Method for processing user inquiry to company

Abstract

To provide a method capable of smoothly shifting to business negotiation in response to an inquiry from a user.SOLUTION: A method acquires information on a user that made an inquiry to a company in an inquiry response system in which a server terminal, a plurality of user terminals, and a plurality of company terminals are connected to each other via a network. A control unit of the server terminal receives a search request for detailed information of a user who has made an inquiry to a company from a company terminal of a person in charge of the company, refers to a prompt sentence that instructs a search that is stored in a storage unit of the server terminal, receives search results by a large-scale language model based on the prompt sentence, and transmits the search results to the company terminal.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 7

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for processing user inquiries to a company.

Background Art

[0002] Recently, users (including companies) interested in products, services, etc. provided by a company approach the company by inputting inquiry details through an inquiry form or the like set up on the company's web page.

[0003] In order to efficiently respond to such inquiries, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses an inquiry support method for automatically generating a response sentence based on an inquiry.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] However, although the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 discloses a method for streamlining responses to inquiries, usually, after a user makes an inquiry, there are few cases that lead to business negotiations. The person in charge of the company that received the inquiry obtained the information of the user who made the inquiry through web searches or the like, and approached the user based on the information retrieved manually in such a manner.

[0006] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a method that can smoothly shift to business negotiations in response to an inquiry from a user.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0007] A method for obtaining information of a user who has made an inquiry to a company according to an aspect of the present invention, wherein a control unit of a server terminal receives a search request for detailed information of a user who has made an inquiry to the company from a company terminal of a person in charge of the company, refers to a prompt sentence stored in a storage unit of the server terminal for instructing the search, receives a search result by a large language model based on the prompt sentence, and transmits the search result to the company terminal.

Effect of the Invention

[0008] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a method that can smoothly shift to negotiation in response to an inquiry from a user.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0009]

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Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0010] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the embodiments described below do not unduly limit the content of the present invention described in the claims. Also, not all of the components shown in the embodiments are essential components of the present invention.

[0011] <Configuration> FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram showing a system for executing a method for processing inquiries from users to a company according to the first embodiment of the present invention. This system 1 includes, for example, a server terminal 100 that receives information included in an inquiry input by an inquiring user (including a company to which a predetermined number of employees belong) via an inquiry form for inquiries included in a web page provided by a company conducting business activities, user terminals 200A and 200B managed by the inquiring user, and company terminals 300A and 300B that provide a web page including an inquiry form to the user terminals 200A and 200B and are managed by the company conducting the business activities. In addition, although not shown, the system 1 may include one or more company terminals that manage information referred to when assigning salespersons and coordinating meetings, which are executed by the server terminal 100, and the server terminal 100 can also cooperate with applications (for example, a calendar application, a customer management application, etc.) provided by these company terminals via an API. Further, the server terminal 100 can also cooperate with an external server that implements a large language model (for example, an LLM such as Chat GPT) for searching detailed information about the inquiring user and / or the company to which the inquiring user belongs via an API. For convenience of explanation, each terminal is described as being single or a specific number, but the number of each is not limited.

[0012] The server terminal 100, user terminals 200A and 200B, and enterprise terminals 300A and 300B are each connected via the network NW1. The network NW is composed of the Internet, an intranet, a wireless LAN (Local Area Network), a WAN (Wide Area Network), or the like.

[0013] The server terminal 100 and enterprise terminals 300A and 300B may be general-purpose computers such as workstations or personal computers, or may be logically realized by cloud computing.

[0014] The user terminals 200A and 200B are information processing devices such as personal computers or tablet terminals, for example, but may also be composed of smartphones, mobile phones, PDAs, or the like.

[0015] In this embodiment, the system 1 includes a server terminal 100, user terminals 200A and 200B, and enterprise terminals 300A and 300B, and will be described as a configuration in which users of each terminal use their respective terminals to operate on the server terminal 100. However, the server terminal 100 may be configured as a stand-alone device, and the server terminal itself may be provided with a function for each user to directly perform operations. Hereinafter, as necessary, the user terminals 200A and 200B will be collectively referred to as the user terminal 200, and the enterprise terminals 300A and 300B will be collectively referred to as the enterprise terminal 300.

[0016] FIG. 2 is a functional block configuration diagram of the server terminal 100 in FIG. 1. The server terminal 100 includes a communication unit 110, a storage unit 120, and a control unit 130.

[0017] The communication unit 110 is a communication interface for communicating with the user terminal 200 and the enterprise terminal 300 via the network NW1, and communication is performed according to a communication protocol such as TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol), for example.

