Methods and systems for training sales representatives and conducting online sales calls

• US 7,922,493 B1
• Filed: 02/20/2003
• Issued: 04/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Kowtko, John, Moran, Paul, Gennaro, Norman
• Primary Examiner(s): Thai; Xuan M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gebremichael; Bruk A
• Application Number:
  US10/370,552
• Time in Patent Office: 2,973 Days
• Field of Search: 434/118, 434/219, 434/350, 434/322, 705/27, 705/28
• US Class Current: 434/107
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

Disclosed herein are integrated training and sales methods and systems for training sales representatives in making an online sales call to customers and for conducting the online sales call. The system includes a Web co-browsing tool, a voice channel between the customer and the sales representatives and a training and sales Web site that is simultaneously accessible, viewable and controllable by both the customer and the sales representative through the Web co-browsing tool. The training and sales Web site is structured so as to guide the sales representative and the customer through each step of the online sales call. The system may further include scripted talking points visible only to the sales representative, the scripted talking points prompting the sales representative to communicate information to the customer as the sales representative and the customer navigate through the training and sales Web site.

Claims

1. An integrated system for training sales representatives of an organization in making online sales calls to customers and for conducting the online sales calls, the system comprising:

a storage device storing a Web co-browsing tool accessible to a client computer associated with a sales representative of the organization and a client computer associated with a current or potential customer;

a set of one or more communications devices providing at least a voice channel between the customer and the sales representative;

one or more application server computers associated with the organization that host one or more web-enabled applications including web-enabled human resources application, web-enabled accounting application and web-enabled customer relationship management application offered as products or services of the organization;

one or more web server computers associated with the organization that host a training and sales Web site that is simultaneously accessible, viewable and controllable by both the customer and the sales representative through the Web co-browsing tool, the training and sales Web site being structured so as to guide the sales representative and the customer through each step of a sales call using the voice channel, the training and sales Web site comprising;

a first section drawn to understanding needs of the customer during the sales call;

a second section drawn to issues and needs of the customer that should be considered during the sales call;

a third section that is configured to include one or more demonstrations of the web-enabled applications offered as products or services of the organization that are specific to the customer, the one or more demonstrations specific to the customer generated during the sales call from one or more of the one or more web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application hosted by the one or more application server computers selected by at least one of the sales representative and the customer during the sales call and drawn to a solution provided in part by the one or more selected web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application that addresses the customer'"'"'s issues and needs, the third section providing the one or more demonstrations specific to the customer generated from the one or more selected web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application to the customer as if integrated into a Web site associated with the customer; and

a fourth section that is configured to include one or more demonstrations of the web-enabled applications offered as products or services of the organization that are generic to the customer but specific to at least one of an industry, product, line of business and customer profile of the customer, the one or more demonstrations generic to the customer but specific to at least one of an industry, product, line of business and customer profile of the customer generated during the sales call from one or more of the one or more web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application hosted by the one or more application server computers selected by at least one of the sales representative and the customer during the sales call;

wherein each of the first through fourth sections are accessible in any order by either the sales representative or the customer during the sales call;

wherein the one or more web server computers hosting the training and sales Web site that is simultaneously accessible, viewable and controllable by both the customer and the sales representative through the Web co-browsing tool are in communication with the one or more application server computers; and

wherein the one or more application server computers, the one or more web server computers are configured to;

receive, via a control panel associated with the third section of the training and sales Web site, at least one of values, text, and graphics copied by at least one of the sales representative and the customer during the sales call from an existing web site of the customer into a plurality of input fields provide by the control panel, the control panel simultaneously accessible, viewable and controllable by both the sales representative and the customer;

generate the one or more demonstrations specific to the customer based on customizing the one or more selected web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application with a template associated with the web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application to a corporate identity of the customer with the at least one of values, text, and graphics copied from an existing web site of the customer into the plurality of input fields;

post the one or more demonstrations specific to the customer to the training and sales Web site in response to updating the third section of the training and sales Web site;

post the one or more demonstrations generic to the customer but specific to at least one of an industry, product, line of business and customer profile of the customer to the training and sales Web site in response to updating the fourth section of the training and sales Web site; and

communicate to the customer during the sales call one or more views of the one or more selected web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application hosted by the one or more application servers showing the customer the one or more selected web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application via the third section of the Web site in the one or more demonstrations of the web-enabled applications offered as products or services of the organization that are specific to the customer and via the fourth section of the Web site in the one or more demonstrations of the web-enabled applications offered as products or services of the organization that are generic to the customer but specific to at least one of an industry, product, line of business and customer profile of the customer.

