REAL-TIME SALES SUPPORT AND LEARNING TOOL

• US 20110202472A1
• Filed: 02/25/2011
• Published: 08/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Singh, Mitu, Groon, J. C., Wan, Dadong, Marwaha, Harpreet
• Granted Patent: US 8,359,227 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/345
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/247 Thesauruses; Synonyms
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0271 Personalized advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0281 Customer communication at a business location, e.g. providing product or service information, consulting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

A real time sales support method includes automatically monitoring an interaction between a sales agent and a customer. One or more contexts of the interaction are determined and, based on the contexts, stored information relevant to the interaction is automatically retrieved. The retrieved information is provided in an electronically presentable format to the sales agent to be shared with the customer.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting, in an interaction between a sales agent and a customer, spoken words of at least one of the sales agent and the customer;

determining a first geographic location of at least one of the sales agent and the customer at a time of the interaction;

based on the determination of the first geographic location, processing the detected spoken words by;

focusing on identifying keywords related to the first geographic location, and

avoiding keywords related to other geographic locations that do not correspond to the first geographic location;

determining, by a processor, a context of the interaction based on the processing of the detected spoken words;

retrieving information relevant to the determined context of the interaction; and

providing the retrieved information in an electronically presentable format to the sales agent.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the first geographic location of at least one of the sales agent and the customer at a time of the interaction comprises determining a first geographic location of the sales agent at a time of the interaction.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the first geographic location of at least one of the sales agent and the customer at a time of the interaction comprises determining a first geographic location of the customer at a time of the interaction.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the first geographic location of at least one of the sales agent and the customer at a time of the interaction comprises determining a first geographic location where the sales agent and the customer are interacting in person.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the first geographic location of at least one of the sales agent and the customer at a time of the interaction comprises determining a location of a portable device being used in the interaction between the sales agent and the customer.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining the location of the portable device being used in the interaction between the sales agent and the customer comprises determining a location of the portable device on a retail sales floor.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the first geographic location of at least one of the sales agent and the customer at a time of the interaction comprises determining a first geographic location of at least one of the sales agent and the customer on a retail sales floor.

8. The method of claim 1:

wherein focusing on identifying keywords related to the first geographic location comprises focusing on identifying keywords related to products found in an area corresponding to the first geographic location, and

wherein avoiding keywords related to other geographic locations that do not correspond to the first geographic location comprises avoiding keywords related to products found in other areas that do not correspond to the first geographic location.

9. The method of claim 1:

wherein focusing on identifying keywords related to the first geographic location comprises focusing on identifying keywords related to products found in a retail sales store at the first ueouraphic location, and

wherein avoiding keywords related to other geographic locations that do not correspond to the first geographic location comprises avoiding keywords related to products that are not found in the retail sales store at the first geographic location.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein detecting, in the interaction between the sales agent and the customer, spoken words of at least one of the sales agent and the customer comprises detecting, in an interaction between a sales agent and a customer in a call-center scenario, spoken words of at least one of the sales agent and the customer.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting, in the interaction between the sales agent and the customer, spoken words of at least one of the sales agent and the customer comprises detecting, in an interaction between a sales agent and a customer in a retail sales environment, spoken words of at least one of the sales agent and the customer.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein focusing on identifying keywords related to the first geographic location and avoiding keywords related to other geographic locations that do not correspond to the first geographic location comprises looking only for information concerning products that fall into a specific department associated with the first geographic location, rather than looking for information concerning products that do not fall into the specific department associated with the first geographic location.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting, in the interaction between the sales agent and the customer, spoken words of at least one of the sales agent and the customer comprises detecting, in an interaction between a sales agent and a customer, spoken words of both the sales agent and the customer.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the retrieved information in an electronically presentable format to the sales agent comprises displaying, on a portable computer used by the sales agent, the retrieved information and providing, through a headset used by the sales agent, an audible signal acknowledging availability of displayed information on the portable computer used by the sales agent.

15. The method of claim 1, providing the retrieved information in an electronically presentable format to the sales agent comprises:

determining that the retrieved information includes too much content to be readably displayed on a portable computer used by the sales agent;

in response to determining that the retrieved information includes too much content to be readably displayed on the portable computer used by the sales agent, providing, to the sales agent, a list of available displays that have a larger screen than the portable computer used by the sales agent;

receiving, based on input provided by the sales agent, selection of a display included in the list of available displays that have a larger screen than the portable computer used by the sales agent; and

based on the selection, routing the retrieved information to the selected display.

16. A sales support tool comprising:

a data processing system;

an audio input device configured to non-obtrusively detect at least part of a conversation between a sales agent and a customer; and

programming code operational with the data processing system to;

detect, in an interaction between a sales agent and a customer, spoken words of at least one of the sales agent and the customer;

determine a first geographic location of at least one of the sales agent and the customer at a time of the interaction;

based on the determination of the first geographic location, process the detected spoken words by;

focusing on identifying keywords related to the first geographic location, and

avoiding keywords related to other geographic locations that do not correspond to the first geographic location;

determine, by a processor, a context of the interaction based on the processing of the detected spoken words;

retrieve information relevant to the determined context of the interaction; and

provide the retrieved information in an electronically presentable format to the sales agent.

17. The sales support tool of claim 16, wherein the programming code is operational with the data processing system to provide the retrieved information in an electronically presentable format to the sales agent by displaying, on a portable computer used by the sales agent, the retrieved information and providing, through a headset used by the sales agent, an audible signal acknowledging availability of displayed information on the portable computer used by the sales agent.

18. The sales support tool of claim 16, wherein the programming code is operational with the data processing system to determine the first geographic location of at least one of the sales agent and the customer at a time of the interaction by determining a first geographic location where the sales agent and the customer are interacting in person.

19. The sales support tool of claim 16, wherein the programming code is operational with the data processing system to provide the retrieved information in an electronically presentable format to the sales agent by determining a location of a portable device being used in the interaction between the sales agent and the customer.

20. The sales support tool of claim 16, wherein the programming code is operational with the data processing system to provide the retrieved information in an electronically presentable format to the sales agent by determining a first geographic location of at least one of the sales agent and the customer on a retail sales floor.