Method of facilitating contact between a consumer and a requesting entity

• US 8,645,197 B1
• Filed: 09/12/2012
• Issued: 02/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: West Corporation
• Original Assignee: West Corporation
• Inventors: Micek, Michael A., Barker, Thomas B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kyle, Charles
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chencinski, Siegfried E
• Application Number:
  US13/611,224
• Time in Patent Office: 510 Days
• Field of Search: 705/40, 705/35, 705/38, 705/10, 705/14, 705/26, 705/39, 705/1, 705/44, 705/16
• US Class Current: 705/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce

Abstract

The invention provides a method of facilitating contact between a consumer and a requesting entity, with the method comprising the following steps. During an interaction with the consumer, the method of the invention obtains contact information and index information from the consumer. The method then evaluates whether the consumer meets a selection criterion specified by the requesting entity using the indexing information. A data store entry associated with the consumer can be updated with the contact information. The contact information is then referred to the requesting entity thereby providing the requesting entity with up-to-date contact information.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

processing, by a facilitator, calls on behalf of a requesting entity;

interacting with a consumer to obtain information from the consumer and forward the obtained information to the requesting entity, wherein the interacting is initiated by the consumer and/or the facilitator via any wired or wireless communication system linking the consumer to the facilitator including at least one of;

an inbound call to the facilitator, an outbound call to the consumer, an email communication with the facilitator, an internet chat with the contact facilitator, a facsimile transaction to the facilitator, an interaction via broadband, an interaction via voice over internet protocol to the facilitator, a interaction via digital/analog television to the facilitator;

wherein the obtained information includes at least one of;

contact information;

index information;

accessing, via the facilitator, a data store using the index information, the data store containing at least one selection criterion of interest to the requesting entity, wherein the selection criterion uses the index information obtained from the consumer and wherein the index information is a credit card number;

wherein accessing the data store includes the facilitator accessing a consumer demographics database storing a demographic profile associated with the consumer;

searching, by an automated programmed electronic computer, a respondent demographics database accessed using the demographic profile, that includes an entry containing sub-fields that specify demographic requirements for an action to be taken;

evaluating, by the automated programmed electronic computer, whether the consumer meets the selection criterion by comparing the consumer'"'"'s demographic profile to the demographic requirements and determining if the consumer is a candidate for the action to be taken while the consumer is interacting with the requesting entity; and

referring the contact information received from the facilitator to the requesting entity based on the evaluating, wherein if the consumer is subject to a collection effort, generating an appropriate alert, and notifying at least a first party that the consumer is subject to the collection effort.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of accessing a data store includes accessing a collections database to evaluate whether the consumer is subject to a collections effort conducted by a collections agency.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of evaluating includes determining whether any entry in the collections database corresponds to the consumer.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of referring the contact information includes referring the contact information to a collections agency.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of accessing a data store includes accessing a respondent demographic database containing at least one demographic criterion of interest to a polling firm.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of evaluating includes determining whether the consumer meets the demographic criterion of interest to the polling firm.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of accessing a data store includes accessing a consumer demographic database storing a plurality of respective demographic profiles, one of the demographic profiles being associated with a respective consumer, wherein the consumer demographic database is searchable using the index information, and wherein the respondent demographic database is searchable using the demographic profiles;

and

wherein the step of evaluating includes retrieving a demographic profile associated with the consumer using the index information, comparing the demographic profile with the demographic criterion contained in the respondent demographic database, and selecting a consumer whose demographic profile matches the demographic criterion.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of referring includes referring to the polling firm the contact information for at least one consumer who matches the demographic criterion of interest to the survey agency.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of accessing a data store includes accessing a customer service database containing information associated with at least one consumer sought by a merchant.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of evaluating includes comparing the index information with the information in the customer service database to determine whether the consumer is sought by the merchant for customer service.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of referring includes referring the contact information for at least one consumer to the merchant.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of interacting with the consumer includes interacting with the consumer during a telephone call conducted with the consumer.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of interacting with the consumer includes communicating with the consumer using at least one of the following methods:

an inbound telephone call originating with the consumer, an outbound call placed to the consumer, a consumer session with an IVR unit, an e-mail message, and an Internet chat session.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of obtaining contact information includes obtaining information that enables the requesting entity to contact the consumer in real time after the step of interacting.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of obtaining contact information includes obtaining at least one of the following associated with the consumer:

a telephone number, a facsimile number, an e-mail address, an account number, a social security number, and a NACSZ parameter.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of obtaining index information includes obtaining information that enables an entity to determine whether the consumer meets the selection criterion.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of obtaining index information includes obtaining at least one of the following associated with the consumer:

a telephone number, a facsimile number, an e-mail address, an account number, a social security number, and a NACSZ parameter.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of evaluating includes searching the data store using the index information as an index into the data store, and locating a record corresponding to the consumer.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein at least the steps of interacting, obtaining, and referring are performed by one entity.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein at least the steps of interacting, obtaining contact information, obtaining index information, evaluating and referring are performed by one entity in real time.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of referring includes referring the contact information to an entity separate from an entity that performed the step of interacting.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of referring includes referring the contact information to the same entity that performed the step of interacting.

23. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of updating a data store entry associated with the consumer with the contact information.

24. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of contacting the consumer using the contact information.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of contacting is performed after the step of referring.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein at least the steps of interacting, obtaining, referring, and contacting are performed by one entity in real time.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein at least the steps of interacting, obtaining, and referring are performed by a first entity, and the step of contacting is performed by a second entity that is coupled by a real-time communication link to the first entity.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of referring includes determining that a collection account corresponding to the consumer is assigned to a predetermined collections representative, determining that the predetermined collections representative is on-line, providing the contact information to the predetermined collections representative, and notifying the predetermined collections representative to contact the consumer.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of referring includes determining that a collection account corresponding to the consumer is assigned to a predetermined collections representative, determining that the predetermined collections representative is not on-line, assigning an available collections representative to contact the consumer providing the contact information to the available collections representative, and notifying the available collections representative to contact the consumer.

30. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of referring includes determining that a collection account corresponding to the consumer is not assigned to a predetermined collections representative, assigning an available collections representative to contact the consumer, providing the contact information to the available collections representative, and notifying the available collections representative to contact the consumer.

31. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of contacting includes performing at least one of the following steps:

initiating a telephone call to the consumer;

initiating a contact with the consumer over a wide area network; and

facilitating an in-person contact with the consumer.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the step of facilitating comprises at least the following steps:

obtaining a location from which a consumer telephone call was initiated;

selecting a collection agent located proximate to the location;

transferring the contact information to a collection agent; and

dispatching the collection agent to the location.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the step of obtaining the location includes obtaining a phone number of a calling station from which a consumer phone call was initiated, and using the phone number as an index into a database to obtain the location.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein the step of transferring is performed by at least one of a pager, a mobile phone, and a device coupled to communicate by a radio-frequency communication link.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein the step of selecting a collection agent includes performing at least one of the following steps:

comparing a location of a collection agent as shown by a global positioning system to the location of the calling station; and

referencing a database containing areas of responsibility assigned to each one of a plurality of collection agents and selecting a collection agent responsible for an area containing the location of the calling station.

36. A method, comprising:

processing, by a facilitator, calls on behalf of a requesting entity;

interacting with a consumer to obtain information from the consumer and forward the obtained information to the requesting entity, wherein the interacting is initiated by the consumer and/or the facilitator via any wired or wireless communication system linking the consumer to the facilitator including at least one of;

an inbound call to the facilitator, an outbound call to the consumer, an email communication with the facilitator, an internet chat with the contact facilitator, a facsimile transaction to the facilitator, an interaction via broadband, an interaction via voice over internet protocol to the facilitator, a interaction via digital/analog television to the facilitator;

wherein the obtained information includes at least one of;

contact information;

index information;

evaluating, by an automated programmed electronic computer, whether the consumer is the subject of a collection effort using the indexing information, generating an appropriate alert, and notifying at least a first party that the consumer is subject to the collection effort, wherein the facilitator performs the evaluating based on the index information;

referring, by the automated programmed electronic computer, the current contact information from the facilitator to one of a plurality of collection agents involved with the collection effort based on the evaluating; and

contacting the consumer by the one of the plurality of collection agents based on the referring.

37. A method, comprising:

receiving a contact by a consumer, wherein contact information for the consumer is outdated;

obtaining index information from the consumer;

providing a facilitator that interacts with the consumer to obtain information from the consumer and forward the obtained information to a requesting entity, wherein the interacting is initiated by the consumer and/or the facilitator via any wired or wireless communication networking system linking the consumer to the facilitator including at least one of;

an inbound call to the facilitator, an outbound call to the consumer, an email communication with the facilitator, an internet chat with the contact facilitator, a facsimile transaction to the facilitator, an interaction via broadband, an interaction via voice over internet protocol to the facilitator, a interaction via digital/analog television to the facilitator;

obtaining selection criterion, by an automated programmed electronic computer, using the index information obtained from the consumer and wherein the index information is a credit card number;

evaluating, by an automated programmed electronic computer, whether the consumer is subject to a collection effort using the index information;

obtaining current contact information from the consumer via the facilitator;

notifying a first party, by the automated programmed electronic computer, that the consumer is subject to a collection effort; and

providing the first party with the current contact information based on a location of the first party to a location of a calling station of the consumer and based on an area of responsibility assigned to the first party.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the step of notifying includes notifying a client of the teleservices bureau.

39. The method of claim 37, wherein the step of notifying includes notifying a collection agency seeking to collect a debt from the consumer.

40. The method of claim 37, wherein the step of interacting includes at least one of:

receiving an inbound telephone call originating with the consumer; and

interacting with the consumer over a wide area network.

41. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions for:

processing, by a facilitator, calls on behalf of a requesting entity;

interacting with a consumer to obtain information from the consumer and forward the obtained information to the requesting entity, wherein the interacting is initiated by the consumer and/or the facilitator via any wired or wireless communication system linking the consumer to the facilitator including at least one of;

an inbound call to the facilitator, an outbound call to the consumer, an email communication with the facilitator, an internet chat with the contact facilitator, a facsimile transaction to the facilitator, an interaction via broadband with the facilitator, an interaction via voice over internet protocol with the facilitator, a interaction via digital/analog television with the facilitator;

wherein the obtained information includes at least one of;

contact information;

index information;

accessing a data store using the indexing information, the data store containing at least one selection criterion of interest to the requesting entity, wherein the selection criterion uses the index information obtained from the consumer and wherein the index information is a credit card number;

wherein accessing the data store includes the facilitator accessing a consumer demographics database storing a demographic profile associated with the consumer;

searching a respondent demographics database accessed using the demographic profile, that includes an entry containing sub-fields that specify demographic requirements for an action to be taken;

evaluating whether the consumer meets the selection criterion by comparing the consumer'"'"'s demographic profile to the demographic requirements and determining if the consumer is a candidate for the action to be taken while the consumer is interacting with the requesting entity; and

referring the contact information to the requesting entity based on the evaluating, wherein if the consumer is subject to a collection effort, generating an appropriate alert, and notifying at least a first party that the consumer is subject to the collection effort.