2. The system of claim 1, further including a storage device storing a demo building tool for building the application one or more demonstrations of the web-enabled applications offered as products or services of the organization that are specific to the customer or the one or more demonstrations of the execution of software applications offered as products or services of the organization that are generic to the customer but specific to at least one of an industry, product, line of business and customer profile of the customer from the one or more selected web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application, the demo building tool including at least one of a list of selectable solutions, a list of selectable industries, a list of selectable regions and a list of selectable job functions, the building tool being configured to generate the one or more demonstrations specific to the customer or the one or more demonstrations generic to the customer from the one or more selected web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application based upon a selection of at least one of the solutions, industries, regions and job functions by the sales representatives and/or the customer.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the training and sales Web site further includes at least one tab selected from the group consisting of a “

Sales call Online”

portion of the Web site, an “

Industry”

portion of the Web site, a “

Lines of Business”

portion of the Web site, an “

Information Technology”

portion of the Web site, a “

Products”

portion of the Web site and a “

Resources”

portion of the Web site.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein each of the portions of the Web site is structured to include the first to fourth sections.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the training and sales Web site further includes scripted talking points visible only to the sales representative, the scripted talking points prompting the sales representative to communicate information to the customer during the sales call as the sales representative and the customer navigate through the training and sales Web site.

6. A method of training sales representatives of an organization and selling online a product or service offered by the organization online, the method comprising:

receiving, at one or more web server computers associated with the organization, information structuring a Web site according to a script for a sales call with customers, the script of the sales call including a first phase drawn to understanding needs of the customers, a second phase drawn to understanding issues and needs of the customers that should be considered and a third phase drawn to showing the customers demonstrations of web-enabled applications offered as products or services of the organization that are specific to the customers and demonstrations of web-enabled applications offered as products or services of the organization that are generic to the customers but specific to at least one of an industry, product, line of business and customer profile, the demonstrations specific to the customers and the demonstrations generic to the customers generated from at least one of one or more web-enabled applications including web-enabled human resources application, web-enabled accounting application and web-enabled customer relationship management application offered as products or services of the organization selected by at least one of the sales representatives and the customers, the one or more web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application offered as products or services of the organization hosted by one or more application server computers associated with the organization that communicate with the one or more web server computers;

receiving, at the one or more web server computers, information from a client computer associated with a sales representative of the organization indicative of a training by the sales representative on the Web site, the Web site including a first section drawn to the first phase of the script, a second section drawn to the second phase of the script, a third section drawn to the third phase of the script, the third section being configured to include one or more training demonstrations of the web-enabled applications offered as products or services of the organization that are specific to target customers, the one or more training demonstrations specific to the target customers generated from at least one of the one or more web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application hosted by the one or more application server computers and drawn to solutions provided in part by the one or more web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application that address the target customers'"'"' issues and needs, and a fourth section also drawn to the third phase and that is configured to include one or more demonstrations of the web-enabled applications offered as products or services of the organization that are generic to the target customers but specific to at least one of an industry, product, line of business and customer profiles of the target customers, the one or more demonstrations generic to the target customers but specific to at least one of an industry, product, line of business and customer profiles of the target customers generated from at least one of the one or more web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application hosted by the one or more application server computers

providing, with the one or more web server computers, co-browsing of the Web site with the trained sales representative and a customer subsequent to initiating a sales call to the customer, the Web site responsively including scripted talking points visible only to the sales representative, the talking points changing depending upon which of the first to fourth sections of the Web site is currently displayed to the sales representative and the customer, each of the first through fourth sections being accessible in any order by either the sales representative and the customer during the sales call;

generating, with the one or more web server computers, one or more demonstrations of the web-enabled applications offered as products or services of the organization that are generic to the customer but specific to at least one of an industry, product, line of business and customer profile of the customer from a web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application selected by at least one of the customer and the sales representative through the Web co-browsing tool from the one or more web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application hosted by the one or more application server computers;

posting to the Web site, with the one or more web server computers, the one or more demonstrations generic to the customer but specific to at least one of an industry, product, line of business and customer profile of the customer generated from the selected web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application to the fourth section of the Web site;

receiving, at the one or more web server computers, at least one of values, text, and graphics provided via a control panel associated with the third section of the Web site and copied by the sales representative or the customer during the sales call from an existing web site of the customer into a plurality of input fields provide by the control panel, the control panel simultaneously accessible, viewable and controllable by both the sales representative and the customer;

