Method, apparatus, and computer program product for lead assignment

• US 10,679,265 B2
• Filed: 05/21/2018
• Issued: 06/09/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Groupon Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Groupon Incorporated
• Inventors: Shariff, Shafiq, Urie, Kris, Nordquist, Derek, Jeanes, Bodaniel, Baribeau, Kevin
• Primary Examiner(s): Gills, Kurtis
• Application Number:
  US15/984,604
• Publication Number:
  US 20190019124A1
• Time in Patent Office: 750 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 Machine learning
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/10 using kernel methods, e.g. support vector machines [SVM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/02 Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/04 Inference or reasoning models
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0635 Risk analysis of enterprise or organisation activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06393 Score-carding, benchmarking or key performance indicator [KPI] analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/067 Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0609 Buyer or seller confidence or verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

Provided herein are systems, methods and computer readable media for assigning leads. An example for method for assigning leads comprises receiving a list of one or more merchants, wherein the one or more merchants comprise a sales value and an indication of an ability to provide a service associated with at least one demanded offer, accessing sales resource data comprising at least one or more sales resources and an associated capacity for contacting one or more merchants, assigning one or more sales resources an assignment probability number, wherein an assignment probability number represents a probability that a sales resource will be randomly assigned a next supply source in an assignment process, adjusting an assignment probability number based on the associated capacity, and assigning at least a portion of the one or more merchants according to at least the assignment probability number of the one or more sales resource and the sales value of the one or more merchants.

Claims

1. A method for assigning one or more merchants to one or more sales resources, the method comprising:

receiving, by a promotion and marketing system comprising one or more processors, a list of merchant data,

wherein the list of merchant data comprises;

one or more merchants; and

for each of the one or more merchants, (i) a sales value score that is based on an expected booking amount, (ii) a list of one or more virtual offers for which the merchant is identified as able to meet, (iii) a list of one or more real promotions correlated to the at least one of the plurality virtual offers in accordance with price data, product category or service category data, and location data, (iv) a quantity of each of the one or more virtual offers that the merchant is able to meet based on an availability of the one or more real promotions, and (v) contact information;

accessing, by the one or more processors, sales resource data from a sales resource database, the sales resource data indicative of a plurality of sales resources responsible for closing contracts with the one or more merchants, the sales resource data comprising at least the plurality of sales resources and an associated capacity for contacting one or more merchants;

performing, by the one or more processors, an iterative assignment process;

generating, by the one or more processors, a plurality of prioritized call lists, wherein plurality of prioritized call lists comprises at least one prioritized call list for each of the plurality of sales resources,

wherein the prioritized call list comprises merchant data associated with each merchant assigned to a respective sales resource during the iterative assignment process, each merchant unique to the respective sales resource;

causing, by the one or more processors, display of the unique prioritized call list associated with the first sales resource upon access to the promotion and marketing system by the first sales resource;

dynamically modifying, by the one or more processors, one or more assignments based on an update to a current inventory; and

regenerating at least one of the plurality of prioritized call lists based on the dynamically modified one or more assignments and the update to the current inventory.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the iterative assignment process comprises:

calculating, for each of the plurality of sales resources, an assignment probability number based on the associated capacity, wherein the assignment probability number represents a probability that a sales resource will be randomly assigned a next merchant from the one or more merchants;

determining a next merchant from the one or more merchants to be assigned;

assigning merchant data associated with the next merchant from the one or more merchants to a unique prioritized call list associated with a first sales resource in accordance with at least the assignment probability number of each of the one or more sales resources; and

adjusting the associated capacity of the first resource while maintaining the associated capacity of each remaining sales resource of the plurality of resources.

3. The method of claim 2, and wherein calculation, for each of the plurality of resources, of the assignment probability number comprises:

determining whether the associated capacity of a sales resource meets a predetermined threshold; and

in an instance in which the determination yields a result indicative of the associated capacity of the sales resource failing to meet the predetermined threshold, increasing the assignment probability number.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more merchants are prioritized by the sales value score.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the assignment probability number is further based on sales resource data indicative of a sales resource expertise score for at least one of:

category, sub-category, or location.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the assignment probability number is further based on a predetermined portfolio mix and previously assigned merchants in the prioritized call list.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the modification of the one or more assignments and one or more of the plurality of the unique prioritized call lists based on the update to the current inventory is based on a re-calculation of a demand, and a determination that there is no longer the demand for additional units of a particular service, good or experience provided by a particular merchant.

8. A computer program product for assigning one or more merchants to one or more sales resources, the computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code instructions stored therein, the computer-executable program code instructions comprising program code instructions for:

receiving, by a promotion and marketing system comprising one or more processors, a list of merchant data,

wherein the list of merchant data comprises;

one or more merchants; and

for each of the one or more merchants, (i) a sales value score that is based on an expected booking amount, (ii) a list of one or more virtual offers for which the merchant is identified as able to meet, (iii) a list of one or more real promotions correlated to the at least one of the plurality virtual offers in accordance with price data, product category or service category data, and location data, (iv) a quantity of each of the one or more virtual offers that the merchant is able to meet based on an availability of the one or more real promotions, and (v) contact information;

