Sales activity support system, sales activity support method, and sales activity support program

Abstract

To provide a sales activity support system, method and program configured to implement a new technique for providing information on a new company and supporting sales activities.SOLUTION: A sales activity support system supports sales activities. A sales activity support apparatus includes a storage unit, a receiving unit, a retrieval unit and a display processing unit. The storage unit stores customer information and known website information pertaining to known websites. The receiving unit receives a designation of a person in charge to be stored in association with customer information for which sales activities are to be conducted. The retrieval unit acquires, based on a search condition and the known website information, candidate website information of customer's website excluding the known websites. The display processing unit performs processing to display a list of the candidates of customer's website. The receiving unit further receives a designation of a customer's website from the candidate list, stores website information regarding the designated website in association with customer information, and stores the information as known website information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a business activity support system, a business activity support method, and a business activity support program.

Background Art

[0002] Companies accumulate information related to customers associated with themselves and conduct business related to other companies such as sales and transactions using the accumulated information. As systems used in this process, a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system for managing information on customers with whom a company conducts transactions and an SFA (Sales Force Automation) system for managing information in a company's sales department are known.

[0003] Patent Document 1 describes a system for centrally managing information related to customers, which includes a variety of information such as reservation information of customers for seminars reserved by sales stores, customers' reservation for store visits, browsing history of the company's homepage by customers, and results of questionnaire responses, but also includes information other than customer attribute information and contact history with customers.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] In business activities, before contacting the target customer, information such as what kind of company the target customer is is collected to make contact. At this time, information related to the company is collected by browsing the company's web page or the like.

[0006] However, in the invention described in Patent Document 1, there is a system for registering and managing information regarding companies and the like with which contact has already been made, and it was not possible to provide information regarding companies that want to collect information, such as those that have not yet made contact.

[0007] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a new technology that provides information regarding new companies, such as companies that will conduct business activities in the future, and supports business activities.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0008] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is a business activity support system for supporting business activities, comprising a storage unit, a reception unit, a search unit, and a display processing unit, wherein the storage unit stores customer information and known website information regarding one or more known websites, the reception unit receives a designation of a person in charge who conducts business activities with respect to a customer as a business target, and stores the designated person in charge in association with the customer information of the business target, the search unit searches for candidate websites of customers excluding known websites based on search conditions and the known website information, and acquires website information of candidate websites of the customer's website, the display processing unit performs display processing on a candidate list of the customer's website based on the search result, the reception unit receives a designation of the website of the customer selected from the candidate list, stores the website information regarding the designated website in association with the customer information, and stores the information regarding the selected customer's website as known website information.

[0009] By adopting such a configuration, it is possible to easily extract candidates for websites such as corporate websites of customers who meet the conditions during the prior information collection of business activities, and shorten the time for collecting information. Furthermore, since the information regarding the websites registered as the customer's websites is registered in the customer information and the known website information, there is no need for an operation to exclude the customer's websites from the search, and mistakes and oversights during registration are eliminated.

[0010] In a preferred form of the present invention, the search unit periodically searches for websites based on the search conditions, and periodically acquires search results. When a new website is discovered based on the search results obtained in the past and the newly obtained search results, a notification is made.

[0011] By adopting such a configuration, it is possible to easily acquire information when a website that meets the conditions is added without periodically checking the website by oneself.

[0012] In a preferred form of the present invention, the business activity support system further includes a monitoring unit. The website information includes one or more pieces of web page information regarding the web pages included in the website. The web page information includes an address for accessing the web page. The reception unit receives a designation of a web page to be monitored. The monitoring unit periodically acquires content information regarding the content of the web page from the designated target web page based on the web page information and the designation of the web page. Based on the content information obtained last time and the newly obtained content information, a comparison of the content of the web page is performed, and a notification is made when there is an update to the designated web page since the previous monitoring.

[0013] By adopting such a configuration, when the designated web page is updated, the information can be acquired and utilized for business activities.

[0014] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the reception unit receives registration of business plan information including a plurality of step information, stores it in association with customer information of customers to be targeted for business, The business plan information is information regarding a plan for a series of business activities for customers to be targeted for business, The step information is information regarding activities of individual stages included in a series of business activities for customers to be targeted for business, and includes contact type information regarding the type of contact method with customers.

[0015] With such a configuration, information regarding the plan for each stage regarding business activities can be easily managed in association with customer information.

[0016] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the reception unit receives contact information regarding individual contacts with customers for each contact type, which is implemented based on the plan of business activities, and stores it in association with the step information regarding each stage.

[0017] With such a configuration, information suitable for each of the plurality of contact types assumed in business activities can be registered and managed, and by further associating the contact information with the business plan information, the implementation status for each stage of the plan can also be managed.

[0018] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the reception unit receives contact information regarding individual contacts with customers, including a contact type which is the type of method of contacting customers, stores it in association with customer information for each contact type, In the contact information, information of different contents corresponding to each contact type is registered, The display processing unit performs display processing to display a contact history display screen that displays the contact history corresponding to the contact type for each customer based on the contact information.

[0019] By adopting such a configuration, regarding the history of business activities, information suitable for each of multiple contact methods can be displayed respectively, and information regarding the history of business activities can be easily presented.

[0020] In a preferred form of the present invention, the known website information is stored in association with each exclusion reason. The search conditions include conditions regarding exclusion reasons. The search unit extracts candidates for the websites of customers who have excluded websites regarding a predetermined exclusion reason based on the search conditions.

