12-10 | Truecar, Inc. | Wholesale/trade-in pricing system, method and computer program product therefor |
Families Citing this family (26)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US7711691B2 (en) * | 2003-09-15 | 2010-05-04 | Coyne Patrick J | Project management system, method, and network, employing ODBC-compliant database and SQL servers |
CA2579873A1 (en) * | 2006-02-27 | 2007-08-27 | Synergize Innovations Inc. | Lead management system |
US11887175B2 (en) | 2006-08-31 | 2024-01-30 | Cpl Assets, Llc | Automatically determining a personalized set of programs or products including an interactive graphical user interface |
US20080071606A1 (en) * | 2006-09-05 | 2008-03-20 | Sean Whiteley | Method and system for email-based "push" lead management tool for customer relationship management |
US20080091820A1 (en) * | 2006-10-12 | 2008-04-17 | Norman John G | Multiple-listing referral tracking system |
US7752236B2 (en) * | 2006-11-03 | 2010-07-06 | Experian Marketing Solutions, Inc. | Systems and methods of enhancing leads |
US20080300962A1 (en) * | 2007-05-31 | 2008-12-04 | Christopher Robert Cawston | Lead distribution and tracking with integrated corporate data usage and reporting capabilities |
US20080300961A1 (en) * | 2007-05-31 | 2008-12-04 | Christopher Robert Cawston | Lead distribution and tracking with integrated corporate data usage and reporting capabilities with message templating |
US20110078085A1 (en) * | 2007-06-07 | 2011-03-31 | Clement Gregory R | System and method for real estate business collaboration and knowledge acquisition and sharing |
WO2008157326A2 (en) * | 2007-06-14 | 2008-12-24 | Versata Development Group, Inc. | System and method for prime lead data commercialization |
US8214396B2 (en) * | 2008-04-17 | 2012-07-03 | Google Inc. | Lead management |
TWI418993B (en) * | 2008-06-27 | 2013-12-11 | Ind Tech Res Inst | System and method for establishing personal social network, trusted network and social networking system |
US20100063890A1 (en) * | 2008-09-09 | 2010-03-11 | Compucredit Corporation | Methods and Systems for Generating, Qualifying, and Processing Leads |
US8566141B1 (en) * | 2008-12-03 | 2013-10-22 | Lower My Bills, Inc. | System and method of applying custom lead generation criteria |
US8781931B1 (en) | 2009-05-26 | 2014-07-15 | Island Intellectual Property Llc | Method and system for allocating deposits over a plurality of depository institutions |
US20110060642A1 (en) * | 2009-08-12 | 2011-03-10 | Garry Davis | Customizable method and system for the automatic management and evaluation of business lead creation and development |
US20110087504A1 (en) * | 2009-10-13 | 2011-04-14 | Lawrence Koa | System and method for aggregating data of multiple lead providers |
US8296176B1 (en) * | 2010-01-15 | 2012-10-23 | Adchemy, Inc. | Matching visitors as leads to lead buyers |
US20120059662A1 (en) * | 2010-09-03 | 2012-03-08 | Huisman Jr John E | Automated lead processing systems and methods |
US8666792B1 (en) * | 2012-10-18 | 2014-03-04 | BoomTown, LLC | System and method for prioritizing real estate opportunities in a lead handling system based on weighted lead quality scores |
SG10201706603SA (en) * | 2013-02-22 | 2017-09-28 | Xian Liang Lim | Sales leads analysis and management system |
US9904725B1 (en) | 2014-12-29 | 2018-02-27 | Velocify, Inc. | Computer system for generation, storage, and analysis of connection data and utilization of connection data in scoring and distribution systems |
US9805344B1 (en) | 2015-01-23 | 2017-10-31 | Island Intellectual Property, Llc | Notification system and method |
US20170308858A1 (en) * | 2016-04-25 | 2017-10-26 | Big Wave Systems, LLC | System and method for assigning leads to salespeople |
US10540670B1 (en) | 2016-08-31 | 2020-01-21 | Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company | System and method for analyzing electronic gaming activity |
US11477144B1 (en) * | 2018-11-09 | 2022-10-18 | SendSmart, Inc. | Communication systems with message intervention and CRM integration |
Citations (18)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US5227874A (en) * | 1986-03-10 | 1993-07-13 | Kohorn H Von | Method for measuring the effectiveness of stimuli on decisions of shoppers |
US5899978A (en) * | 1996-10-07 | 1999-05-04 | Title America | Titling system and method therefor |
US5930764A (en) * | 1995-10-17 | 1999-07-27 | Citibank, N.A. | Sales and marketing support system using a customer information database |
US6041310A (en) * | 1996-12-12 | 2000-03-21 | Green Ford, Inc. | Method and system for automobile transactions |
US6067525A (en) * | 1995-10-30 | 2000-05-23 | Clear With Computers | Integrated computerized sales force automation system |
US6076064A (en) * | 1992-01-31 | 2000-06-13 | Rose, Jr.; R. Edward | Uniform system for verifying and tracking the title of articles or objects of value |
