Web-accessible financial product sales assistance system and method
First Claim
1. An automatic, computer-implemented method of assisting agents in the sales of financial products offered by financial product providers to customers, said method comprising:
- providing a first computer accessing information relating to financial products offered by a plurality of financial product providers;
selectively allowing an agent to access said first computer with a second computer located remotely from said first computer;
prompting said agent to enter information relating to a customer seeking to purchase a financial product;
based upon information relating to said customer entered by said agent, determining which of said financial products are suitable for sale to said customer;
prompting said agent to select a particular financial product for sale to said customer from said financial products which are suitable for sale to said customer;
based upon selection of a particular financial product for sale to said customer by said agent, prompting said agent to enter additional information needed to process the sale of said particular financial product to said customer;
automatically checking to determine whether the information provided by said agent regarding the sale of said particular financial product to said customer is sufficient to place said sale request “
in good order;
”
if said checking step determines that said information provided by said agent regarding the sale of said particular financial product to said customer is not sufficient to place said sale request “
in good order,”
automatically prompting said agent to make appropriate changes to said information provided by said agent regarding the sale of said particular financial product to said customer to place said sale request “
in good order;
” and
if said checking step determines that said information provided by said agent regarding the sale of said particular financial product to said customer is sufficient to place said sale request “
in good order,”
placing said sale request with the financial product provider selling said particular financial product.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An innovative interactive web-accessible financial product sales assistant system and method is disclosed which facilitates the sale of financial products such as annuities by providing prompts to agents accessing the system to obtain the direct online entry of all financial product sales information required by the providers of the financial products in order to place applications for the financial products in good order. The agents can use the Internet-accessible sales assistant system as an entry pad to be used while taking the information from the customer, with the system immediately noting incorrect or inappropriate entries, thereby making the sale process more efficient. The system runs a full check of the sales order when completed by the agent, and any errors are immediately bought to the attention of the agent so that they can be corrected, following which the annuity or other financial product may be purchased from the financial product provider.
35 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An automatic, computer-implemented method of assisting agents in the sales of financial products offered by financial product providers to customers, said method comprising:
-
providing a first computer accessing information relating to financial products offered by a plurality of financial product providers;
selectively allowing an agent to access said first computer with a second computer located remotely from said first computer;
prompting said agent to enter information relating to a customer seeking to purchase a financial product;
based upon information relating to said customer entered by said agent, determining which of said financial products are suitable for sale to said customer;
prompting said agent to select a particular financial product for sale to said customer from said financial products which are suitable for sale to said customer;
based upon selection of a particular financial product for sale to said customer by said agent, prompting said agent to enter additional information needed to process the sale of said particular financial product to said customer;
automatically checking to determine whether the information provided by said agent regarding the sale of said particular financial product to said customer is sufficient to place said sale request “
in good order;
”if said checking step determines that said information provided by said agent regarding the sale of said particular financial product to said customer is not sufficient to place said sale request “
in good order,”
automatically prompting said agent to make appropriate changes to said information provided by said agent regarding the sale of said particular financial product to said customer to place said sale request “
in good order;
” and
if said checking step determines that said information provided by said agent regarding the sale of said particular financial product to said customer is sufficient to place said sale request “
in good order,”
placing said sale request with the financial product provider selling said particular financial product. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. An automatic, computer-implemented method of assisting agents in the sales of financial products offered by financial product providers to customers, said method comprising:
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providing a first computer accessing information relating to financial products offered by a plurality of financial product providers;
selectively allowing an agent to access said first computer via a network with a second computer located remotely from said first computer;
prompting said agent to enter information relating to a customer seeking to purchase a financial product;
based upon information relating to said customer entered by said agent, information provided and updated by said plurality of financial product providers regarding the financial products which are offered by said plurality of financial product providers, and upon information contained in a rules and regulations database containing information, guidelines, and restrictions related to the selling of said financial products, determining which of said financial products are suitable for sale to said customer;
prompting said agent to select a particular financial product for sale to said customer from said financial products which are suitable for sale to said customer;
based upon selection of a particular financial product for sale to said customer by said agent and upon information contained in said rules and regulations database, prompting said agent to enter additional information needed to process the sale of said particular financial product to said customer;
automatically checking to determine whether the information provided by said agent regarding the sale of said particular financial product to said customer is sufficient to place said sale request “
in good order;
”if said checking step determines that said information provided by said agent regarding the sale of said particular financial product to said customer is not sufficient to place said sale request “
in good order,”
automatically prompting said agent to make appropriate changes to said information provided by said agent regarding the sale of said particular financial product to said customer to place said sale request “
in good order;
” and
if said checking step determines that said information provided by said agent regarding the sale of said particular financial product to said customer is sufficient to place said sale request “
in good order,”
placing said sale request with the financial product provider selling said particular financial product.
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19. An automatic, computer-implemented method of assisting agents in the sales of financial products offered by financial product providers to customers, said method comprising:
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prompting an agent to enter information relating to a customer seeking to purchase a financial product;
based upon information relating to said customer entered by said agent, prompting said agent to select a suitable financial product for sale to said customer;
prompting said agent to enter information needed to process the sale of a selected suitable financial product to said customer;
prompting said agent to make any necessary changes to said information provided by said agent regarding the sale of said particular financial product to said customer which are necessary to place said sale request “
in good order;
” and
when sale request has been put “
in good order,”
placing said sale request with the financial product provider selling said particular financial product.
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20. An automatic financial product sales assistance system for assisting agents in the sales of financial products offered by financial product providers to customers, said web-accessible financial product sales assistance system comprising:
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a first computer accessing information relating to financial products offered by a plurality of financial product providers;
a second computer located remotely from said first computer which may be utilized by an agent to selectively access said first computer;
wherein said first computer causes said second computer to prompt said agent to enter information relating to a customer seeking to purchase a financial product;
wherein, based upon information relating to said customer entered by said agent, said first computer system determines which of said financial products are suitable for sale to said customer and causes said second computer system to prompt said agent to select a particular financial product for sale to said customer from said financial products which are suitable for sale to said customer;
wherein, based upon selection of a particular financial product for sale to said customer by said agent, said first computer system causes said second computer system to prompt said agent to enter additional information needed to process the sale of said particular financial product to said customer;
wherein said first computer system automatically checks to determine whether the information provided by said agent regarding the sale of said particular financial product to said customer is sufficient to place said sale request “
in good order;
”wherein, if said first computer system determines that said information provided by said agent regarding the sale of said particular financial product to said customer is not sufficient to place said sale request “
in good order,”
automatically causing said second computer system to prompt said agent to make appropriate changes to said information provided by said agent regarding the sale of said particular financial product to said customer to place said sale request “
in good order;
” and
wherein, if said first computer system determines that said information provided by said agent regarding the sale of said particular financial product to said customer is sufficient to place said sale request “
in good order,”
said first computer system places said sale request with the financial product provider selling said particular financial product.
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Specification