Sales system and business method including computer apparatus and product for and method of determining price
First Claim
1. A portable, handheld computer apparatus for determining the price of construction services at a job site in real time for presentation to a customer, comprisingan input device,a display screen,a memory including stored data providing costs of a plurality of different construction materials and/or components used in building a designated structure at a customer'"'"'s job site including at least some visual images of different construction materials and/or components to be upon selection displayed on the display screen to enable a customer to see the image and make a selection of specific materials and/or components at the job site upon viewing the images, anda program that based at least in part upon the specific materials and/or components selected determines a total cost and a profit, enabling a contractor'"'"'s representative while at a job site and in real time to quote a price to the customer for the construction services.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A portable, handheld computer apparatus is used by a contractor'"'"'s representative to determine the price of construction services at a job site in real time for presentation to a customer. Stored in a memory of the apparatus is data providing costs of a plurality of different construction materials used in building a structure at the customer'"'"'s job site including at least some visual images of different construction materials to be displayed on the apparatus'"'"' display screen. This enables a customer to see the image and make a selection of materials while at the job site and after viewing the images. The apparatus has a program that based at least in part upon the specific materials selected by the customer and other information entered by the contractor'"'"'s representative determines the total costs and a profit. The contractor'"'"'s representative while at the job site and in real time may present a contract to the customer for the construction services.
8 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A portable, handheld computer apparatus for determining the price of construction services at a job site in real time for presentation to a customer, comprising
an input device, a display screen, a memory including stored data providing costs of a plurality of different construction materials and/or components used in building a designated structure at a customer'"'"'s job site including at least some visual images of different construction materials and/or components to be upon selection displayed on the display screen to enable a customer to see the image and make a selection of specific materials and/or components at the job site upon viewing the images, and a program that based at least in part upon the specific materials and/or components selected determines a total cost and a profit, enabling a contractor'"'"'s representative while at a job site and in real time to quote a price to the customer for the construction services.
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11. A sales system comprising
(a) a portable, handheld computer apparatus adapted to be carried to a customer'"'"'s job site by a contractor'"'"'s representative, said computer apparatus including a display screen, a stored data providing costs of a plurality of different construction materials and/or components used in building a designated structure at the customer'"'"'s job site including at least some visual images of different construction materials and/or components to be upon selection displayed on the display screen to enable a customer to see the image and make a selection of specific materials and/or components at the job site upon viewing the images, said computer apparatus having a program that based at least in part upon the specific materials and/or components selected determines a total cost and a profit, enabling a contractor'"'"'s representative while at the job site and in real time to quote a price to the customer for the construction services for presentation to the customer, and (b) a remote back office computer adapted to be placed in communication with the handheld computer apparatus for recording sales transactions in a memory of the back office computer.
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18. A business method comprising
providing a contractor'"'"'s representative with a portable, handheld communication device having a visual display for showing a customer images of a variety of different materials and/or components for building a variety of different types of structures, a contractor'"'"'s representative meeting a customer at a job site where a designated structure is to be built, while at the job site said representative using the communication device to display on the visual display for viewing by the customer images of the variety of different materials and/or components from which is selected the specific materials and/or components for building the designated structure at the job site, said customer while at the job site selecting from the displayed images which specific materials and/or components that correspond at least in part to those to be used in building said designated structure, and while at the job site entering the customer'"'"'s selection of materials and/or components into the communication device, which is programmed to determine a total cost and a profit, displaying on the visual display a price to enable the contractor'"'"'s representative while at the job site and in real time to quote to a price to the customer for the services to build the designated structure.
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22. A computer program product for controlling a handheld, portable computer to execute a program that determines sales prices, said computer program product comprising routines that
(a) enables a contractor'"'"'s representative in real time at a meeting with a customer at a location remote from a contractor'"'"'s office to offer for sale a combination of goods and services required to install or use the goods, (b) enables a customer to view images of multiple goods and select one or more goods to be purchased, at least some of the selected goods having predetermined standard prices, (c) calculates a total cost and a profit based at least in part on the predetermined standard prices, enabling a contractor'"'"'s representative while at a job site and in real time to quote a sales price to the customer based at least in part upon a goods selected by a customer, and (d) enables a contractor'"'"'s representative to change said predetermined standard prices, whereby said contractor'"'"'s representative has the ability to close a sale at the remote location in real time.
Specification