[0021] By adopting such a configuration, it is possible to extract candidates for websites that exclude only the specified websites based on the specified exclusion reasons, such as excluding only the websites of customers.

Advantages of the Invention

[0022] The present invention can provide new technologies that provide information regarding new companies and provide new technologies that support business activities.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0023]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0024] The present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although the preferred embodiments are shown in the drawings, the present invention can be implemented in different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. In the present embodiment, the configuration and operation of the business activity support apparatus will be described, but the same effects can also be achieved by a method implemented by an apparatus or a computer program. A series of processes according to the present embodiment described below are provided as a computer-executable program and can be provided via a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM or a flexible disk, and further via a communication line.

[0025] In the following-described embodiments, the business activity support system is used by the user of the system, who is a person in charge of the sales department of a company, to manage information about customers. However, it may also be used by a person in charge of other departments of the company as a user to manage information about their own customers.

[0026] Also, a website is a collection of web pages composed of a plurality of web pages having the same domain. In the present embodiment, an example will be described in which the corporate website and the monitoring of the investigation and update of the web pages constituting the corporate website are performed, and the acquired information is used for business activities.

[0027] <System Configuration> FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a system according to an embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the business activity support system 0 includes a business activity support apparatus 1, a user terminal 2, and a telephone 3, and each component is connected via a network NW.

[0028] The business activity support device 1 shown in FIG. 1 is configured by an information processing device such as a server device, and is configured to be able to realize the functional configuration described later. The business activity support device 1 may be configured by a plurality of server devices. Further, a part of the functional configuration included in the business activity support device 1 may be realized by another information processing device configured to be communicable with the business activity support device 1 via the network NW, such as the user terminal 2.

[0029] The user terminal 2 is a terminal device such as a personal computer operated by a user of the system, such as a person in charge of the sales department of a company, a smartphone, or a tablet terminal. It receives input of various information by the user and performs processes such as transmitting to the business activity support device 1 and displaying a screen based on the information acquired from the business activity support device 1. In FIG. 1, a plurality of user terminals 2 are illustrated, but it may be one or a plurality. In the present embodiment, the user terminal 2 is operated by a user such as a salesperson who has registered in the system and created an account. Further, the user terminal 2 may have a function as the telephone 3 described later.

[0030] The telephone 3 is a telephone such as a business phone arranged in the company to which the user of the system belongs. In the present embodiment, the telephone 3 transmits a call history including a telephone number, a reception date and time (or transmission date and time), voice data (recording data) of a conversation on the phone, the other party's telephone number, a reception date and time or a transmission date and time, regarding a call received from a customer or a call made by the user, to an information processing device configured to be communicable via the network NW including the business activity support device 1 and the user terminal 2.

[0031] <Hardware Configuration> FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram. As shown in FIG. 2(a), the business activity support device 1 has a processing unit 101, a storage unit 102, and a communication unit 103, and is used to exert the functions of each unit and each process. Further, as shown in FIG. 2(b), the user terminal 2 has a processing unit 201, a storage unit 202, a communication unit 203, an input unit 204, and an output unit 205, and is used to exert the functions of each unit and each process.

[0032] As the business activity support device 1, one or more information processing devices such as general-purpose servers and personal computers can be used. Further, although the business activity support device 1 has the functional configuration described later, a part of the functional configuration provided in the business activity support device 1 may be arranged in another device configured to be communicable with the business activity support device 1.

[0033] The processing unit 101 and the processing unit 201 have a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) capable of executing an instruction set, and execute an OS (Operating System) and a program for using the business activity support device 1 such as a business activity support program (in the case of the business activity support device 1), a business activity support device use program, or a browser application (in the case of the user terminal 2).

[0034] The storage unit 102 and the storage unit 202 have a volatile memory such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) capable of storing an instruction set, and a non-volatile recording medium such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or an SSD (Solid State Drive) capable of recording an OS and the like. The storage unit 102 of the business activity support device 1 stores a business activity support program. The storage unit 202 of the user terminal 2 stores a program for using the business activity support device 1 such as a business activity support device use program or a browser application. Further, in the business activity support device 1, the storage unit 102 may be configured by a plurality of information processing devices, such as when data used for realizing the functional configuration described later is stored in a plurality of information processing devices.

[0035] The communication unit 103 and the communication unit 203 have an interface for connecting to the network NW, execute communication control with the network NW, and communicate with other information processing devices such as the business activity support device 1 and the user terminal 2.

[0036] The input unit 204 includes an operation input device capable of input processing such as a touch panel or a keyboard, and a voice input device capable of voice input such as a microphone. The output unit 205 includes a display device capable of display processing such as a display, and a voice output device such as a speaker. <Data configuration>

[0037] In FIGS. 3 and 4, an example of the data configuration of the data stored in the storage unit 102 of the business activity support apparatus 1 and used for realizing the functional configuration described later is shown.

[0038] In FIG. 3, an example of customer information stored in the storage unit 102 and website information registered as the customer's website is shown. The customer information is information about the customer and is identified by unique identification information (customer ID). In the present embodiment, the customer information includes the customer's corporate name, corporate status, business type, postal code, address, name of representative (representative name), capital, number of employees, telephone number, and the investigation status of the web page. Further, the customer information may be any information as long as it is information about the customer. Also, in the present embodiment, the customer information includes a last update check date regarding the date and time when the monitoring unit 14 last monitored the update for each web page. The last update check date is stored in association with the web page information of each web page. Also, in the present embodiment, the customer information is stored in association with the user information of the person in charge who is in charge of the customer by unique identification information such as a user ID.

