SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FACILITATING THE IDENTIFICATION OF POTENTIAL SALES TARGETS

• US 20180285907A1
• Filed: 03/31/2017
• Published: 10/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ASK Chemicals LLC
• Original Assignee: ASK Chemicals L.P. (Ask Chemicals GmbhASK CHEMICALS GMBH)
• Inventors: Hoertz, Charles Conley
• Granted Patent: US 10,540,668 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration

Abstract

A system and method for facilitating the identification of potential sales targets by tracking and providing sales target and sales data in an interactive, unified, graphical and coded fashion. The system is adapted to assist sales associates traveling in the field to identify sales targets, and their sales potential, easily, interactively, graphically, and in a unified manner. The specific structure and layout of the graphical user interface provides new functionality to the user and aids the user in quickly and efficiently providing a graphical and unified map view of potential sales targets coded by icon shape and color, where the color of the icon is determined by the sales potential of the sales target.

Claims

1. A method for tracking and facilitating the identification of sales targets, the method comprising:

displaying in a graphical user interface an image of a sales region on a screen;

displaying on the sales region, a plurality of selectable icons representing the location of potential sales targets;

dynamically displaying a first subset of the plurality of selectable icons in a first color, the first color representing sales potential in a first predetermined monetary range;

dynamically displaying a second subset of the plurality of selectable icons in a second color, the second color representing sales potential in a second predetermined monetary range, the second predetermined monetary range being lower than the first predetermined monetary range;

in response to a selection of a particular one of the plurality of selectable icons, displaying in a first location on the screen a first window;

displaying in the first window a summary data region providing information relating to the sales target associated with the selected particular icon;

displaying in the first window a sales data region;

dynamically displaying in the sales data region a summary of sales information related to the sales target associated with the selected particular icon.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein dynamically displaying means to display the information automatically as the data it represents changes and wherein there is a time lag between the time the data is changed to the time the data is displayed.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

dynamically displaying a third subset of the plurality of selectable icons in a first shape, the first shape representing those sales targets that are assigned to distributors; and

dynamically displaying a fourth subset of the plurality of selectable icons in a second shape, the second shape representing those sales targets that are not assigned to distributors but are direct sales targets.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

displaying in a second region in the first window a plurality of bar graphs each of the plurality of bar graphs having a first bar portion dynamically representing actual or estimated sales of a particular product line of the sales target associated with the selected particular icon and a second bar portion dynamically representing potential sales of the particular product line of the sales target associated with the selected particular icon.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first bar graph is in a circular shape and wherein the first bar portion is concentric with the second bar portion and wherein the first bar portion is a color different from the second bar portion.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

displaying a selectable filter icon;

in response to a selection of the selectable filter icon, displaying on the screen a second window;

displaying in the second window a plurality of selectable filter factors, the filter factors including sales representatives, sales potential, sales territory.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the selectable filter factors further include industry served, metal type, product line, and molding process.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of:

in response to selecting one of the plurality of selectable filter factors, displaying on the sales region only those selectable icons representing the location of potential sales targets related to the selected filter factor.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of:

in response to selecting the sales potential filter factor, displaying a first selectable range of sales potential and a second selectable range of sales potential.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of:

in response to selecting the first selectable range of sales potential, displaying on the sales region only those selectable icons representing the location of potential sales targets that fall within the first range of sales potential.

11. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of:

in response to selecting the sales territory filter factor, displaying a first selectable sales territory and a second selectable sales territory.

12. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of:

in response to selecting the sales representative filter factor, displaying a selectable name of a first sales associate and selectable name of a second sales associate;

in response to selecting the selectable name of a first sales associate, displaying on the sales region only those selectable icons representing the location of potential sales targets that are assigned to the first sales associate.

13. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of:

in response to selecting the sales representative filter factor, displaying a selectable name of a first sales associate and selectable name of a second sales associate;

in response to selecting the selectable name of a first sales associate and the selectable name of the second sales associate, displaying on the sales region only those selectable icons representing the location of potential sales targets that are assigned to the first sales associate and the second sales associate;

providing a color toggle feature that displays the selectable icons representing the location of potential sales targets that are assigned to the first sales associate in one color and displays the selectable icons representing the location of potential sales targets that are assigned to the second sales associate in a second color.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

displaying a selectable reporting icon;

in response to a selection of the selectable reporting icon, displaying on the screen a third window;

displaying in the third window a plurality of locations for entering information about the sales target associated with the selected particular icon;

storing the entered information;

dynamically displaying the entered information on the image of the sales region or the first window.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

dynamically displaying a third subset of the plurality of selectable icons in a third color, the third color representing sales potential in a third predetermined monetary range, the third predetermined monetary range being lower than the second predetermined monetary range.

38. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of dynamically displaying in the sales data region a first bar graph having a first bar portion representing actual or estimated sales of the sales target associated with the selected particular icon and a second bar portion representing potential sales of the sales target associated with the selected particular icon.

16. A method for tracking and facilitating the identification of sales targets, the method comprising:

displaying in a graphical user interface an image of a sales region on a screen;

displaying on the sales region, a plurality of selectable icons representing the location of potential sales targets;

dynamically displaying a first subset of the plurality of selectable icons in a first color, the first color representing sales potential in a first predetermined monetary range;

dynamically displaying a second subset of the plurality of selectable icons in a second color, the second color representing sales potential in a second predetermined monetary range, the second predetermined monetary range being lower than the first predetermined monetary range;

in response to a selection of a particular one of the plurality of selectable icons, displaying in another first location of the screen a first window;

displaying in the first window a summary data region providing information relating to the sales target associated with the selected particular icon;

displaying a selectable filter icon;

in response to a selection of the selectable filter icon, displaying on the screen a second window;

displaying in the second window a plurality of selectable filter factors, the filter factors including sales potential;

in response to selecting the sales potential filter factor, displaying a first selectable range of sales potential and a second selectable range of sales potential;

in response to selecting the first selectable range of sales potential, displaying on the sales region only those selectable icons representing the location of potential sales targets that fall within the first range of sales potential.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein dynamically displaying means to display the information automatically as the data it represents changes and wherein there is a time lag between the time the data is changed to the time the data is displayed.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising the steps of:

dynamically displaying a third subset of the plurality of selectable icons in a first shape, the first shape representing those sales targets that are distributors; and

dynamically displaying a fourth subset of the plurality of selectable icons in a second shape, the second shape representing those sales targets that are not distributors but direct sales targets.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising the steps of:

displaying in the first window a sales data region;

dynamically displaying in the sales data region a first bar graph having a first bar portion representing actual or estimated sales of the sales target associated with the selected particular icon and a second bar portion representing potential sales of the sales target associated with the selected particular icon.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising the step of:

wherein the selectable filter factors further include industry, metal type, product line, and molding process.

21. A system for tracking and facilitating the identification of sales targets, the system comprising:

a graphical user interface having an image of a sales region for displaying on a screen;

a processing system, the processing system programmed with instructions for executing on the processing system for;

displaying on the sales region, a plurality of selectable icons representing the location of potential sales targets;

dynamically displaying a first subset of the plurality of selectable icons in a first color, the first color representing sales potential in a first predetermined monetary range;

dynamically displaying a second subset of the plurality of selectable icons in a second color, the second color representing sales potential in a second predetermined monetary range, the second predetermined monetary range being lower than the first predetermined monetary range;

in response to a selection of a particular one of the plurality of selectable icons, displaying in a first location on the screen a first window;

displaying in the first window a summary data region providing information relating to the sales target associated with the selected particular icon;

displaying in the first window a sales data region;

dynamically displaying in the sales data region sales data relating to the sales target associated with the selected particular icon.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein dynamically displaying means to display the information automatically as the data it represents changes and wherein there is a time lag between the time the data is changed to the time the data is displayed.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the processing system is programmed with instructions for executing on the processing system for:

dynamically displaying a third subset of the plurality of selectable icons in a first shape, the first shape representing those sales targets that are distributors; and

dynamically displaying a fourth subset of the plurality of selectable icons in a second shape, the second shape representing those sales targets that are not distributors but direct sales targets.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the processing system is programmed with instructions for executing on the processing system for:

displaying in a second region in the first window a plurality of bar graphs each of the plurality of bar graphs having a first bar portion dynamically representing actual or estimated sales of a particular product line of the sales target associated with the selected particular icon and a second bar portion dynamically representing potential sales of the particular product line of the sales target associated with the selected particular icon.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the first bar graph is in a circular shape and wherein the first bar portion is concentric with the second bar portion and wherein the first bar portion is a color different from the second bar portion.

