Systems and methods to facilitate selling of products and services

• US 7,526,439 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2002
• Issued: 04/28/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: LivePerson Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Proficient Systems, Incorporated
• Inventors: Doran, Stacey, Wilson, Jackson L. III, Freishtat, Gregg S., Dernavich, Jeffrey S., Kaib, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Laneau; Ronald
• Application Number:
  US10/326,453
• Publication Number:
  US 20030154120A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,321 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27
• US Class Current: 705/26.41
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted

Abstract

The system of the present invention provides systems and methods for selling goods and services in conjunction with the Internet. The system receives session information on a customer'"'"'s website session from the enterprise'"'"'s website and may also receive customer information on the customer from the enterprise. The system determines from the received information whether the customer represents a sales opportunity, based on a set of rules of engagement for the enterprise and whether the customer wants or could use assistance from a sales associate. The system further produces a ranked list of sales associates matched for each sales opportunity. A customer queue is created for each sales associate that has the sales opportunities matched with the sales associate. The system determines, for a first sales associate, a number of sales opportunities to approach at one time in the first sales associate'"'"'s customer queue, automatically approaches the customers associated with each sales opportunity in the customer queue for the first sales associate and requests whether the customer desires assistance from a sales associate until the number of sales opportunities to approach is reached or the customer contacted previously requested assistance from a sales associate, receives responses from the customers, determines, for a response from a customer desiring assistance, if the first sales associate is available to assist the customer desiring assistance, and passes the customer desiring assistance to the first sales associate, if the first sales associate is available.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for engaging sales associates with customers over, through or in conjunction with the Internet, comprising:

receiving session information from a website about customers'"'"' sessions on a website of the enterprise, the website being associated with a selected one of a plurality of enterprises and the session information comprising products the customers are searching;

receiving any customer information on the customers from the selected enterprise;

determining from the session information and any customer information whether each customer represents a sales opportunity, based on a set of rules of engagement for the selected enterprise and whether each customer wants or could use assistance from a sales associate;

producing a ranked list of sales associates matched for each sales opportunity, the sales associates being independent from the plurality of enterprises;

creating or updating a customer queue for each sales associate, the customer queue having sales opportunities matched with each sales associate;

for a first sales associate, determining a number of sales opportunities to approach at one time in the first sales associate'"'"'s customer queue by dividing a target number of engagements by an approach acceptance percentage and then multiplying by a safety percentage;

automatically approaching the customers associated with each sales opportunity in the customer queue for the first sales associate and requesting whether the customer desires assistance from a sales associate until the number of sales opportunities to approach is reached or the customer contacted previously requested assistance from a sales associate;

receiving responses from the customers;

for a response from a customer desiring assistance, determining if the first sales associate is available to assist the customer desiring assistance; and

passing the customer desiring assistance to the first sales associate, if the first sales associate is available.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising if the first sales associate is not available, determining if there are other sales associates that are matched to the same customer and notifying any matched sales associates that the customer desires assistance.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein before the customer is passed to the first sales associate a security certification acceptance is received from the customer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein sales associates are matched to sales opportunities by applying a matching rule set determined by a product being viewed by the customer.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the sales associates are matched to sales opportunities dynamically and in real time.

6. A computer system for engaging sales associates with customers over, through or in conjunction with the Internet, comprising:

an opportunity qualifier for receiving session information from a website about customers'"'"' sessions on the website, the website being associated with a selected one of a plurality of enterprises and the session information comprising products the customers are searching, for receiving any customer information on the customers from the selected enterprise, and for determining from the session information and any customer information whether each customer represents a sales opportunity;

a matching engine for receiving the sales opportunities from the opportunity qualifier and for producing a ranked list of sales associates matched for each sales opportunity based on the session information and information about the sales associates, the sales associates being independent from the plurality of enterprises;

a queue control for creating or updating a customer queue for each sales associate, the customer queue having sales opportunities matched with each sales associate; and

a predictive approach engine for determining, for a first sales associate, a number of sales opportunities to approach at one time in the first sales associate'"'"'s customer queue by dividing a target number of engagements by an approach acceptance percentage and then multiplying by a safety percentage, for automatically approaching the customers associated with each sales opportunity in the customer queue for the first sales associate and requesting whether the customer desires assistance from a sales associate until the number of sales opportunities to approach is reached or the customer contacted previously requested assistance from a sales associate, for receiving responses from the customers, for determining, for a response from a customer desiring assistance, if the first sales associate is available to assist the customer desiring assistance, and for passing the customer desiring assistance to the first sales associate, if the first sales associate is available.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the predictive approach engine determines, if the first sales associate is not available, if there are other sales associates that are matched to the same customer and notifying any matched sales associates that the customer desires assistance.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the predictive approach engine receives a security certification acceptance from the customer before the customer is passed to the first sales associate.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the predictive approach engine receives a security certification acceptance from the customer before the customer is passed to any matched sales associates.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the matching engine matches sales associates to sales opportunities based on the session information, the customer information, and information about the sales associates.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the matching engine matches sales associates to sales opportunities dynamically and in real time.