[0039] Furthermore, the storage unit 102 stores user information about users who conduct business activities using the system. The user information is information about users who register an account and use the system for business activities, and includes unique identification information (user ID) for identifying the user, contact information such as the user's email address and telephone number. The user information is associated with customer information, business plan information related to a series of business activities, etc. by a unique ID for identifying the user.

[0040] In addition, the storage unit 102 may store information such as the name of the person in charge, email address, and mobile phone number of the person in charge on the customer side, in association with the customer information.

[0041] In this specification, website information regarding a website registered as a customer's website, such as being specified as the customer's corporate website, is defined as customer website information, and website information regarding a known website including the customer website information is defined as known website information. The customer website information and the known website information are data having the same configuration as the website information described later.

[0042] The website information is information regarding a website acquired via a network, such as the customer's corporate website. The website information includes domain information regarding the domain unique to the website and web page information regarding individual web pages included in the website. A website such as a corporate website is composed of a plurality of web pages. Also, the domain information is information regarding the domain unique to the website, and in this embodiment, it is a string of the company's own domain that is used on any page within the customer's corporate website (corporate website), and in this embodiment, it is a URL (Uniform Resource Locator).

[0043] The web page information is information regarding individual web pages that make up the site, and includes an address for identifying and accessing the web page. The address is information for specifying the location of the web page and enabling access to the web page, and in this embodiment, it is a URL, but it may be any information as long as it indicates the location of the web page and enables access to the web page.

[0044] In this embodiment, the website information includes information on a plurality of web pages included in a company's website such as a company overview page and an organization chart page, but may also include information on other web pages such as a service introduction web page.

[0045] Further, the storage unit 102 stores, in association with the web page information regarding each web page, content information regarding the content of a specific web page included in the customer's website, which is periodically acquired by the monitoring unit 14. The content information is information regarding the content of the web page acquired from the web page, and in this embodiment, is the code for constructing a web page described in a language such as HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language). Also, the content information may be any information as long as it is information regarding the content of a specific web page included in the customer's website, and may be, for example, text, images, etc. such as a company description displayed on the customer's web page. Further, the content information is acquired periodically and stored in the storage unit 102 in association with information regarding the date and time of acquisition (update check date and time). In this embodiment, content information is acquired regarding a plurality of web pages constituting the customer's web page, such as a company overview page and an organization chart page, and is stored in association with the web page information regarding the web page. Also, the content information is stored in association with the update check date and time regarding the date and time when the content information was acquired.

[0046] Furthermore, the storage unit 102 stores known website information regarding known websites. The known website information includes the address and domain information for identifying the website regarding the known website.

[0047] In FIG. 4(a), an example of sales plan information pre-registered in sales activities is shown. The sales plan information is information regarding the plan of a series of sales activities (projects), and includes one or more pieces of step information regarding the plan for each step included in the series of sales activities.

[0048] A business plan is a plan for a series of business activities. Business plan information is information regarding a series of plans for business activities (business plans), and includes step information regarding each stage of the series of business activities. Also, in the present embodiment, the business plan information is stored in association with customer information of customers targeted by the business in that plan. The business plan information is stored in the storage unit 102 in association with customer information of one or more customers targeted by the business and identification information such as customer IDs. Also, each step information may be stored in association with customer information of the customer targeted by the business.

[0049] Also, although not shown in FIG. 4(a), the business plan information includes step information regarding the plan for each step of the business activities. The step information is information regarding the plan for each stage, and includes the contact type, the period (waiting days in the present embodiment) for that step, and the status regarding the implementation status of that step. Also, the step information may include the start date and end date of the business activities for each step specified based on the plan start date included in the business plan information and the period related to the step. The step information is stored in association with contact information regarding the contact with the customer made by implementing that plan. In the present embodiment, the step information is stored in association with the contact information and the business plan information by unique identification information (such as step ID). Also, the step information includes waiting time in the present embodiment, but may include information regarding any period as long as it is the period until the next step, such as information regarding the period (implementation period) assumed to be taken for one stage. Also, the step information may include information regarding the person in charge for each step, such as implementing the plan for that step.

[0050] In FIGS. 4(b) to 4(e), examples of contact information for each contact method stored in the storage unit are shown. The contact information is information regarding contacts with customers, and includes the date and time of the contact and the person in charge of the contact, etc., and is stored in the storage unit 102 for each type of contact method (contact type). Also, regardless of the contact type, the contact information is stored in the storage unit 102 in association with customer information by unique identification information (customer ID) etc. for identifying the customer.

[0051] In the present embodiment, the types of contact methods are telephone, visit, sending of written materials such as letters or documents by mail, and sending of materials etc. by FAX (facsimile). Also, regardless of the contact type, the contact information may be stored in association with a memo etc. input by the user. In the present embodiment, the contact information is managed by unique identification information (contact ID) for each contact type.

[0052] Contact information regarding contacts with customers made by implementing a series of sales activity plans (sales plans) is stored in association with step information corresponding to the plan, but contact information regarding contacts with customers not in the plan may not be stored in association with step information. Also, the contact information may be associated with user information of the person in charge of the contact (for example, the person who responded to a call from a customer etc.) by identification information such as a user ID. Also, although not shown in FIG. 4, the contact information includes information regarding the direction of the contact as to whether the contact is from the person in charge side or from the customer side.

