Apparatus and method for supporting company to develop new business operation, and program therefor

Abstract

To efficiently match a company with an introducer needed by the company, in a method for supporting the company to develop new customers.SOLUTION: A device 100 receives, from an introducer terminal 120, introduction company information related to a company which can be introduced by an introducer, and stores a company name or a company identifier of the company, in association with an introducer name or an introducer identifier of the introducer. The device 100 receives, from a company terminal 110, a customer candidate list including multiple new customer candidates for which the company desires to develop a new business, and determines one or more new customer candidates, out of multiple new customer candidates included in the received customer candidate list, the new customer candidates being coincident with one or more companies whose name or identifier are stored in advance in association with each introducer. The device 100 transmits an introduction proposal that prompts introduction to an introducer terminal 120 used by an introducer associated with one of the one or more determined new customer candidates.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

Technical Field

[0005] ,

[0001] The present invention relates to an apparatus, a method, and a program therefor for supporting a company's new business development operations.

Background Art

[0002] @ As a typical method of new business development operations, telemarketing can be cited. A salesperson makes a phone call to a prospective customer and obtains an appointment with the prospective customer who has shown interest. Also, cold calling is also a method of new business development operations. This involves visiting a company or an individual without making an appointment and making a proposal for a product or service, etc.

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0003] These outbound sales methods are easy to adopt, but have the problem that negotiations do not easily lead to a conclusion. If it is an introduction from a person connected to a prospective customer, it is easy to lead to negotiations, but there is a problem that it is difficult to make a numerical plan because the number of people who can be requested for an introduction is limited.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of such points, and its object is to efficiently match the company with an introducer required by the company in an apparatus, a method, and a program therefor for supporting a company's new business development operations.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0005] To achieve this objective, a first aspect of the present invention is a method for supporting new business development by a company, comprising the steps of: receiving a customer candidate list from a company terminal used by the company, which includes a plurality of new customer candidates that the company wishes to develop; determining one or more new customer candidates from among the plurality of new customer candidates included in the customer candidate list whose company name or company identifier matches one or more companies that have been stored in advance in association with each referrer; notifying a referral proposal to encourage referrals to a referrer terminal used by a referrer associated with any of the determined one or more new customer candidates; and receiving a message from the referrer terminal directed to the company regarding the referral of the new customer candidate related to the referral proposal.

[0006] Furthermore, a second aspect of the present invention is the method of the first aspect, wherein the notification includes the name of the company of the new customer candidate to be introduced and the name of the company to which the introduction is made.

[0007] Furthermore, a third aspect of the present invention is the method of the second aspect, wherein the notification further includes the department name of the new customer candidate that is the subject of the referral.

[0008] Furthermore, a fourth aspect of the present invention is the method of the second aspect, wherein the notification further includes the business name of the company.

[0009] Furthermore, a fifth aspect of the present invention is the method of the second aspect, wherein the notification further includes the amount of a cooperation fee to be paid when a new customer candidate who is the subject of the referral is introduced.

[0010] Furthermore, a sixth aspect of the present invention is a method according to any of the first to fifth aspects, wherein the customer candidate list includes the department of each new customer candidate, and the determination is made if the departments further match.

[0011] Furthermore, a seventh aspect of the present invention is a method according to any of the first to sixth aspects, wherein the notification is made when the address or residence of the referrer is in the same region as the location of the new customer candidate associated with the referrer.

[0012] Furthermore, an eighth aspect of the present invention is a method according to any seventh aspect, wherein the customer candidate list includes a plurality of partial customer candidate lists.

[0013] Furthermore, a ninth aspect of the present invention is a program for causing a computer to execute a method for supporting a company's new business development, the method comprising: receiving a customer candidate list from a company terminal used by the company, which includes a plurality of new customer candidates that the company wishes to develop; determining one or more new customer candidates from among the plurality of new customer candidates included in the customer candidate list whose company name or company identifier matches one or more companies that have been stored in advance in association with each referrer; notifying a referral proposal to encourage referrals to a referrer terminal used by a referrer associated with any of the determined one or more new customer candidates; and receiving a message from the referrer terminal directed to the company regarding the referral of the new customer candidate related to the referral proposal.