generating, with the one or more web server computers one or more demonstrations of the web-enabled applications offered as products or services of the organization that are specific to the customer from the selected web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application whose corresponding one or more demonstrations being generic to the customer but specific to at least one of an industry, product, line of business and customer profile of the customer are available in the fourth section of the Web site based on customizing the selected web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application with a template associated with the selected web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application to a corporate identity of the customer with the at least one of values, text, and graphics copied from an existing web site of the customer into the plurality of input fields;

posting, with the one or more web server computers, the application one or more demonstrations specific to the customer generated from the selected web-based applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application to the third section of the Web site;

communicating, from the one or more web server computers to the client computer associated with the sales representative and a client computer associated with the customer, one or more views of the selected web-based applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application hosted by the one or more application server computers showing the customer the selected web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application via the third section of the Web site in the one or more demonstrations of the web-enabled applications offered as products or services of the organization that are specific to the customer and via the fourth section of the Web site in the application one or more demonstrations of the web-enabled applications offered as products or services of the organization that are generic to the customer but specific to at least one of an industry, product, line of business and customer profile of the customer; and

communicating, from the one or more web server computers to the client computer associated with the sales representative, information for carrying out a scripted follow up of the sales call by carrying out at least one of sending a scripted email to the customer, calling the customer on the telephone and generating at least one revised demonstration of the web-enabled applications offered as products or services of the organization and presenting the revised demonstration to the customer.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the Web site further includes a dome building tool for building the one or more demonstrations specific to the customer or the one or more demonstrations generic to the customer but specific to at least one of an industry, product, line of business and customer profile of the customer from the selected web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application, the dome building tool including at least one of a list of selectable solutions, a list of selectable industries, a list of selectable regions and a list of selectable job functions, the building tool being configured to generate the one or more demonstrations specific to the customer or the one or more demonstrations generic to the customer but specific to at least one of an industry, product, line of business and customer profile of the customer from the selected web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application based upon a selection of at least one of a solution, industry, region and job function by the sales representative and/or the customer.

13. The method of claim 6 wherein the training and sales Web site further includes at least one tab selected from the group consisting of a “

Sales call Online”

portion of the Web site, an “

Industry”

portion of the Web site, a “

Lines of Business”

portion of the Web site, an “

Information Technology”

portion of the Web site, a “

Products”

portion of the Web site and a “

Resources”

portion of the Web site.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein each of the portions of the Web site is structured to include the first to fourth sections.

15. The method of claim 6 wherein the training and sales Web site further includes scripted talking points visible only to the sales representatives, the scripted talking points prompting the sales representatives to communicate information to the customer during the sales call as the sales representatives and the customer navigate through the training and sales Web site.

16. The method of claim 6 wherein posting the one or more demonstrations specific to the customer generated from the selected web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application to the third section of the Web site comprises posting a hyperlink configured to access the customized selected web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application on the same page as one or more links to literature related to the selected web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application.

17. The method of claim 6 wherein posting the one or more demonstrations specific to the customer generated from the selected web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application to the third section of the Web site comprises posting one or more links configured to access the customized selected web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application on the same page as one or more links to the one or more demonstrations generic to the customer but specific to at least one of an industry, product, line of business and customer profile of the customer of a the web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions executable by a computer system for training sales representatives of an organization and selling online a product or service offered by the organization the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising:

instructions for receiving information structuring a Web site hosted by one or more web server computers associated with the organization according to a script for a sales call with customers, the script of the sales call including a first phase drawn to understanding needs of the customers, a second phase drawn to understanding issues and needs of the customers that should be considered and a third phase drawn to showing the customers demonstrations of web-enabled applications offered as products or services of the organization that are specific to the customers and demonstrations of web-enabled applications offered as products or services of the organization that are generic to the customers but specific to at least one of an industry, product, line of business and customer profile, the demonstrations specific to the customers and the demonstrations generic to the customers generated from at least one of one or more web-enabled applications including web-enabled human resources application, web-enabled accounting application and web-enabled customer relationship management application offered as products or services of the organization selected by at least one of the sales representatives and the customers, the one or more web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application offered as products or services of the organization hosted by one or more application server computers associated with the organization that communicate with the one or more web server computers;

