MANAGEMENT OF SALES OPPORTUNITIES

• US 20090037195A1
• Filed: 07/31/2007
• Published: 02/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Hoff, Roland
• Granted Patent: US 10,032,174 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/346
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0281 Customer communication at a business location, e.g. providing product or service information, consulting

Abstract

An inquiry handler may be configured to receive one or more customer inquiries in response to one or more pre-sales documents associated with a product. An opportunity parser may be configured to determine a sales opportunity associated with the one or more customer inquiries based on the pre-sales documents. An activity engine may be configured to track one or more sales activities performed with respect to the sales opportunity and in response to the one or more customer inquiries. A status engine may be configured to determine a status of each of the one or more customer inquiries based on the one or more sales activities. A report generator may be configured to generate one or more activity reports associated with the sales opportunity based on the one or more customer inquiries and including the status associated with each customer inquiry.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

an inquiry handler configured to receive one or more customer inquiries in response to one or more pre-sales documents associated with a product;

an opportunity parser configured to determine a sales opportunity associated with the one or more customer inquiries based on the pre-sales documents;

an activity engine configured to track one or more sales activities performed with respect to the sales opportunity and in response to the one or more customer inquiries;

a status engine configured to determine a status of each of the one or more customer inquiries based on the one or more sales activities; and

a report generator configured to generate one or more activity reports associated with the sales opportunity based on the one or more customer inquiries and including the status associated with each customer inquiry.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the inquiry handler is configured to determine an association between the one or more customer inquiries and one or more of the pre-sales documents.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the opportunity parser is configured to determine that the sales opportunity is associated with the product based on the pre-sales documents.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the opportunity parser is configured to determine the sales opportunity from a plurality of sales opportunities associated with the product.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the activity engine is configured to determine a sales activity of the one or more sales activities has been performed responsive to one or more of the customer inquiries.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the status engine is configured to receive a satisfaction level associated with each of the one or more sales activities performed.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the status engine is configured to determine a likelihood of success of the sales opportunity based on the status of each of the one or more customer inquiries.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the report generator is configured to sort the one or more customer inquiries based on a priority.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the report generator is configured to sort the one or more customer inquiries based on a category associated with the product.

10. A computer program product for handling sales opportunity information, the computer program product being tangibly embodied on a computer-readable medium and including executable code that, when executed, is configured to cause a data processing apparatus to provide an activity report associated with a sales opportunity, the activity report comprising:

one or more customer inquiries associated with the sales opportunity;

a classification of each of the one or more customer inquiries including at least one of a priority or a category;

a customer satisfaction level based on a responsiveness of a performance one or more sales activities to each of the one or more customer inquiries, the performance being based on the classification; and

a status of each of the one or more customer inquiries based on the customer satisfaction level and associated with the one or more sales activities.

11. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein the one or more customer inquiries are associated with one or more pre-sales documents, wherein the sales opportunity is associated with the one or more pre-sales documents.

12. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein the classification includes the priority of each of the one or more customer inquiries relative to a plurality of customer inquiries associated with the sales opportunity.

13. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein the classification includes the category and wherein the product is associated with one or more categories, including the category.

14. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein the computer program product receives the customer satisfaction level from a customer associated with the one or more customer inquiries.

15. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein the status includes a link to information associated with the one or more sales activities.

16. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein the activity report further comprises a likelihood of success of the sales opportunity based on the status of each of the one or more customer inquiries.

17. A method comprising:

receiving a plurality of customer inquiries in response to one or more pre-sales documents associated with a product;

determining a sales opportunity associated with the customer inquiries, based on the one or more pre-sale documents associated with the product;

determining a status of each customer inquiry based on a performance of one or more sales activities associated with the opportunity; and

generating an activity report associated with the sales opportunity based on the customer inquiries and including the status.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the determining a status comprises determining the performance of the one or more sales activities.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the determining a status comprises determining a customer satisfaction level associated with the one or more sales activities.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein the generating comprises generating the activity report comprising a summary of at least a portion of the customer inquiries and including the status.