US6078892A (en) * | 1998-04-09 | 2000-06-20 | International Business Machines Corporation | Method for customer lead selection and optimization |
US6097792A (en) * | 1996-07-01 | 2000-08-01 | Teledynamics Group, Inc. | Interactive method and apparatus for the generation of leads |
US6282517B1 (en) * | 1999-01-14 | 2001-08-28 | Autobytel.Com, Inc. | Real time communication of purchase requests |
US6341270B1 (en) * | 1998-11-10 | 2002-01-22 | Aether Systems, Inc. | Method for providing vendor notification marketing in an electronic commerce network environment |
US20020103577A1 (en) * | 2001-01-30 | 2002-08-01 | Newport Archie L. | Integrated vehicle information system |
US6546374B1 (en) * | 1998-11-10 | 2003-04-08 | Aether Systems, Inc. | Apparatus for providing instant vendor notification in an electronic commerce network environment |
US6587838B1 (en) * | 1999-01-25 | 2003-07-01 | Aether Systems, Inc. | Method and system for conducting real time electronic commerce |
US6609108B1 (en) * | 1999-11-05 | 2003-08-19 | Ford Motor Company | Communication schema of online system and method of ordering consumer product having specific configurations |
US6636790B1 (en) * | 2000-07-25 | 2003-10-21 | Reynolds And Reynolds Holdings, Inc. | Wireless diagnostic system and method for monitoring vehicles |
US20030204437A1 (en) * | 2002-04-30 | 2003-10-30 | Joerg Flender | Survey data processing |
US7043531B1 (en) * | 2000-10-04 | 2006-05-09 | Inetprofit, Inc. | Web-based customer lead generator system with pre-emptive profiling |
US7577579B2 (en) * | 2001-05-31 | 2009-08-18 | Dentsu Tec Inc. | Method of predicting sales based on triple-axis mapping of customer value |
Family Cites Families (8)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US5930754A (en) * | 1997-06-13 | 1999-07-27 | Motorola, Inc. | Method, device and article of manufacture for neural-network based orthography-phonetics transformation |
US7249322B2 (en) | 2000-06-12 | 2007-07-24 | Reynolds And Reynolds Holdings, Inc. | E2 automobile dealership information management system |
US6901374B1 (en) | 2000-11-29 | 2005-05-31 | Reynolds & Reynolds Holdings, Inc. | Loyalty link method and apparatus for integrating customer information with dealer management information |
US20020065707A1 (en) | 2000-11-30 | 2002-05-30 | Glacier Advertising Ltd. | Automobile customer information generation and transmission system |
US7487110B2 (en) * | 2001-01-30 | 2009-02-03 | International Business Machines Corporation | Automotive information communication exchange system, method, and program product |
US20020184269A1 (en) | 2001-03-14 | 2002-12-05 | Satoshi Imagou | Document management systems for and methods of sharing documents |
US7143094B2 (en) * | 2001-07-18 | 2006-11-28 | International Business Machines Corporation | Method and apparatus for ensuring data consistency amongst a plurality of disparate systems having multiple consumer channels |
US7353184B2 (en) | 2002-03-07 | 2008-04-01 | Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. | Customer-side market segmentation |
-
2004
- 2004-06-21 US US10/872,648 patent/US7539621B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 2004-08-23 WO PCT/US2004/027627 patent/WO2005020032A2/en active Application Filing
- 2004-11-02 US US10/979,631 patent/US20050171859A1/en not_active Abandoned
Patent Citations (19)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US5227874A (en) * | 1986-03-10 | 1993-07-13 | Kohorn H Von | Method for measuring the effectiveness of stimuli on decisions of shoppers |
US6076064A (en) * | 1992-01-31 | 2000-06-13 | Rose, Jr.; R. Edward | Uniform system for verifying and tracking the title of articles or objects of value |
US5930764A (en) * | 1995-10-17 | 1999-07-27 | Citibank, N.A. | Sales and marketing support system using a customer information database |
US5966695A (en) * | 1995-10-17 | 1999-10-12 | Citibank, N.A. | Sales and marketing support system using a graphical query prospect database |
US6067525A (en) * | 1995-10-30 | 2000-05-23 | Clear With Computers | Integrated computerized sales force automation system |
US6097792A (en) * | 1996-07-01 | 2000-08-01 | Teledynamics Group, Inc. | Interactive method and apparatus for the generation of leads |
US5899978A (en) * | 1996-10-07 | 1999-05-04 | Title America | Titling system and method therefor |
US6041310A (en) * | 1996-12-12 | 2000-03-21 | Green Ford, Inc. | Method and system for automobile transactions |
US6078892A (en) * | 1998-04-09 | 2000-06-20 | International Business Machines Corporation | Method for customer lead selection and optimization |
US6341270B1 (en) * | 1998-11-10 | 2002-01-22 | Aether Systems, Inc. | Method for providing vendor notification marketing in an electronic commerce network environment |