[0014] Furthermore, a tenth aspect of the present invention is a device for supporting new business development by a company, the device receiving a customer candidate list containing multiple new customer candidates that the company wishes to develop from a company terminal used by the company, determining one or more new customer candidates from among the multiple new customer candidates included in the customer candidate list whose company name or company identifier matches one or more companies that have been stored in advance in association with each referrer, notifying a referral proposal to encourage referrals to any of the determined new customer candidates that are associated with the referrer terminal, and receiving a message from the referrer terminal to the company regarding the referral of the new customer candidate related to the referral proposal. [Effects of the Invention]

[0015] According to one aspect of the present invention, a method for supporting a company's new business development is provided, in which, based on a list of potential new customers that the company wishes to develop, the company notifies introducers who can introduce potential new customers to the company of an introduction proposal from the company's terminal, thereby enabling efficient matching of the company with the introducers it needs. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0016] [Figure 1] This figure shows an apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] This diagram shows a flow chart of a method for supporting new business development by a company, according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] This figure shows an example of a screen for inputting company information according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] This figure shows an example of a referral proposal notice relating to one embodiment of the present invention. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0017] Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0018] Figure 1 shows a device according to one embodiment of the present invention. The device 100 communicates via an IP network such as the Internet with a corporate terminal 110 used by a company that conducts new business development and a referrer terminal 120 used by a referrer who introduces potential new customers to the company, thereby facilitating matching between the company and the referrer.

[0019] The device 100 comprises a communication unit 101 such as a communication interface, a processing unit 102 such as a processor or CPU, and a storage unit 103 including a storage device or storage medium such as memory or a hard disk, and can be configured by executing a program for each process. The device 100 may include one or more devices, computers or servers. The program may also include one or more programs and can be recorded on a computer-readable storage medium to become a non-transient program product. The program can be stored in a storage device or storage medium such as a database 104 that is accessible from the storage unit 103 or the device 100 via an IP network, and can be executed by the processing unit 102. The data described below as being stored in the storage unit 103 may also be stored in a storage device or storage medium such as a database 104, and vice versa.

[0020] Figure 2 shows the flow of a method for supporting new business development by a company according to one embodiment of the present invention. The device 100 receives information on companies that the referrer can refer (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "connections") from the referrer terminal 120 (S201).

[0021] Figure 3 shows an example of a referral company information input screen according to one embodiment of the present invention. The referral company information input screen 300 is a screen for inputting information about a referrer's connections, and includes fields for inputting the referrer's company name 301, industry 302, department 303, job title 304, and place of work 305 to which the person the referrer has a relationship with belongs, and the relationship 306 to the person. Fields marked "Required" are required in the example in Figure 3, but in the present invention, fields other than the company name are not necessarily required. The company described by the referral company information is stored in the storage unit 103 in association with the referrer. More specifically, the company name or company identifier of the company can be stored in association with the referrer's name or referrer identifier. Here, "person the referrer has a relationship with" means a person that the referrer can introduce.

[0022] Simultaneously with or before or after introducing enterprise information, the apparatus 100 may receive introducer information from the introducer terminal 120. For example, if one wishes to conduct business with potential new customers in a local area, an introducer residing in the same region as the local area may have a meaningful relationship, so the introducer information may include the introducer's place of residence. In FIG. 3, by selecting the tab for basic information, the introducer information is displayed as the basic information of the introducer.

[0023] The input by the introducer can be made from an input screen displayed on the display screen of the introducer terminal 120 on a web browser by transmitting the introducer enterprise information input screen display information as, for example, a file in HTML format, or by operating an application (hereinafter also referred to as an "app") installed in the introducer terminal 120 and making the input from the input screen displayed on the app. Here, the "input screen" can adopt various forms such as a web page, a modal window, a pop-up window, etc. when displayed on a web browser, and can be a single screen of the app when displayed on the app. In any case, as long as it is a screen including a region having an input field for inputting the introducer enterprise information, it corresponds to the introducer enterprise information input screen.

[0024] Also, the apparatus 100 receives business description information for explaining the business of the enterprise from the enterprise terminal 110 (S202). The business description information is stored in the storage unit 103 in association with the enterprise and can be referred to when the introducer understands the outline of the business and the merits of the business for the introducing enterprise and determines whether to introduce his or her connections.