[0053] In FIG. 4(b), an example of contact information where the contact type is a phone call is shown. The contact information where the contact type is a phone call includes the phone number of the customer who made the contact and the reception date and time. Although not shown in FIG. 4(b), in the present embodiment, the contact information when the contact type is a phone call includes the recorded data of the conversation on the phone. In the present embodiment, the reception unit 11 receives a call history including the phone number of the other party transmitted from the telephone 3 and the reception (transmission) date and time, and registers it as contact information where the contact type is a phone call. Also, in the present embodiment, when the reception unit 11 receives a call history including the phone number of the other party on the phone from the telephone 3, based on the received phone number, it identifies the customer from the registered customer information, and associates the contact information with the customer information by the customer ID of the customer and stores it in the storage unit 102.

[0054] In FIG. 4(c), an example of contact information where the contact type is a visit is shown. The contact information where the contact type is a visit includes the visit date. In the present embodiment, the contact information where the contact type is a visit is input by the user on the user terminal 2, and is received and stored by the reception unit 11.

[0055] In FIG. 4(d), an example of contact information where the contact type is a mail is shown. The contact information where the contact type is a mail includes the sending date when the document was mailed. Also, although not shown in FIG. 4(d), the contact information where the contact type is a mail includes the image data of the document mailed to the customer. In the present embodiment, the contact information where the contact type is a mail is input by the user on the user terminal 2, and is received and stored by the reception unit 11.

[0056] In FIG. 4(e), an example of contact information where the contact type is FAX is shown. The contact information where the contact type is FAX includes the FAX transmission date. Although not shown in FIG. 4(e), the contact information where the contact type is FAX includes image data such as materials transmitted to the customer by FAX. The contact information where the contact type is FAX may be either or both of the information obtained from the telephone 3 and the information input by the user on the user terminal 2 and received by the reception unit 11. <Functional Configuration>

[0057] As shown in FIG. 1, the sales activity support apparatus 1 includes a reception unit 11 that receives various types of information, a display processing unit 12 that performs display processing, a search unit 13 that performs a search based on search conditions, and a monitoring unit 14 that monitors web pages.

[0058] The reception unit 11 receives various types of information such as customer information, search conditions, designation of a person in charge, and selection of a customer's web page input by the user on the user terminal 2. The reception unit 11 receives a designation of a person in charge who is responsible for the sales activity regarding the customer who is the target of the sales activity, and associates and stores the user information of that person in charge with the customer information.

[0059] In addition, when the reception unit 11 receives a selection of a website (or web page) from the candidates shown in the candidate list, it associates the website information regarding the website (or web page) with the customer information and registers it as customer website information.

[0060] The display processing unit 12 performs display processing of the screen based on various necessary information such as customer information and website information.

[0061] The display processing unit 12 performs display processing of a customer information display screen that displays information regarding the customer based on the customer's designation and customer information. In addition, the display processing unit 12 may perform display processing of either a list of customers in charge or a list of cases in charge that displays a list of customers in charge and cases in charge for each user based on the customer information associated with the user information and the sales plan information (project information).

[0062] The search unit 13 searches for websites (or web pages) based on search conditions. In the present embodiment, the search unit 13 performs a search using, as the search condition, that a predetermined keyword such as a corporate name or an address or a phrase similar thereto is included. Also, in the present embodiment, when a customer who searches for a website (or a web page) is specified, the search unit 13 refers to the customer information of the specified customer, and performs a search for websites on the web using the corporate name and address included in the customer information as the search conditions. Also, in the present embodiment, the search unit 13 performs a search using, as the search conditions, the information of the customer included in the customer information and / or the search keyword input on the user terminal 2, and extracts websites (or web pages) that satisfy the conditions. The search unit 13 may generate search conditions based on keywords and the like input by the user regarding the user terminal 2, and extract, as candidates, websites (or web pages) that satisfy the conditions.

[0063] Furthermore, the search unit 13 extracts candidates for the customer's website by excluding, based on the known website information regarding the known website, the known website (or web page) registered in the known website information from the websites (or web pages) that satisfy the search conditions. In this way, the search unit 13 extracts, as candidates for the customer's website (or web page), websites (or web pages) that satisfy the search conditions and are not registered in the known website information.

[0064] The known website information is website information regarding known websites including the customer's website, and in the present embodiment, includes customer website information regarding websites (corporate sites, etc.) registered as the customer's website. Also, in the present embodiment, the known website information includes website information (website information) regarding websites registered as not being corporate sites that provide explanations of companies such as job hunting sites.

[0065] In addition, website information regarding known websites is stored in association with respective exclusion reasons. The exclusion reason is information regarding the reason for excluding the website (or web page) from candidates, such as being already registered as a customer's website or being a website already registered as not being a corporate website. Based on the designation by the user and the exclusion reason, the search unit 13 can perform a search for extracting candidates for the customer's website (web page) by excluding websites for each exclusion reason, for example, by excluding only websites registered as a customer's website. In the present embodiment, the reception unit 11 receives website information including a URL or a domain (a character string of the URL unique to the site) regarding a website determined not to be a corporate website (corporate site), such as a job offer site where a company is being described, and stores it in the storage unit 102 as known website information regarding the known website.