US6546374B1 (en) * | 1998-11-10 | 2003-04-08 | Aether Systems, Inc. | Apparatus for providing instant vendor notification in an electronic commerce network environment |
US6282517B1 (en) * | 1999-01-14 | 2001-08-28 | Autobytel.Com, Inc. | Real time communication of purchase requests |
US6587838B1 (en) * | 1999-01-25 | 2003-07-01 | Aether Systems, Inc. | Method and system for conducting real time electronic commerce |
US6609108B1 (en) * | 1999-11-05 | 2003-08-19 | Ford Motor Company | Communication schema of online system and method of ordering consumer product having specific configurations |
US6636790B1 (en) * | 2000-07-25 | 2003-10-21 | Reynolds And Reynolds Holdings, Inc. | Wireless diagnostic system and method for monitoring vehicles |
US7043531B1 (en) * | 2000-10-04 | 2006-05-09 | Inetprofit, Inc. | Web-based customer lead generator system with pre-emptive profiling |
US20020103577A1 (en) * | 2001-01-30 | 2002-08-01 | Newport Archie L. | Integrated vehicle information system |
US7577579B2 (en) * | 2001-05-31 | 2009-08-18 | Dentsu Tec Inc. | Method of predicting sales based on triple-axis mapping of customer value |
US20030204437A1 (en) * | 2002-04-30 | 2003-10-30 | Joerg Flender | Survey data processing |
Non-Patent Citations (1)
Title |
---|
Daniels, Chris. "Start them up: why first-time car buyers are on the road to being loyal Mazda customers". Marketing Magazine. 105.42, Oct. 23, 2000: 10 * |
Cited By (88)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US20070073607A1 (en) * | 2005-09-29 | 2007-03-29 | Lev Eydelman | On-line system for buyer seller matching and negotiation |
US7962402B2 (en) * | 2005-09-29 | 2011-06-14 | Lev Eydelman | On-line system for buyer seller matching and negotiation |
US8271313B2 (en) | 2006-11-03 | 2012-09-18 | Experian Marketing Solutions, Inc. | Systems and methods of enhancing leads by determining propensity scores |
US20080109445A1 (en) * | 2006-11-03 | 2008-05-08 | Richard Williams | Systems and methods of enhancing leads |
US20080109294A1 (en) * | 2006-11-03 | 2008-05-08 | Richard Williams | Systems and methods of enhancing leads |
US8027871B2 (en) | 2006-11-03 | 2011-09-27 | Experian Marketing Solutions, Inc. | Systems and methods for scoring sales leads |
US8626563B2 (en) | 2006-11-03 | 2014-01-07 | Experian Marketing Solutions, Inc. | Enhancing sales leads with business specific customized statistical propensity models |
US8135607B2 (en) | 2006-11-03 | 2012-03-13 | Experian Marketing Solutions, Inc. | System and method of enhancing leads by determining contactability scores |
US10204141B1 (en) | 2006-11-28 | 2019-02-12 | Lmb Mortgage Services, Inc. | System and method of removing duplicate leads |
US9110916B1 (en) | 2006-11-28 | 2015-08-18 | Lower My Bills, Inc. | System and method of removing duplicate leads |
US11106677B2 (en) | 2006-11-28 | 2021-08-31 | Lmb Mortgage Services, Inc. | System and method of removing duplicate user records |
US8214262B1 (en) | 2006-12-04 | 2012-07-03 | Lower My Bills, Inc. | System and method of enhancing leads |
US7778885B1 (en) | 2006-12-04 | 2010-08-17 | Lower My Bills, Inc. | System and method of enhancing leads |
US20190259046A1 (en) * | 2006-12-04 | 2019-08-22 | Lmb Mortgage Services, Inc. | System and method of enhancing leads |
US10255610B1 (en) * | 2006-12-04 | 2019-04-09 | Lmb Mortgage Services, Inc. | System and method of enhancing leads |
US10977675B2 (en) * | 2006-12-04 | 2021-04-13 | Lmb Mortgage Services, Inc. | System and method of enhancing leads |
US8326676B2 (en) | 2007-01-09 | 2012-12-04 | Autobytel Inc. | Systems and methods relating to a lead distribution engine that uses margin scores |
US8321256B2 (en) | 2007-01-09 | 2012-11-27 | Autobytel Inc. | Systems and methods relating to an opportunity distribution engine and distribution simulation |
US20080201202A1 (en) * | 2007-01-09 | 2008-08-21 | Autobytel Inc. | Systems and methods relating to a lead distribution engine that accommodates internal and imported destination relationships |
US20080201205A1 (en) * | 2007-01-09 | 2008-08-21 | Autobytel Inc. | Systems and methods relating to an opportunity distribution engine and distribution simulation |
US8255270B2 (en) | 2007-01-09 | 2012-08-28 | Autobytel Inc. | Systems and methods relating to a lead distribution engine that accommodates internal and imported destination relationships |
US20080201184A1 (en) * | 2007-01-09 | 2008-08-21 | Autobytel Inc. | Systems and methods relating to a lead distribution engine that accommodates internal and imported destination exclusion rules |
US20080201204A1 (en) * | 2007-01-09 | 2008-08-21 | Autobytel Inc. | Systems and methods relating to a lead distribution engine with quality assessment of lead sources |
US20080201203A1 (en) * | 2007-01-09 | 2008-08-21 | Autobytel Inc. | Systems and methods relating to a lead distribution engine that uses margin scores |