[0018] The storage unit 120 stores various control processes, programs for executing each function in the control unit 130, input data, etc., and is composed of a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), etc. Further, the storage unit 120 has a user data storage unit 121 that stores various data related to the inquiring user, a company data storage unit 122 that stores various data related to the company conducting business activities, and a negotiation data storage unit 123 that stores various information necessary for the negotiation between the above-mentioned company and the inquiring user. Note that a database (not shown) storing various data may be constructed outside the storage unit 120 or the server terminal 100.

[0019] The control unit 130 controls the overall operation of the server terminal 100 by executing the programs stored in the storage unit 120, and is composed of a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), etc. As functions of the control unit 130, there are an information reception unit 131 that receives information from each terminal, a user information processing unit 132 that refers to and processes various data related to the inquiring user, a company information processing unit 133 that refers to and processes various data related to the company conducting business activities, and a negotiation processing unit 134 that refers to and processes various data related to the negotiation between the above-mentioned company and the inquiring user. The information reception unit 131, the user information processing unit 132, the company information processing unit 133, and the negotiation processing unit 134 are activated by the programs stored in the storage unit 120 and executed by the server terminal 100 which is a computer (electronic computer).

[0020] The information reception unit 131 receives information from the user terminal 200 and / or the company terminal 300 via the communication unit 110. For example, from the user terminal 200, information related to an inquiry to a company, etc., input by the inquiring user, is received via an inquiry form or the like.

[0021] The user information processing unit 132 refers to various data related to the user received from the user terminal 200 (for example, user data 1000 described later, etc.), and performs predetermined processing.

[0022] The enterprise information processing unit 133 refers to various data related to the enterprise received from the enterprise terminal 300 (for example, enterprise data 2000 described later), and performs predetermined processing.

[0023] The negotiation processing unit 134 performs processing such as adjusting the negotiation based on the information regarding the inquiry received from the user and the information regarding the enterprise.

[0024] Also, the control unit 130 can also have a screen generation unit (not shown), and generates screen information to be displayed via the user interface of the user terminal 200 as required. For example, using the images and text data (not shown) stored in the storage unit 120 as materials, various images and texts are arranged in a predetermined area of the user interface based on a predetermined layout rule, thereby generating the user interface. The processing related to the image generation unit can also be executed by a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit).

[0025] FIG. 3 is a functional block configuration diagram showing the user terminal 200 of FIG. 1. The user terminal 200 includes a communication unit 210, a display operation unit 220, a storage unit 230, and a control unit 240.

[0026] The communication unit 210 is a communication interface for communicating with the server terminal 100 via the network NW, and communication is performed according to a communication protocol such as TCP / IP.

[0027] The display operation unit 220 is a user interface used for the provider to input instructions and display text, images, etc. according to the input data from the control unit 240. When the user terminal 200 is composed of a personal computer, it is composed of a display, a keyboard, and a mouse. When the user terminal 200 is composed of a smartphone or a tablet terminal, it is composed of a touch panel or the like. This display operation unit 220 is activated by a control program stored in the storage unit 230 and executed by the user terminal 200 which is a computer (electronic computer).

[0028] The storage unit 230 stores programs for executing various control processes and each function in the control unit 240, input data, etc., and is composed of a RAM, a ROM, etc. Also, the storage unit 230 temporarily stores the communication content with the server terminal 100.

[0029] The control unit 240 controls the overall operation of the user terminal 200 by executing the programs stored in the storage unit 230, and is composed of a CPU, a GPU, etc.

[0030] Figure 4 is a diagram showing an example of user data stored in the server 100.

[0031] The user data 1000 shown in Figure 4 stores various data related to the inquiring user. In Figure 4, for the sake of convenience of explanation, an example of one user (the user identified by the user ID "10001") is shown, but information of multiple users can be stored. Various data related to the user can include, for example, basic information about the user (such as corporate name (name), business type, number of employees, residence (address), person in charge, department name, position, contact information (email address, phone number)), inquiry information (such as information related to the inquiry content (such as inquiry about the content of goods / services, inquiry about fees, etc.)), information related to the intention to use goods / services, etc., but is not limited thereto.

[0032] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of corporate data stored in the server 100.

[0033] The corporate data 2000 stores various data related to enterprises conducting business activities. In FIG. 5, for the sake of convenience of explanation, an example of one enterprise (the point identified by the enterprise ID "20001") is shown, but information related to a plurality of enterprises can be stored. As various data related to an enterprise, for example, basic information about the enterprise (e.g., corporate name (name), business type, number of employees, residence (address)), salesperson information (e.g., name of the person in charge, department name, position, contact information (e-mail address, telephone number, video conference URL, message app ID, name of the negotiation partner, etc.)), schedule information (calendar information, meeting conditions (length of the meeting, buffer time before and after, means of the meeting, etc.), shift time (information for defining time when it is impossible to respond to interviews such as at night, lunch break, holidays, etc.)), customer information (e.g., corporate name (name) of the customer enterprise, business type, number of employees, residence (address), name of the person in charge, department name, position, contact information (e-mail address, telephone number), past inquiry / correspondence content, etc.), business card information (company name, name, department name of affiliation, position name, company address, contact information (e-mail address, telephone number, etc.), additional information (name of the product or service in which the negotiation partner shows interest, name of the negotiation meeting (exhibition name)), and inquiry form information can be included, but is not limited thereto.