accessing, by the one or more processors, sales resource data from a sales resource database, the sales resource data indicative of a plurality of sales resources responsible for closing contracts with the one or more merchants, the sales resource data comprising at least the plurality of sales resources and an associated capacity for contacting one or more merchants;

performing, by the one or more processors, an iterative assignment process;

generating, by the one or more processors, a plurality of prioritized call lists, wherein plurality of prioritized call lists comprises at least one prioritized call list for each of the plurality of sales resources,

wherein the prioritized call list comprises merchant data associated with each merchant assigned to a respective sales resource during the iterative assignment process, each merchant unique to the respective sales resource;

causing, by the one or more processors, display of the unique prioritized call list associated with the first sales resource upon access to the promotion and marketing system by the first sales resource;

dynamically modifying, by the one or more processors, one or more assignments based on an update to a current inventory; and

regenerating at least one of the plurality of prioritized call lists based on the dynamically modified one or more assignments and the update to the current inventory.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the iterative assignment process comprises:

calculating, for each of the plurality of sales resources, an assignment probability number based on the associated capacity, wherein the assignment probability number represents a probability that a sales resource will be randomly assigned a next merchant from the one or more merchants;

determining a next merchant from the one or more merchants to be assigned;

assigning merchant data associated with the next merchant from the one or more merchants to a unique prioritized call list associated with a first sales resource in accordance with at least the assignment probability number of each of the one or more sales resources; and

adjusting the associated capacity of the first resource while maintaining the associated capacity of each remaining sales resource of the plurality of resources.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, and wherein calculation, for each of the plurality of resources, of the assignment probability number comprises:

determining whether the associated capacity of a sales resource meets a predetermined threshold; and

in an instance in which the determination yields a result indicative of the associated capacity of the sales resource failing to meet the predetermined threshold, increasing the assignment probability number.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the one or more merchants are prioritized by the sales value score.

12. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the assignment probability number is further based on sales resource data indicative of a sales resource expertise score for at least one of:

category, sub-category, or location.

13. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the assignment probability number is further based on a predetermined portfolio mix and previously assigned merchants in the prioritized call list.

14. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the modification of the one or more assignments and one or more of the plurality of the unique prioritized call lists based on the update to the current inventory is based on a re-calculation of a demand, and a determination that there is no longer the demand for additional units of a particular service, good or experience provided by a particular merchant.

15. An apparatus for assigning one or more merchants to one or more sales resources, the apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

receive, by a promotion and marketing system comprising one or more processors, a list of merchant data,

wherein the list of merchant data comprises;

one or more merchants; and

for each of the one or more merchants, (i) a sales value score that is based on an expected booking amount, (ii) a list of one or more virtual offers for which the merchant is identified as able to meet, (iii) a list of one or more real promotions correlated to the at least one of the plurality virtual offers in accordance with price data, product category or service category data, and location data, (iv) a quantity of each of the one or more virtual offers that the merchant is able to meet, and (v) contact information;

accessing, by the one or more processors, sales resource data from a sales resource database, the sales resource data indicative of a plurality of sales resources responsible for closing contracts with the one or more merchants, the sales resource data comprising at least the plurality of sales resources and an associated capacity for contacting one or more merchants;

perform, by the one or more processors, an iterative assignment process;

generate, by the one or more processors, a plurality of prioritized call lists, wherein plurality of prioritized call lists comprises at least one prioritized call list for each of the plurality of sales resources,

wherein the prioritized call list comprises merchant data associated with each merchant assigned to a respective sales resource during the iterative assignment process, each merchant unique to the respective sales resource;

cause, by the one or more processors, display of the unique prioritized call list associated with the first sales resource upon access to the promotion and marketing system by the first sales resource;

dynamically modify, by the one or more processors, one or more assignments based on an update to a current inventory; and

regenerate at least one of the plurality of prioritized call lists based on the dynamically modified one or more assignments and the update to the current inventory.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the computer program code configured to perform the iterative assignment process comprises computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

calculate, for each of the plurality of sales resources, an assignment probability number based on the associated capacity, wherein the assignment probability number represents a probability that a sales resource will be randomly assigned a next merchant from the one or more merchants;

determine a next merchant from the one or more merchants to be assigned;

assign merchant data associated with the next merchant from the one or more merchants to a unique prioritized call list associated with a first sales resource in accordance with at least the assignment probability number of each of the one or more sales resources; and

adjust the associated capacity of the first resource while maintaining the associated capacity of each remaining sales resource of the plurality of resources.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, and wherein the computer program code configured to calculate, for each of the plurality of resources, the assignment probability number comprises computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

determine whether the associated capacity of a sales resource meets a predetermined threshold; and

in an instance in which the determination yields a result indicative of the associated capacity of the sales resource failing to meet the predetermined threshold, increase the assignment probability number.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the one or more merchants are prioritized by the sales value score.

19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the assignment probability number is further based on sales resource data indicative of a sales resource expertise score for at least one of:

category, sub-category, or location.

20. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the assignment probability number is further based on a predetermined portfolio mix and previously assigned merchants in the prioritized call list.

21. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the modification of the one or more assignments and one or more of the plurality of the unique prioritized call lists based on the update to the current inventory is based on a re-calculation of a demand, and a determination that there is no longer the demand for additional units of a particular service, good or experience provided by a particular merchant.