US8352306B2 (en) | 2007-01-09 | 2013-01-08 | Autobytel Inc. | Systems and methods relating to a lead distribution engine with quality assessment of lead sources |
US10437895B2 (en) | 2007-03-30 | 2019-10-08 | Consumerinfo.Com, Inc. | Systems and methods for data verification |
US8285656B1 (en) | 2007-03-30 | 2012-10-09 | Consumerinfo.Com, Inc. | Systems and methods for data verification |
US11308170B2 (en) | 2007-03-30 | 2022-04-19 | Consumerinfo.Com, Inc. | Systems and methods for data verification |
US9342783B1 (en) | 2007-03-30 | 2016-05-17 | Consumerinfo.Com, Inc. | Systems and methods for data verification |
US20090171761A1 (en) * | 2007-12-31 | 2009-07-02 | Zag.Com, Inc., A Delaware Corporation | Systems and Methods of Matching Purchase Requests with Consummated Sales |
US8515817B2 (en) * | 2007-12-31 | 2013-08-20 | Truecar, Inc. | Systems and methods of matching purchase requests with consummated sales |
US20090187513A1 (en) * | 2008-01-22 | 2009-07-23 | Zag.Com Inc., A Delaware Corporation | Systems and methods for upfront vehicle pricing |
US10373198B1 (en) | 2008-06-13 | 2019-08-06 | Lmb Mortgage Services, Inc. | System and method of generating existing customer leads |
US10565617B2 (en) | 2008-06-13 | 2020-02-18 | Lmb Mortgage Services, Inc. | System and method of generating existing customer leads |
US11704693B2 (en) | 2008-06-13 | 2023-07-18 | Lmb Mortgage Services, Inc. | System and method of generating existing customer leads |
US9818140B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2017-11-14 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for sales generation in conjunction with a vehicle data system |
US10262344B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2019-04-16 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for the utilization of pricing models in the aggregation, analysis, presentation and monetization of pricing data for vehicles and other commodities |
US9020843B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2015-04-28 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for aggregation, analysis, presentation and monetization of pricing data for vehicles and other commodities |
US9129325B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2015-09-08 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for aggregation, analysis, presentation and monetization of pricing data for vehicles and other commodities |
US20100070343A1 (en) * | 2008-09-09 | 2010-03-18 | TrueCar.com | System and method for aggregation, analysis, presentation and monetization of pricing data for vehicles and other commodities |
US9020844B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2015-04-28 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for calculating and displaying price distributions based on analysis of transactions |
US9727904B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2017-08-08 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for sales generation in conjunction with a vehicle data system |
US9754304B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2017-09-05 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for aggregation, analysis, presentation and monetization of pricing data for vehicles and other commodities |
US9767491B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2017-09-19 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for the utilization of pricing models in the aggregation, analysis, presentation and monetization of pricing data for vehicles and other commodities |
US11580579B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2023-02-14 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for the utilization of pricing models in the aggregation, analysis, presentation and monetization of pricing data for vehicles and other commodities |
US11580567B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2023-02-14 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for aggregation, analysis, presentation and monetization of pricing data for vehicles and other commodities |
US9904933B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2018-02-27 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for aggregation, analysis, presentation and monetization of pricing data for vehicles and other commodities |
US9904948B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2018-02-27 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for calculating and displaying price distributions based on analysis of transactions |
US10679263B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2020-06-09 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for the utilization of pricing models in the aggregation, analysis, presentation and monetization of pricing data for vehicles and other commodities |
US11250453B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2022-02-15 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for sales generation in conjunction with a vehicle data system |