instructions for receiving information indicative of a training by a sales representative of the organization on the Web site, the Web site including a first section drawn to the first phase of the script, a second section drawn to the second phase of the script, a third section drawn to the third phase of the script, the third section being configured to include one or more training demonstrations of the web-enabled applications offered as products or services of the organization that are specific to target customers, the one or more training demonstrations specific to the target customers generated from at least one of the one or more web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application hosted by the one or more application server computers and drawn to solutions provided in part by the one or more web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application that address the target customers'"'"' issues and needs, and a fourth section also drawn to the third phase and that is configured to include one or more target demonstrations of the web-enabled applications offered as products or services of the organization that are that are generic to the target customers but specific to at least one of an industry, product, line of business and customer profiles of the target customers, the one or more demonstrations generic to the target customers but specific to at least one of an industry, product, line of business and customer profiles of the target customers generated from at least one of the one or more web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application hosted by the one or more application server computers;

instructions for providing co-browsing of the Web site with the trained sales representative and a customer subsequent to initiating a sales call to the customer, the Web site responsively including scripted talking points visible only to the sales representative, the talking points changing depending upon which of the first to fourth sections of the Web site is currently displayed to the sales representative and the customer, each of the first through fourth sections being accessible in any order by either the sales representative and the customer during the sales call;

instructions for generating one or more demonstrations of the web-enabled applications offered as products or services of the organization that are generic to the customer but specific to at least one of an industry, product, line of business and customer profile of the customer from a web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application selected by at least one of the customer and the sales representative through the Web co-browsing tool from the one or more web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application hosted by the one or more application server computers;

instructions for posting to the Web site the one or more demonstrations generic to the customer but specific to at least one of an industry, product, line of business and customer profile of the customer generated from the selected web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application to the fourth section of the Web site;

instructions for receiving at least one of values, text, and graphics provided via a control panel associated with the third section of the Web site and copied by the sales representatives or the customer during the sales call from an existing web site of the customer into a plurality of input fields provide by the control panel, the control panel simultaneously accessible, viewable and controllable by both the sales representative and the customer;

instructions for generating one or more demonstrations of the web-enabled applications offered as products or services of the organization that are specific to the customer from the selected web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application whose corresponding one or more demonstrations being generic to the customer but specific to at least one of an industry, product, line of business and customer profile of the customer are available in the fourth section of the Web site based on customizing the selected web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application with a template associated with the selected web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application to a corporate identity of the customer with the at least one of values, text, and graphics copied from an existing web site of the customer into the plurality of input fields;

instructions for posting the one or more demonstrations specific to the customer generated from the selected web-based applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application to the third section of the Web site;

instructions for communicating one or more views of the selected web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application hosted by the one or more application server computers showing the customer the selected web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application via the third section of the Web site in the one or more demonstrations of the web-enabled applications offered as products or services of the organization that are specific to the customer and via the fourth section of the Web site in the one or more demonstrations of the web-enabled applications offered as products or services of the organization that are generic to the customer but specific to at least one of an industry, product, line of business and customer profile of the customer; and

instructions for communicating to the client computer associated with the sales representative, information for carrying out a scripted follow up of the sales call by carrying out at least one of sending a scripted email to the customer, calling the customer on the telephone and generating at least one revised demonstration of the web-enabled applications offered as products or services of the organization and presenting the revised demonstration to the customer.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the Web site further includes a demo building tool for building the one or more demonstrations specific to the customer or the one or more demonstrations generic to the customer but specific to at least one of an industry, product, line of business and customer profile of the customer from the selected web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application, the demo building tool including at least one of a list of selectable solutions, a list of selectable industries, a list of selectable regions and a list of selectable job functions, the building tool being configured to generate the one or more demonstrations specific to the customer or the one or more demonstrations generic to the customer but specific to at least one of an industry, product, line of business and customer profile of the customer from the selected web-enabled applications including the web-enabled human resources application, the web-enabled accounting application and the web-enabled customer relationship management application based upon a selection of at least one of a solution, industry, region and job function by the sales representative and/or the customer.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 wherein the training and sales Web site further includes at least one tab selected from the group consisting of a “

Sales call Online”

portion of the Web site, an “

Industry”

portion of the Web site, a “

Lines of Business”

portion of the Web site, an “

Information Technology”

portion of the Web site, a “

Products”

portion of the Web site and a “

Resources”

portion of the Web site.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 wherein each of the portions of the Web site is structured to include the first to fourth sections.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 wherein the training and sales Web site further includes scripted talking points visible only to the sales representatives, the scripted talking points prompting the sales representatives to communicate information to the customer during the sales call as the sales representatives and the customer navigate through the training and sales Web site.