Smart transfer

• US 7,664,673 B1
• Filed: 03/29/2001
• Issued: 02/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL LLC (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Haughwout, Jim Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Zeender; F.
• Assistant Examiner(s): THEIN, MARIA TERESA T
• Application Number:
  US09/819,899
• Time in Patent Office: 3,246 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27, 705/7, 705/10, 705/14, 455/466, 455/456.1, 379/88.19, 379/88.22, 379/265.12, 379/265.09, 379/265.01, 379/265.11, 379/266.01, 379/265.13, 379/266.02
• US Class Current: 705/26.41
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42068 where the identifier is used to access a profile
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/523 with call distribution or queueing

Abstract

A first sales pitch appropriate for a particular telephone caller of a telephone call center may be selected by receiving a call from a caller to the telephone call center, accessing information about the caller including an indication of past misbehavior or a sales pitch preference of the caller that includes a preference not to receive one or more undesired sales pitches, and automatically selecting the first sales pitch based upon the sales pitch preference of the caller, for example, if there is no indication of past misbehavior. The call may be transferred to a human operator, and the human operator may be assisted in presenting the first sales pitch to the caller, for example, by displaying at least a portion of the first sales pitch to the human operator.

Claims

1. A process for assisting presentation of sales pitches appropriate for a particular telephone caller of a customer service call center, the process comprising:

receiving and handling at a customer service call center an incoming service call from a caller seeking assistance; and

leveraging the incoming service call for assistance as a conduit for soliciting the caller to purchase merchandise or services, the leveraging including;

identifying a caller identity or a first caller attribute related to the caller,

storing in a first electronic database, prior to the receipt of the incoming service call from the caller, a sales pitch preference of the caller, as an additional attribute, comprising a preference of the caller not to receive any sales pitches,

searching the first electronic database to determine the additional attribute of the caller based on at least one of the caller identity or the first caller attribute,

omitting to search a second electronic database of potential sales pitches for a sales pitch based upon at least the additional attribute of the caller, and

routing the service call to a human operator.

2. The process of claim 1 further comprising populating the first electronic database prior to the call with information indicative of the caller.

3. The process of claim 2 further comprising populating the first electronic database with information indicative of responses made by the caller in response to past sales pitch presentations.

4. The process of claim 2 further comprising populating at least one of the first or the second electronic database with information indicative of past misbehavior of the caller.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein storing in the first electronic database includes storing in the first electronic database, including multiple sales pitch preferences associated with multiple callers, each of the multiple sales pitch preferences corresponding to a preference not to receive any sales pitch.

6. A system for leveraging an incoming service call for assistance as a conduit to assist a human operator to solicit the caller to purchase a merchandise or service, the system comprising:

an identification component configured to determine a caller identity related to a caller seeking assistance from a customer service call center;

a first electronic database configured to store as an attribute related to the caller and prior to the receipt of the incoming service call from the caller, a sales pitch preference of the caller comprising a preference of the caller not to receive any sales pitches;

a search component configured to identify in the first electronic database the attribute related to the caller based on the caller identity and configured to omit searching a second electronic database of potential sales pitches for a sales pitch based on the attribute; and

a call router configured to route the service call to a human operator to assist the caller.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the first electronic database is configured further to store information indicative of past misbehavior of the caller.

8. The system of claim 6 wherein the first electronic database is configured further to store information indicative of a response by the caller to a past sales pitch.

9. The system of claim 6 wherein the first electronic database is configured to store multiple sales pitch preferences associated with multiple callers, each of the multiple sales pitch preferences corresponding to a preference not to receive any sales pitch.

10. A computer program stored on a computer readable medium for leveraging an incoming service call for assistance as a conduit to assist a human operator to solicit the caller to purchase a merchandise or service, the computer program comprising:

an identification code segment that causes the computer to determine a caller identity related to a caller seeking assistance from a customer service call center;

a first database code segment configured to store as an attribute related to the caller and prior to the receipt of the incoming service call from the caller, a sales pitch preference of the caller comprising a preference of the caller not to receive any sales pitches;

a search code segment that causes the computer to identify the stored attribute related to the caller based on the caller identity and to omit searching a second electronic database of potential sales pitches for a sales pitch based on the attribute; and

a call routing code segment that causes the computer to route the service call to a human operator to assist the caller.

11. The computer program of claim 10 wherein the first database code segment further causes the computer to store information indicative of past misbehavior of the caller.

12. The computer program of claim 10 wherein the first database code segment further causes the computer to store information indicative of a response by the caller to a past sales pitch.

13. The computer program of claim 10 wherein the first database code segment is configured to store multiple sales pitch preferences associated with multiple callers, each of the multiple sales pitch preferences corresponding to a preference not to receive any sales pitch.

14. A process for assisting presentation of a first sales pitch appropriate for a particular telephone caller of a customer service call center, the process comprising:

receiving and handling at a customer service call center an incoming service call from a caller seeking assistance; and

leveraging the incoming service call for assistance as a conduit for soliciting the caller to purchase merchandise or services, the leveraging including;

identifying a caller identity or a first caller attribute related to the caller,

storing in a first electronic database, prior to the receipt of the incoming service call from the caller, information indicative of past misbehavior of the caller,

searching the first electronic database to identify the information indicative of past misbehavior based on at least one of the caller identity or the first caller attribute,

omitting to search the second electronic database for a potential sales pitch based on the identified information indicative of past misbehavior, wherein the identified information indicative of past misbehavior includes information that the caller has acted illegally or that the caller has violated a terms of service agreement associated with the caller'"'"'s account,

routing the service call to a human operator based on the identified information indicative of past misbehavior, and

assisting the human operator to take the service call based on the identified information indicative of past misbehavior.