26. The system of claim 21, wherein the processing system is programmed with instructions for executing on the processing system for:

displaying a selectable filter icon;

in response to a selection of the selectable filter icon, displaying on the screen a second window;

displaying in the second window a plurality of selectable filter factors, the filter factors including sales representatives, sales potential, sales territory.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the selectable filter factors further include industry, metal type, product line, and molding process.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein the processing system is programmed with instructions for executing on the processing system for:

in response to selecting one of the plurality of selectable filter factors, displaying on the sales region only those selectable icons representing the location of potential sales targets related to the selected filter factor.

29. The system of claim 26, wherein the processing system is programmed with instructions for executing on the processing system for:

in response to selecting the sales potential filter factor, displaying a first selectable range of sales potential and a second selectable range of sales potential.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the processing system is programmed with instructions for executing on the processing system for:

in response to selecting the first selectable range of sales potential, displaying on the sales region only those selectable icons representing the location of potential sales targets that fall within the first range of sales potential.

31. The system of claim 26, wherein the processing system is programmed with instructions for executing on the processing system for:

in response to selecting the sales territory filter factor, displaying a first selectable sales territory and a second selectable sales territory.

32. The system of claim 26, wherein the processing system is programmed with instructions for executing on the processing system for:

in response to selecting the sales representative filter factor, displaying a selectable name of a first sales associate and a selectable name of a second sales associate;

in response to selecting the selectable name of a first sales associate, displaying on the sales region only those selectable icons representing the location of potential sales targets that are assigned to the first sales associate.

39. The system of claim 21, wherein the processing system is programmed with instructions for executing on the processing system for displaying a first bar graph having a first bar portion representing actual or estimated sales of the sales target associated with the selected particular icon and a second bar portion representing potential sales of the sales target associated with the selected particular icon.

40. The system of claim 21, wherein the sales region is North America.

41. The system of claim 21, wherein the sales region is comprised of multiple sales territories.

33. A system for tracking sales visits to a plurality of sales target locations and facilitating the identification of sales effectiveness, the system comprising:

a plurality of mobile devices, each having a global positioning device for transmitting location information and wherein each of the mobile devices is associated with a sales associate;

a graphical user interface;

a processing system, the processing programmed with instructions for executing on the processing system to;

receive location information sent from the global positioning devices;

determine if the mobile devices are within a predetermined distance from one of the plurality of sales target locations;

record the number of visits to each of the plurality of sales target locations;

associate one of the sales associates to each of the recorded number of visits;

wherein the system is adapted to display a graph on the graphical user interface, the graph having a first axis for indicating the actual sales amounts for each of the plurality of sales target locations, a plurality of bars, each bar associated to one of the plurality of sales target locations, each of the bars having a first portion for representing the actual sales for each of the plurality of sales target locations for a predetermined time period, a line perpendicular to the plurality of bars for representing the number of visits to each of the plurality of sales target locations.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the system is adapted to display the number of sales visits by each sales associate.

35. The system of claim 33, wherein the plurality of bars are selectable, and wherein in response to selecting a bar associated with a particular sales target location the system is adapted to list the sales visits to the particular sales target location selected for a predetermined period of time, and to display in a first region the actual sales to the particular sales target location selected for a predetermined time period, and to display in a second region the potential sales to the particular sales target location selected for a predetermined time period.

36. The system of claim 33, wherein the system is adapted to dynamically display the plurality of bars and the line representing the number of visits to each of the plurality of sales target locations.

37. The system of claim 33, wherein each of the bars is further comprised of a second portion for representing the potential sales for each of the plurality of sales target locations for a predetermined time period.