[0066] In the present embodiment, the search unit 13 extracts candidates for the customer's website (or web page) excluding the known website by excluding the domain (unique character string) of the website registered as a known website or a web page having a URL including part or all of a specific URL. Further, in the present embodiment, the search unit 13 performs a process of excluding the known website by using the customer website information, which is website information stored in association with customer information, as the known website information.

[0067] When searching for a customer's website, the search unit 13 may perform a process of extracting candidates for identifying the customer's website itself by extracting a unique domain or the like. Alternatively, the search unit 13 may perform a process of extracting candidates for a specific page (for example, a company profile page, etc.) included in the customer's website. Further, when the search unit 13 extracts candidates for a specific web page included in the customer's website, for example, when the search target is a company profile, the search unit 13 may perform a search with the condition that the phrase "company profile" is included, and set search conditions based on the use of the web page for which candidates are to be extracted, and perform candidate extraction.

[0068] The search unit 13 stores the input search conditions and / or search results in the storage unit 102 as a search history. In the present embodiment, the search unit 13 periodically performs a search based on the stored past search conditions and stores the obtained search results. The search unit 13 notifies when a new website (or web page) is discovered from the previous search based on the past search results and the newly obtained search results.

[0069] When a monitored web page (e.g., company profile page, etc.) is selected from the web pages included in the customer's website where customer website information is registered on the user terminal 2, the monitoring unit 14 accesses the monitored web page based on the web page information regarding the designated web page, obtains content information regarding the content of the web page, and stores it in the storage unit 102 in association with the web page information regarding the monitored web page. When the monitoring unit 14 newly obtains content information from a monitored web page, it compares the content of the web page based on the previously obtained content information and the newly obtained content information, and if there has been an update since the previous update monitoring was performed, it issues a notification (update notification) indicating that there has been an update. In the present embodiment, the update notification of the customer's web page is subjected to display processing by the display processing unit 12 and is displayed on the user terminal 2. The monitoring unit 14 uses a technique generally called web scraping to obtain text, code, etc. as content information regarding the content of the web page designated as the monitoring target and stores it in the storage unit 102.

[0070] Regarding the process of update monitoring, when the reception unit 11 receives a designation of a customer whose website is to be monitored from the user terminal 2, it may transfer to the monitoring unit 14 a designation of the website of the designated customer or any web page within the site as the monitoring target based on the website information associated with the customer information of the customer. At that time, the monitoring unit 14 monitors the update of the website of the customer designated as the monitoring target or the web pages included in the site.

[0071] <Regarding the registration process of the customer's website> When conducting business activities, the person in charge collects information on the customers targeted for business activities from web pages, etc. and uses it for business activities. Hereinafter, the process of registering the customer's website will be described using FIG. 5(a) from among the candidates for the web pages included in the customer's website.

[0072] The search unit 13 extracts web pages that meet the conditions based on the search conditions, and further excludes known web sites and web pages such as web sites registered as other customers' web sites based on the known web site information, and extracts candidates for the customer's web pages (S101). In the present embodiment, the search unit 13 acquires the web page information of the candidate web pages searched and extracted, and stores it in the storage unit 102 (S102). The search conditions may be any of the conditions such as keywords input by the user on the user terminal 2 and / or the conditions based on the customer information (corporate name and address in the present embodiment) of the target customer. The display processing unit 12 performs display processing of a candidate list as shown in the figure shown in FIG. 6(a) based on the search results (S103). When a user who has confirmed the candidate list selects a specific web page as the web page included in the customer's web site from among a plurality of candidates included in the list on the user terminal 2, the web site information including the web page information of the web page is stored in association with the customer information (S104). The reception unit 11 stores the web site information related to the web site as known web site information based on the designation of the customer's web page (S105).

[0073] In FIG. 6(a), a screen display example of a candidate list showing candidates for the customer's web page is shown. The customer information display screen W1 includes a customer information display unit W11 and a candidate list display unit W12. The customer information display unit W11 is a display unit that displays customer information, and is also used as an input screen display for inputting customer information. The candidate list display unit W12 is a screen display unit that displays a list of candidates for the web page of the designated customer, which is subjected to display processing based on the search results by the search unit 13.

[0074] In the example shown in FIG. 6(a), the candidate list display unit W12 displays the headings of the web pages of the respective candidates and the URLs of those web pages with respect to the candidates for the customer's website, although part or all of the web pages may be displayed. Also, in the present embodiment, when the company-shaped icons respectively displayed in the upper left part of the display units of the candidates for the respective web pages displayed in the candidate list display unit W12 are pressed, the reception unit 11 receives the designation of setting that web page as the customer's web page, and stores the website information including the web page information of the designated web page in association with the customer information of the target customer as the customer website information. Further, when the title of the web page on the candidate list is pressed and the web page is selected by the user, based on the user's selection, the display processing unit 12 performs display processing on the selected web page.

[0075] <Regarding the update monitoring of the customer's web page> Hereinafter, the process of update monitoring of a specific web page included in the customer's website will be described. Also, the update monitoring process described later may be performed on a plurality of web pages included in the customer's website.