[0025] Subsequently, the device 100 receives a customer candidate list from the company terminal 110, which includes multiple potential new customers that the company wishes to cultivate (S203). The customer candidate list can be, for example, a CSV file. The customer candidate list preferably includes multiple company names or company identifiers, and each company's department. In addition, the customer candidate list may include, for each company, the company URL, postal code, head office address, telephone number, fax number, date of establishment, number of employees, representative's name, industry, business content, capital, sales, listing status, etc. The device 100 stores the received customer candidate list in the storage unit 103, associating it with the company that sent it. The customer candidate list may include multiple partial customer candidate lists. For example, they may be stored in the storage unit 103 as separate partial customer candidate lists according to attributes such as industry or region.

[0026] The device 100 then determines, from among the multiple new customer candidates included in the received customer candidate list, one or more new customer candidates whose company name or company identifier matches one or more companies that have been pre-stored in association with each referrer (S204). In the above description, the transmission of referrer company information from the referrer terminal 120 was described first, but it is sufficient if it can be used in the determination, and the transmission order does not necessarily have to be first. It is preferable to make the determination when the department also matches in addition to the company name or company identifier, as this increases the likelihood of being introduced to a person in the appropriate department of the new customer candidate that the company wants to cultivate.

[0027] Next, the device 100 notifies the referrer terminal 120 used by the referrer associated with one or more new customer candidates from the determined list of new customer candidates, with a referral proposal to encourage referrals (S205). If two or more different referrers are matched for two or more of the multiple new customer candidates included in the customer candidate list received by the device 100, notifications will be sent to two or more referrer terminals. However, for simplicity, this distinction is not shown in Figures 1 and 2. As an example, the notification may also be sent if the referrer's address or residence is in the same area as the location of the new customer candidate associated with the referrer or the workplace of a person related to the referrer.

[0028] Figure 4 shows an example of a referral proposal notification according to one embodiment of the present invention. The referral proposal notification 400 includes the name of the new customer candidate company 401-1 and the name of the company to which the referral will be made 402-1. Preferably, the referral proposal notification 400 includes the name of the department 401-2 of the new customer candidate company, and preferably also includes the name of the business unit 402-2 of the company to which the referral will be made. The referral proposal notification 400 may also include an amount 403 to be paid to the referrer after the referral, when predetermined conditions related to the business negotiation, such as the completion of a meeting between the company to which the referral will be made, are met. The referrer can decide whether to proceed with the referral or skip it as appropriate. If the same referrer matches two or more of the multiple new customer candidates included in the customer candidate list received by the device 100, two or more notifications may be sent for each new customer candidate. In the example in Figure 4, each notification is displayed in card form.

[0029] Then, the device 100 receives a message from the referrer terminal 120 regarding the introduction of each new customer candidate (S206) and transmits the message to the company terminal 110 (S207). In the above explanation, the transmission of business description information from the company terminal 110 was described after the transmission of the referring company information, but the transmission order can be determined as appropriate, as long as the referrer can refer to it when receiving the referral proposal notification and deciding whether or not to make a referral.

[0030] Thus, in one embodiment of the present invention, a list of potential customers is received from a company that wishes to acquire new customers, and the new potential customers included in the list of potential customers are proposed to introduce those connections to the company by referrers who have registered them as connections, thereby enabling efficient matching of the company with the referrers it needs.

[0031] In the above explanation, a referral proposal notification is sent to the referrer terminal 120. However, it is also conceivable that a referral request proposal notification for each identified new customer candidate be sent to the company terminal 110. In this case, a company that receives a referral request proposal notification can, if necessary, send a referral request message from its company terminal 110 to the referrer terminal 120 of the referrer associated with the new customer candidate via the device 100. However, it is more convenient for a company to upload a list of customer candidates and receive referral messages from appropriate referrers.

[0032] Furthermore, in the embodiments described above, unless the word "only" is used, such as "based only on XX," "according only to XX," or "in the case of XX only," it is assumed in this specification that additional information may also be considered. Also, as an example, the statement "if a, then b" does not necessarily mean "always b in the case of a" or "b immediately after a," unless explicitly stated otherwise. Furthermore, the statement "each a constituting A" does not necessarily mean that A is composed of multiple components, but rather includes the possibility that the component is singular.