[0034] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of meeting data stored in the server 100.

[0035] The meeting data 3000 includes, as various data related to meetings for negotiations between an enterprise conducting business activities and an inquiring user, for example, schedule information (e.g., date and time, location, etc. of the meeting between the enterprise and the inquiring user), information related to the meeting content (e.g., agenda, meeting memo, etc. of the meeting between the enterprise and the inquiring user), attendee information (e.g., information related to the attendees of the meeting), and search information (prompt sentences for giving instructions to search for detailed information related to the inquiring user and / or the enterprise to which the user belongs), etc., but is not limited thereto.

[0036] <Flow of processing> With reference to FIG. 7, the processing flow of the method for acquiring information about an inquiring user, which is executed by the system 1 of this embodiment, will be described. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of a method for acquiring information about a user who has made an inquiry to a company according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

[0037] First, as a pre-processing step of step S101, the person in charge of the company conducting business activities uses a web browser or application of the company terminal 300 to input basic information about the company (e.g., corporate name (name), business type, number of employees, residence (address)), salesperson information (e.g., name of the person in charge, department name, position, contact information (email address, phone number, video conference URL, message app ID, etc.)), schedule information (meeting conditions (length of the meeting, buffer time before and after, meeting means, etc.), shift time (information for defining time when it is not possible to respond to interviews such as night time, lunch break, holidays, etc.)), customer information (e.g., corporate name (name) of the customer company, business type, number of employees, residence (address), name of the person in charge, department name, position, contact information (email address, phone number), past inquiry / correspondence content, etc.). The information reception unit 131 of the control unit 130 of the server terminal 100 receives the information about the company input by the person in charge of the company conducting business activities via the communication unit 110. The company information processing unit 133 of the control unit 130 stores the received information about the company as company data 2000 in the company data storage unit 122 of the storage unit 120. Here, all or part of the information included in the above company information (e.g., salesperson information (schedule information, etc.), customer information, etc.) can also be acquired via an application provided by another service provider (e.g., calendar app, customer management app, etc.) (through API linkage, etc.).

[0038] In addition, the inquiring user accesses the enterprise terminal 300 by using the web browser or application of each user terminal, etc., and displays a web page for inputting an inquiry, such as an inquiry form included in the web page of the enterprise conducting business activities, and inputs the inquiry content. Here, the inquiry content includes, but is not limited to, basic information about the inquiring user (for example, corporate name (name), industry type, number of employees, residence (address), name of person in charge, department name, position, contact information (email address, phone number)), inquiry information (for example, information regarding the inquiry content (for example, inquiry regarding the content of goods / services, inquiry regarding fees), information regarding the intention to use the goods / services (want to consider the goods / services immediately, first want materials), etc.). The inquiring user completes the input of the inquiry content and presses the send button, and the information regarding the inquiry is sent to the enterprise terminal 300. In addition, the server terminal 100 provides the enterprise terminal 300 with tag information (for example, Javscript tag) for embedding in the web page provided by the enterprise terminal 300. In the enterprise terminal 300, the Javscript tag is embedded in the inquiry form of the web page and the inquiry form completion page (so-called "Thanks page"), and in response to the completion of the inquiry form, among the information input by the inquiring user into the inquiry form, predetermined information is sent to the server terminal 100. The salesperson user of the enterprise terminal 300 accesses the information input by the inquiring user into the inquiry form, which is stored in the user data 1000 or enterprise data 2000 in the storage unit 120 of the server terminal 100, and refers to the name of the inquiring user and / or the name of the affiliated enterprise. The salesperson user obtains information about the inquiring user through the following processes in order to approach the inquiring user for business negotiation.

[0039] First, as the process of step S101, the information reception unit 131 of the control unit 130 of the server terminal 100 receives a search request for information regarding the inquiring user individual from the enterprise terminal 300 of the above salesperson user via the communication unit 110. Specifically, the salesperson user inputs the name of the enterprise to which the inquiring user belongs and the name of the inquiring user on the user interface screen displayed on the enterprise terminal 300. Here, the server terminal 100 can also refer to the name of the enterprise to which the inquiring user belongs and the name of the user obtained via the inquiry form without going through the input by the salesperson and execute the search, or present the name of the enterprise to which the inquiring user belongs and the name of the individual user as candidates to the enterprise terminal 300 of the salesperson user and accept the selection.