[0076] When it is set that the monitoring unit 14 monitors the update of a specific web page among the customer's web sites by the user, the monitoring unit 14 periodically acquires the content information of the specified web page based on the web page information including the address and performs a comparison. In the present embodiment, the monitoring unit 14 monitors the update of the customer's web page specified by the user to be monitored, but may monitor the update of all the customer's web pages registered in the system. The monitoring unit 14 accesses the web page to be monitored based on the web page information of the web page to be monitored, and periodically acquires the content information regarding the content thereof. In the present embodiment, the monitoring unit 14 periodically acquires the code described in a language such as HTML that constitutes the web page to be monitored for update monitoring, and performs a process of storing it in the storage unit 102 in association with the acquired date and time (update check date and time). In the present embodiment, the monitoring unit 14 performs an update monitoring process of acquiring the content information of the web page to be monitored at a specified time once a day and checking whether there has been an update. Further, the monitoring unit 14 may perform the same process and monitor one or more updates among the pages of the customer's web site based on the customer's designation.

[0077] The monitoring unit 14 performs a comparison based on the content information acquired previously from the web page to be monitored and the newly acquired content information, determines whether there has been an update to the web page since the previous monitoring, and notifies if the content of the web page to be monitored is different between the previous and the current times, that is, if there has been an update to the web page to be monitored. In the present embodiment, the display processing unit 12 performs display processing of a notification screen that displays the content of the notification on the user terminal 2 based on the notification by the monitoring unit 14. When it is selected on the user terminal 2 to perform update content via this notification screen, a difference display screen as shown in FIG. 6(b) is subjected to display processing.

[0078] Also, in the present embodiment, the display processing unit 12 performs display processing of a difference display screen that can compare the state before and after the update of the updated part based on the previously acquired content information and the newly acquired content information, but may perform display processing of a difference display screen that highlights the updated points based on the content information after the update.

[0079] Also, in FIG. 6(b), an example of the screen display of the differential display screen displayed on the user terminal 2 of the user who has received the update notification by the monitoring unit 14 is shown. The differential display screen W2 shown in FIG. 6(b) is a screen displayed when the user who has received the notification by the monitoring unit 14 selects to confirm the update content. When the reception unit 11 receives a request for confirmation of the update content from the user terminal 2 of the user, the display processing unit 12 performs display processing of a differential display screen W2 that displays the pre-update and post-update states of the monitored web page so as to be comparable, as shown in FIG. 6(b). In the present embodiment, the differential display screen W2 simultaneously displays the content (text in this embodiment) of the website in characters colored differently before and after the update based on the content information regarding the content of the previously acquired web page and the newly acquired content information, so as to make the pre-update and post-update states of the monitored web page distinguishable and comparable. Also, in the present embodiment, the differential display screen W2 extracts the parts that have been changed by the update and displays the pre-update and post-update states of the web page so as to be comparable.

[0080] <Regarding the registration of business plans and the registration of contact information> In business activities, it is necessary to make contact with customers first to promote the company's services, and after a certain period of time, make a follow-up contact, etc. It cannot be completed with a single contact, and it is necessary to approach customers step by step several times. At that time, it is necessary to conduct business activities with customers using different approach methods corresponding to the characteristics of the customers, such as whether to make contact from the company side or whether there has been an inquiry from the customer side, and the business content and scale of the customer. Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 5(b), the processing of the business activity support device 1 for registering business plan information suitable for each customer and managing the business plan information and contact history to cope with such a situation will be described.

[0081] The reception unit 11 receives the designation of the user in charge of the case (or customer) (S111). In the present embodiment, the reception unit 11 receives the designation of the person in charge for the customers who are the targets of sales activities and the designation of the person in charge for a series of sales activities (cases). In addition to receiving the designation of the person in charge for a series of sales activities, the reception unit 11 also receives the designation of the customers who are the targets of the sales activities, and may indirectly associate the customer information and the user information of the person in charge with the sales plan information. The reception unit 11 receives the sales plan information including the step information input by the user on the user terminal 2, and stores it in the storage unit 102 in association with the user information of the designated person in charge (S112). Also, in the present embodiment, when the reception unit 11 receives the designation of the person in charge, it stores it in the storage unit 102 in association with the sales plan information regarding the case (a series of sales activities) or the customer information of the customer who is the target of the sales activities.

[0082] When the sales activities to the customers are advanced by the person in charge, the reception unit 11 receives the contact information regarding the history of the contacts made to the customers, and stores it in the storage unit 102. In the present embodiment, the reception unit 11 receives the contact history (contact information) such as the history of mailings such as letters input on the user terminal 2, the contact history, or the call history made on the telephone 3, and stores it in the storage unit 102. When a contact to the customer is made due to the implementation of the sales plan, the reception unit 11 receives the contact information, and stores it in the storage unit 102 in association with the step information regarding the implemented plan. Also, when the reception unit 11 receives a screen display request such as a request to display customer information from the user terminal 2, the display processing unit 12 performs screen display processing based on the necessary information among the customer information, the sales plan information, and the contact information.

[0083] In Fig. 7(a), an example of the screen display of the sales plan registration screen displayed at the time of registering the sales plan is shown. The sales plan registration screen W3 shown in Fig. 7(a) is a screen for receiving the registration of the sales plan information regarding the plan of a series of sales activities and the step information for each step of each sales activity regarding the sales plan.

[0084] The business plan registration screen W3 is a screen for accepting input of business plan information including step information. In the present embodiment, the business plan registration screen W3 accepts input of the start date and end date of the plan, and the input of the person in charge, as information regarding the plan of a series of business activities included in the business plan information.