[0033] Furthermore, for the sake of clarity, even if there are aspects of operation in some method, program, terminal, device, server, or system (hereinafter referred to as "method, etc.") that differ from the operation described herein, each aspect of the present invention is intended to cover the same operation as any of the operations described herein, and the existence of operation different from the operation described herein does not mean that such method, etc. is outside the scope of each aspect of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0034] 100 devices 101 Communications Department 102 Processing Unit 103 Storage section 104 Databases 110 Enterprise terminals 120 Referrer terminals 300 Company Information Input Screen 301 Company name of the company being introduced 302 Industry of the companies being introduced 303 Department of the person the referrer has a relationship with 304 The job title of the person the referrer is related to. 305 Workplace of the person the referrer has a relationship with 306 Relationships with individuals the referrer has connections with 400 Referral Proposal Notification 401-1 Company names of potential new customers to be referred 401-2 Department name of the new customer candidate being referred 402-1 Company name of the company being referred 402-2 Business name of the company to which the referral is made 403 Amount

Claims

1. A method for supporting a company in developing new business by a computer, comprising: a step of the computer receiving a customer candidate list including a plurality of new customer candidates that the company wishes to acquire from a company terminal used by the company; The computer determines one or more new customer candidates among the plurality of new customer candidates included in the customer candidate list, the new customer candidates having a company name or a company identifier that matches one or more companies previously stored in association with each introducer; a step of the computer sending a notification of an introduction proposal encouraging an introduction to an introducer terminal used by an introducer associated with any one of the determined one or more new customer candidates; Includes.

2. 2. The method of claim 1 , The notification includes the amount of the cooperation fee to be paid in the case of introducing the new customer candidate who is the subject of the introduction.

3. A method for supporting a company in developing new business by a computer, comprising: a step of the computer receiving a customer candidate list including a plurality of new customer candidates that the company wishes to acquire from a company terminal used by the company; The computer determines one or more new customer candidates among the plurality of new customer candidates included in the customer candidate list, the new customer candidates having a company name or a company identifier that matches one or more companies previously stored in association with each introducer; the computer sends to the business terminal a recommendation notification for an introduction request for each determined new customer candidate; Includes.

4. A program for causing a computer to execute a method for supporting a company in developing new business, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a customer candidate list including a plurality of new customer candidates that the company wishes to acquire from a company terminal used by the company; determining one or more new customer candidates among the plurality of new customer candidates included in the customer candidate list, the new customer candidates having a company name or company identifier that matches one or more companies previously stored in association with each introducer; sending a notification of an introduction proposal encouraging an introduction to an introducer terminal used by an introducer associated with any one of the one or more determined new customer candidates; Includes.

5. The program according to claim 4, The notification includes the amount of the cooperation fee to be paid in the case of introducing the new customer candidate who is the subject of the introduction.

6. A program for causing a computer to execute a method for supporting a company in developing new business, the method comprising the steps of: a step of the computer receiving a customer candidate list including a plurality of new customer candidates that the company wishes to acquire from a company terminal used by the company; The computer determines one or more new customer candidates among the plurality of new customer candidates included in the customer candidate list, the new customer candidates having a company name or a company identifier that matches one or more companies previously stored in association with each introducer; the computer sends to the business terminal a recommendation notification for an introduction request for each determined new customer candidate; Includes.

7. A device for supporting new business development by a company, receiving a customer candidate list including a plurality of new customer candidates that the company wishes to acquire from a company terminal used by the company; determining one or more new customer candidates among the plurality of new customer candidates included in the customer candidate list, the new customer candidates having a company name or company identifier that matches one or more companies previously stored in association with each introducer; The system is configured to transmit a notification of an introduction proposal encouraging an introduction to an introducer terminal used by an introducer associated with any of the determined one or more new customer candidates.

8. 8. The apparatus of claim 7, The notification includes the amount of the cooperation fee to be paid in the case of introducing the new customer candidate who is the subject of the introduction.

9. An apparatus for executing a method for supporting a company in developing new business, comprising: receiving a customer candidate list including a plurality of new customer candidates that the company wishes to acquire from a company terminal used by the company; determining one or more new customer candidates among the plurality of new customer candidates included in the customer candidate list, the new customer candidates having a company name or company identifier that matches one or more companies previously stored in association with each introducer; The system is configured to transmit to the business terminal a recommendation notification for an introduction request for each determined potential new customer.

Images