US10217123B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2019-02-26 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for aggregation, analysis, presentation and monetization of pricing data for vehicles and other commodities |
US11244334B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2022-02-08 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for calculating and displaying price distributions based on analysis of transactions |
US10810609B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2020-10-20 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for calculating and displaying price distributions based on analysis of transactions |
US10269031B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2019-04-23 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for sales generation in conjunction with a vehicle data system |
US10269030B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2019-04-23 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for calculating and displaying price distributions based on analysis of transactions |
US11182812B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2021-11-23 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for aggregation, analysis, presentation and monetization of pricing data for vehicles and other commodities |
US8521615B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2013-08-27 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for sales generation in conjunction with a vehicle data system |
US8219464B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2012-07-10 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for sales generation in conjunction with a vehicle data system |
US11107134B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2021-08-31 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for the utilization of pricing models in the aggregation, analysis, presentation and monetization of pricing data for vehicles and other commodities |
US9111308B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2015-08-18 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for calculating and displaying price distributions based on analysis of transactions |
US20110191264A1 (en) * | 2008-09-09 | 2011-08-04 | TrueCar.com | System and method for sales generation in conjunction with a vehicle data system |
US10853831B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2020-12-01 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for sales generation in conjunction with a vehicle data system |
US10489809B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2019-11-26 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for sales generation in conjunction with a vehicle data system |
US10489810B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2019-11-26 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for calculating and displaying price distributions based on analysis of transactions |
US10846722B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2020-11-24 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for aggregation, analysis, presentation and monetization of pricing data for vehicles and other commodities |
US10515382B2 (en) | 2008-09-09 | 2019-12-24 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for aggregation, enhancing, analysis or presentation of data for vehicles or other commodities |
US8484067B2 (en) * | 2009-06-30 | 2013-07-09 | Adp, Inc. | System, process, and computer program product for evaluating leads |
US20100332291A1 (en) * | 2009-06-30 | 2010-12-30 | Adp, Inc. | System, process, and computer program product for evaluating leads |
US20110161197A1 (en) * | 2009-12-30 | 2011-06-30 | Oded Noy | System, method and computer program product for predicting value of lead |
US8589250B2 (en) | 2009-12-30 | 2013-11-19 | Truecar, Inc. | System, method and computer program product for predicting value of lead |
US11430009B2 (en) | 2010-04-30 | 2022-08-30 | Lmb Mortgage Services, Inc. | System and method of optimizing matching of leads |
US10453093B1 (en) | 2010-04-30 | 2019-10-22 | Lmb Mortgage Services, Inc. | System and method of optimizing matching of leads |
US10296929B2 (en) | 2011-06-30 | 2019-05-21 | Truecar, Inc. | System, method and computer program product for geo-specific vehicle pricing |
US11532001B2 (en) | 2011-06-30 | 2022-12-20 | Truecar, Inc. | System, method and computer program product for geo specific vehicle pricing |
US10740776B2 (en) | 2011-06-30 | 2020-08-11 | Truecar, Inc. | System, method and computer program product for geo-specific vehicle pricing |
US10467676B2 (en) | 2011-07-01 | 2019-11-05 | Truecar, Inc. | Method and system for selection, filtering or presentation of available sales outlets |
US8868480B2 (en) | 2011-07-01 | 2014-10-21 | Truecar, Inc. | Method and system for selection, filtering or presentation of available sales outlets |