[0085] Furthermore, the business plan registration screen W3 accepts input of step information included in the business plan information. The step information is information regarding the plan at each stage in a series of business activities included in the business plan information. In the present embodiment, the step information includes the method of contacting customers at that stage and the start date regarding the timing of starting the business activities at that stage. The business plan information is information regarding a series of business activities, and includes one or more pieces of step information for each stage. In addition, the business plan information includes relationship information regarding the relationship between steps, such as the order of steps and the dependency relationship, such as the order of progress of steps and the dependency relationship between steps, such as which steps come before and after, and which step to start next when this step is completed. In the business plan registration screen W3 shown in FIG. 7(a), the step information is registered in order from the top, and relationship information regarding the order of progress of each step is registered so that the step information registered in the input display section displayed above is implemented first, and the step information registered in the input display section displayed below is implemented later.

[0086] The reception unit 11 receives contact history regarding contacts with customers, such as the history of phone calls with customers, the history of letters sent, and the history of visits, and stores it in the storage unit 102. In the present embodiment, the display processing unit 12 performs display processing of a contact information input screen having a screen display that enables input of contact information suitable for each contact type when inputting contact information. In addition, the content of the contact information received by the reception unit 11 differs for each contact type as shown in FIGS. 4(a) to (e). For example, when the contact type is a phone call, it is the phone number and the reception date and time.

[0087] Also, in the present embodiment, when registering a business plan, any one of the templates can be selected from the plan templates, and the business plan registered in the plan template can be registered as business plan information as it is or with the content modified based on the input of the user. The plan template is a template of the business plan information registered in advance, and regarding the business plan, it includes information on the relationship between steps (step information) such as the order of steps, the contact type for each step, and information on the period for each step. In the present embodiment, a plurality of plan templates are stored in the storage unit 102. By registering the plan template, for example, a plan for a series of sales activities that are often carried out, such as making a phone call to a customer who has made an inquiry first, making a phone call again after one week, and then sending materials, can be registered, and the business plan information can be easily registered according to the once-registered template. In the present embodiment, the reception unit 11 receives the selection of the plan template, registers the business plan with reference to the designated plan template, and further receives information on the plan start date, person in charge, etc. that are not registered in the plan template, and information on the change points of the template (change of contact type for each step, period (waiting days, etc.) for each step), and stores them as business plan information.

[0088] In FIG. 7(b), an example of the screen display of a contact history display screen, which is a list of registered contact histories, is shown. The contact history display screen W4 is a screen that displays, regardless of the contact type, a list of the contact history with a specific customer based on the contact information for each contact type shown in FIGS. 4(b) to (e). The contact history display screen W4 displays the date and time of the contact, the contact type, the person in charge of the contact, the plan name set as the sales plan, and IN / OUT regarding the direction of the contact, whether it is a contact from the person in charge or from the customer. The contact history display screen W4 shown in FIG. 7(b) is a screen that displays a list of the contact history with a specific customer, but it may also be a screen that displays a list of the contact history of a specific user, or a screen that displays a list of the contact history for each contact type based on the contact information for each contact type. Further, in the present embodiment, the contact history display screen W4 is a list of the contact history with a specific customer, and is displayed on the same screen as the customer information display section W11 as shown in FIG. 6(a), so that the customer information and the contact history can be confirmed at a glance.

[0089] Furthermore, the display processing unit 12 performs display processing of a sales plan display screen that displays information regarding the sales plan that the user is in charge of based on the registered sales plan information. The sales plan display screen is a screen that displays the sales plan, and is a screen that displays the customer information of the customers targeted for sales and the step information regarding each step included in the sales plan for each plan. In the present embodiment, the sales plan display screen displays the corporate name and telephone number of the company targeted for sales if the contact type is a phone call, displays the fax number if the contact type is a fax, and displays the customer's postal code and address if the contact type is a mail, etc., and performs display processing of the information used to implement different sales plans for each contact type. Further, in the present embodiment, the sales plan display screen is used as a screen for receiving the contact history with the customers implemented based on the sales activities.

[0090] <Other Embodiments> Furthermore, the display processing unit 12 performs display processing to display a contact history display screen that displays the contact history based on the acquired contact information.

[0091] In the present embodiment, the business activity support device 1 further includes a conversion unit that converts voice data into text data based on the voice data of a call acquired from the telephone 3. The voice data regarding the call made with the customer in the telephone 3 is stored in the storage unit 102 in the present embodiment, but may be stored in the storage unit 202 of the user terminal 2. The voice data of the call converted by the conversion unit is, in the present embodiment, the history of the call with the customer and is stored in association with the customer information as contact information, but may be stored in association with the user information as a memo regarding the user's business activities.

[0092] Also, the business activity support device 1 further includes a transmission unit that performs a process of transmitting, as a daily report, a memo regarding the user's business activities registered as a voice memo to the user terminal 2 of a supervisor or the like of the user. At that time, the user information includes group information regarding a group such as a department or section to which the user belongs. Also, together with the group information, position information regarding the position in the group is stored in association, and the transmission unit transmits, based on the group information and the position information, a daily report regarding the user's business activities acquired as a voice memo to the user terminals 2 of other users such as supervisors belonging to the same group. Also, the storage unit 102 stores organization information regarding the configuration of the organization, further stores information regarding groups such as departments and sections within the organization, and information regarding users belonging to each group, and may perform processing regarding the transmission of the daily report with reference to the organization information. Also, in the present embodiment, the transmission unit transmits the text data acquired by converting the voice data to the user terminal 2 of other users such as supervisors via email.