15. A system for leveraging an incoming service call for assistance as a conduit to assist a human operator to solicit the caller to purchase a merchandise or service, the system comprising:

an identification component configured to determine a caller identity related to a caller seeking assistance from a customer service call center;

a first electronic database configured to store, prior to receipt of the incoming service call from the caller, information indicative of past misbehavior of the caller;

a search component configured to identify in the first electronic database the information indicative of past misbehavior based on the caller identity, wherein the information indicative of past misbehavior includes information that the caller has acted illegally or that the caller has violated a terms of service agreement associated with the caller'"'"'s account;

a call router configured to bypass a sales pitch selection process and to route the service call to a human operator based on the identified information indicative of past misbehavior; and

a presentation component configured to assist the human operator to take the service call based on the identified information indicative of past misbehavior.

16. A computer program stored on a computer readable medium for leveraging an incoming service call for assistance as a conduit to assist a human operator to solicit the caller to purchase a merchandise or service, the computer program comprising:

an identification code segment that causes the computer to determine a caller identity related to a caller seeking assistance from a customer service call center;

a first database code segment configured to store, prior to receipt of the incoming service call from the caller, information indicative of past misbehavior of the caller;

a search code segment that causes the computer to identify the information indicative of past misbehavior based on the caller identity;

a second database code segment configured to cause the computer to identify a first sales pitch for the caller;

a call routing code segment that causes the computer to bypass the second database code segment and to route the service call to a human operator based on the identified information indicative of past misbehavior, wherein the identified information indicative of past misbehavior includes information that the caller has acted illegally or that the caller has violated a terms of service agreement associated with the caller'"'"'s account; and

a presentation code segment that causes the computer to assist the human operator to present the service call based on the identified information indicative of past misbehavior.

17. A process for assisting presentation of a first sales pitch appropriate for a particular telephone caller of a customer service call center, the process comprising:

receiving and handling, at a customer service call center, an incoming service call from a caller seeking assistance; and

leveraging the incoming service call for assistance as a conduit for soliciting the caller to purchase merchandise or services, the leveraging including;

identifying a caller identity or a first caller attribute related to the caller,

storing a sales pitch preference in a first electronic database to be used as an additional attribute of the caller, the sales pitch preference comprising a preference of the caller not to receive a sales pitch related to a first service or product and not to receive any sales pitches related to a provider of the first service or product,

searching the first electronic database to determine the additional attribute of the caller based on at least one of the caller identity and the first caller attribute,

searching, based upon at least the additional attribute of the caller, a second electronic database of potential sales pitches to identify a first sales pitch that is not related to the first service or product and is not related to the provider of the first service or product,

routing the service call to a human operator for presentation of the first sales pitch to the caller, and

assisting the human operator in presenting the first sales pitch to the caller.

18. The process of claim 17 wherein the sales pitch preference of the caller further comprises a preference to receive a certain type of sales pitch.

19. The process of claim 17 further comprising populating the first electronic database prior to the call with information indicative of the caller.

20. The process of claim 19 further comprising populating the first electronic database with information indicative of a response by the caller to the first sales pitch.

21. The process of claim 19 further comprising populating the first electronic database with information indicative of responses made by the caller in response to past sales pitch presentations.

22. The process of claim 19 further comprising populating at least one of the first or the second electronic database with information indicative of past misbehavior of the caller.

23. The process of claim 17 further comprising searching the second electronic database for a second sales pitch for the caller immediately after the caller provides the response to the first sales pitch, wherein the first electronic database is populated with information indicative of a response by the caller to the first sales pitch prior to searching the database for the second sales pitch.

24. The process of claim 17 wherein assisting the human operator in presenting the first sales pitch comprises displaying at least a portion of the selected first sales pitch on a display of the human operator.

25. The process of claim 17 wherein the first sales pitch is identified within the second database only when at least the additional attribute of the caller indicates that the caller satisfies a predetermined criterion.

26. The process of claim 17 wherein the first caller attribute indicates a geographic residence of the caller, and identifying the first sales pitch includes making unavailable for selection one or more sales pitches of the second electronic database based upon the geographic residence of the caller.

27. The process of claim 17 wherein the additional attribute of the caller includes a credit status for the caller, and identifying the first sales pitch includes selecting the first sales pitch for the caller only when the credit status of the caller is satisfactory.

28. The process of claim 17 further comprising transferring the caller to a commercial partner that provides a product or service that corresponds to the selected first sales pitch if the caller has expressed interest in the first sales pitch.

29. The process of claim 17 further comprising communicating information related to the caller to the commercial partner substantially in real time.

30. The process of claim 29 wherein the information comprises information related to the first sales pitch presented to the caller.

31. The process of claim 17, further comprising:

transferring the caller to a commercial partner that provides a product or service that corresponds to the selected first sales pitch, wherein the commercial partner provides a second sales pitch to the caller;

receiving feedback information from the commercial partner regarding a response by the caller to the second sales pitch; and

populating the first electronic database with information indicative of the response by the caller to the second sales pitch.