US9189800B2 (en) | 2011-07-01 | 2015-11-17 | Truecar, Inc. | Method and system for selection, filtering or presentation of available sales outlets |
US10108989B2 (en) | 2011-07-28 | 2018-10-23 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for analysis and presentation of used vehicle pricing data |
US11392999B2 (en) | 2011-07-28 | 2022-07-19 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for analysis and presentation of used vehicle pricing data |
US10733639B2 (en) | 2011-07-28 | 2020-08-04 | Truecar, Inc. | System and method for analysis and presentation of used vehicle pricing data |
US20130066677A1 (en) * | 2011-09-12 | 2013-03-14 | Scott William Killoh | System and method for media and commerce management |
US11132724B2 (en) | 2012-12-21 | 2021-09-28 | Truecar, Inc. | System, method and computer program product for tracking and correlating online user activities with sales of physical goods |
US10482510B2 (en) | 2012-12-21 | 2019-11-19 | Truecar, Inc. | System, method and computer program product for tracking and correlating online user activities with sales of physical goods |
US9811847B2 (en) | 2012-12-21 | 2017-11-07 | Truecar, Inc. | System, method and computer program product for tracking and correlating online user activities with sales of physical goods |
US11741512B2 (en) | 2012-12-21 | 2023-08-29 | Truecar, Inc. | System, method and computer program product for tracking and correlating online user activities with sales of physical goods |
US10504159B2 (en) | 2013-01-29 | 2019-12-10 | Truecar, Inc. | Wholesale/trade-in pricing system, method and computer program product therefor |
US20150006248A1 (en) * | 2013-06-28 | 2015-01-01 | Linkedln Corporated | System and method to determine a company account interest score or sales lead interest score |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
WO2005020032A2 (en) | 2005-03-03 |
WO2005020032A3 (en) | 2005-06-23 |
US7539621B2 (en) | 2009-05-26 |
WO2005020032A8 (en) | 2005-04-14 |
US20050044036A1 (en) | 2005-02-24 |
Similar Documents
Publication | Publication Date | Title |
---|---|---|
US20050171859A1 (en) | Augmentation of lead with attractiveness information from external source | |
US6868389B1 (en) | Internet-enabled lead generation | |
US9299078B2 (en) | Targeting messages | |
US7523087B1 (en) | Determining and/or designating better ad information such as ad landing pages | |
US11669866B2 (en) | System and method for delivering a financial application to a prospective customer | |
JP4907561B2 (en) | Provide content source history information and transaction volume information to users | |
US8321267B2 (en) | Method, system and apparatus for targeting an offer | |
US7680796B2 (en) | Determining and/or using location information in an ad system | |
US8484067B2 (en) | System, process, and computer program product for evaluating leads | |
US20120253928A1 (en) | Methods and Apparatus for Portfolio and Demand Bucket Management Across Multiple Advertising Exchanges | |
US20020062241A1 (en) | Apparatus and method for coding electronic direct marketing lists to common searchable format | |
US20070192194A1 (en) | Metalevel electronic marketplace for advertising | |
CN101084523A (en) | Computer-based analysis of affiliate web site performance | |
US20030216956A1 (en) | Method and system for marketing to potential customers | |
US12062065B2 (en) | Systems and methods for allocating electronic advertising opportunities | |
US8190496B2 (en) | Method and system of directed advertising | |
TW201935363A (en) | Recommended system and method of product promotion combination | |
CN113516496A (en) | Advertisement conversion rate pre-estimation model construction method, device, equipment and medium thereof | |
WO2001004777A2 (en) | Method, system, and article of manufacture for conducting and tracking marketing campaigns | |
WO2002001456A1 (en) | E-commerce real time demand and pricing system and method | |
US7246077B1 (en) | Systems and methods for generating highly responsive prospect lists | |
JP2002109182A (en) | System and method for processing information and recording medium | |
Ma et al. | Examining comparative shopping agents from two types of search results | |
US20240311883A1 (en) | Composite Pricing System | |
EP3398151A1 (en) | Geographically targeted message delivery using point-of-sale data |
Legal Events
Date | Code | Title | Description |
---|---|---|---|
AS | Assignment |
Owner name: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD., JAPAN Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:HARRINGTON, GERARD;DANIELS, GREG;WADA, EUGENE;AND OTHERS;REEL/FRAME:015862/0282;SIGNING DATES FROM 20050210 TO 20050328 |
|
STCB | Information on status: application discontinuation |
Free format text: ABANDONED -- FAILURE TO RESPOND TO AN OFFICE ACTION |