[0093] Furthermore, the business activity support device 1 may include a notification unit that transmits a power reception notification to the user terminal 2 when a call is received by the telephone 3 and notifies the user terminal 2. Also, since the user terminal 2 is configured to be communicable with the telephone 3, the user terminal 2 may be able to operate the telephone 3, such as giving a recording instruction or making a call. Additionally, the user terminal 2 may be configured to display information on the telephone 3, such as an incoming call notification on the telephone 3. The display processing unit 12 may identify the customer on the other end based on the phone number of the received call and perform display processing on the customer information of the customer on the other end of the call based on the identified customer's customer information. Also, at this time, the display processing unit 12 may perform display processing on a screen that displays the contact history with the customer based on the contact information including the contact information whose contact type is a call with respect to the contact history associated with the customer information.

Explanation of Signs

[0094] 0 Business activity support system 1 Business activity support device 2 User terminal 3 Telephone NW Network 11 Reception unit 12 Display processing unit 13 Search unit 14 Monitoring unit

Claims

1. A sales activity support system for supporting sales activities, comprising a storage unit, a reception unit, a search unit, and a display processing unit, wherein the storage unit stores customer information and known website information regarding one or more known websites, the reception unit receives a designation of a person in charge of conducting sales activities for a customer targeted for sales, and stores the designated person in charge in association with the customer information of the customer targeted for sales, the search unit searches for candidate websites of the customer excluding known websites based on search conditions and the known website information, and acquires website information of the candidate websites of the customer's website, the display processing unit performs display processing on a candidate list of the customer's website based on the search results, the reception unit receives a designation of the website of the customer selected from the candidate list, stores the website information regarding the designated website in association with the customer information, and stores the information regarding the selected customer's website as known website information, a sales activity support system.

2. The search unit periodically searches for websites based on the search conditions, periodically acquires search results, and when a new website is discovered based on the search results acquired in the past and the newly acquired search results, notifies. The sales activity support system according to Claim 1.

3. The sales activity support system further comprises a monitoring unit, wherein the website information includes one or more pieces of web page information regarding web pages included in the website, the web page information includes an address for accessing the web page, the reception unit receives a designation of a web page to be monitored, the monitoring unit periodically acquires content information regarding the content of the designated web page based on the web page information and the designation of the web page, compares the content of the web page based on the content information acquired last time and the newly acquired content information, and notifies when there is an update to the designated web page since the last monitoring, The sales activity support system according to Claim 1.

4. The reception unit receives registration of sales plan information including a plurality of step information, and stores it in association with the customer information of the customer targeted for sales, wherein the sales plan information is information regarding a plan for a series of sales activities for the customer targeted for sales, The step information is information regarding activities at individual stages included in a series of sales activities for customers targeted for sales, and includes contact type information regarding the type of contact method with customers. The sales activity support system according to claim 1.

5. The reception unit receives contact information regarding individual contacts with customers for each contact type, which is implemented based on a plan for sales activities, and stores the contact information in association with the step information regarding each stage. The sales activity support system according to claim 4.

6. The reception unit receives contact information regarding individual contacts with customers, including the contact type which is the type of contact method with customers, and stores the contact information in association with customer information for each contact type. For each contact type, information of different contents corresponding thereto is registered in the contact information. The display processing unit performs display processing of a contact history display screen that displays the contact history corresponding to the contact type for each customer based on the contact information. The sales activity support system according to claim 1.

7. The known website information is stored in association with each exclusion reason. The search conditions include conditions regarding the exclusion reason. The search unit extracts candidates for the websites of customers who have excluded websites related to a predetermined exclusion reason based on the search conditions. The sales activity support system according to claim 1.

8. A sales activity support method for supporting sales activities, which is executed by a computer, comprising: a reception step, a search step, and a display processing step. The computer stores customer information and known website information regarding one or more known websites in a storage unit. In the reception step, a designation of a person in charge of performing sales activities for a customer targeted for sales is received, and the designated person in charge is stored in association with the customer information of the customer targeted for sales. In the search step, based on the search conditions and the known website information, a search for candidates for the websites of customers who have excluded known websites is performed, and website information of the candidates for the websites of customers is acquired. In the display processing step, based on the search results, a candidate list of the websites of customers is subjected to display processing. ​ The reception process receives the designation of the customer's website selected from the candidate list, associates and stores the website information regarding the designated website with the customer information, and stores the information regarding the selected customer's website as known website information. Sales activity support method.

9. A sales activity support program for supporting sales activities, causing a computer to function as a reception unit, a search unit, and a display processing unit, wherein a storage unit of the computer stores customer information and known website information regarding one or more known websites, the reception unit receives the designation of a person in charge who conducts sales activities for a customer as a sales target, and stores the designated person in charge in association with the customer information of the sales target, the search unit searches for candidates for the customer's website excluding known websites based on the search conditions and the known website information, and acquires website information of the candidate websites of the customer's website, the display processing unit performs display processing on a candidate list of the customer's website based on the search results, the reception unit receives the designation of the customer's website selected from the candidate list, associates and stores the website information regarding the designated website with the customer information, and stores the information regarding the selected customer's website as known website information. Sales activity support program.

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