[0040] Subsequently, as the process of step S102, the negotiation processing unit 133 of the control unit 130 of the server terminal 100 refers to the negotiation data 3000 in the storage unit 120 and refers to the prompt sentence for giving an instruction necessary for performing the search for the negotiation between the inquiring user and the salesperson user. The prompt sentence can be stored in advance and is a text sentence for giving an instruction necessary for improving the accuracy of the search result when performing a search via a large language model.

[0041] An example of the prompt sentence in this example is shown in FIG. 8. As shown in FIG. 8, for the company name and name of the inquiring user (for example, as the "company name", "ABC Co., Ltd." and as the "name", "Taro Yamada") entered by the salesperson user, the prompt sentence, as search results, includes the position, job content, work history, personal website URL of the user (for example, the URL of the user's personal SNS such as Facebook (registered trademark), X (formerly Twitter (registered trademark)), LinkedIn (registered trademark), etc.), the URL of Eight (registered trademark) (business card management application), and items and contents related to remarks. For the remarks, it can be instructed to describe in detail the contents included in the above items in a predetermined number of characters (for example, about 1000 characters). As another example, when the information received from the inquiring user via the inquiry form is already included in the contents of the items of the preset prompt sentence, it can also be instructed to include that information as search results (answer sentences). This is because such information may be more accurate than the information obtained by the search results. Note that the salesperson user can also edit any of the items included in the above prompt sentence, such as adding or deleting (for example, the URL of Facebook).

[0042] Subsequently, as the process of step S103, the negotiation processing unit 133 of the control unit 130 of the server terminal 100 executes a search process based on the input personal name of the inquiring user and the prompt sentence. During the search process, the server terminal 100 instructs a server (e.g., ChatGPT) that implements an external large language model (LLM) to search for information regarding the inquiring user based on the personal name of the inquiring user and the prompt sentence. The LLM vector-converts the question sentence (e.g., company name and personal name of the inquiring user) received as text data, searches for vector values obtained by each website that serve as the basis for the search results and are vectorized, and generates an answer generated based on the detected approximate values as the search results. When generating the search results, the LLM refers to the above prompt sentence, generates an answer sentence based on the instructed items and content, and transmits the reconfigured one as the search results to the server terminal 100.

[0043] Subsequently, as the process of step S104, the information reception unit 131 of the control unit 130 of the server terminal 100 receives the above search results via the communication unit 131 and stores them as the inquiring user information in the user data 1000 or the negotiation data 3000 of the storage unit 120. Also, the negotiation processing unit 133 of the control unit 130 of the server terminal 100 transmits the search results to the enterprise terminal 300 via a business communication application such as Slack (registered trademark), which is the means for sending and receiving information preset by the enterprise's sales staff. The enterprise's sales staff can refer to the received search results, confirm detailed information about the background and affiliated company of the inquiring user, and have a conversation for the negotiation with the inquiring user, so that they can smoothly respond to the negotiation while increasing the probability of the negotiation being concluded.

[0044] FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing another example of a method for acquiring information of a user who has made an inquiry to an enterprise according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

[0045] The process before step S201 is equivalent to the process described in FIG. 7, so the description is omitted. However, the inquiring user accesses the website of the company conducting business activities, and through a predetermined inquiry form or the like, inputs the details of the inquiry such as a request for materials, as well as the name of the company of the inquiring user and the personal name of the user, etc., and completes the inquiry. In response to the completion of the inquiry form, among the information input into the inquiry form by the inquiring user, predetermined information is transmitted to the server terminal 100. The salesperson user of the enterprise terminal 300 accesses the information input into the inquiry form by the inquiring user, which is stored in the user data 1000 or enterprise data 2000 in the storage unit 120 of the server terminal 100, and refers to the name of the inquiring user and / or the name of the affiliated company. The salesperson user obtains information about the inquiring user through the following process in order to approach the inquiring user for business negotiations. In this example, in particular, the process of searching for information about the company to which the inquiring user belongs will be described.

[0046] First, as the process of step S201, the information reception unit 131 of the control unit 130 of the server terminal 100 receives a search request for information about the inquiring user individual from the enterprise terminal 300 of the above-mentioned salesperson user via the communication unit 110. Specifically, the salesperson user inputs the name of the company to which the inquiring user belongs on the user interface screen displayed on the enterprise terminal 300. Here, the server terminal 100 can also refer to the name of the company to which the inquiring user belongs, which is obtained through the inquiry form without the intervention of the input by the salesperson, and execute the search, or present the name of the company to which the inquiring user belongs as a candidate to the enterprise terminal 300 of the salesperson user and accept the selection. Here, in addition to the company name, the salesperson user can also add and specify service content, department name, etc. (for example, "inside sales", "business card management", etc.).

[0047] Next, as the process of step S202, the negotiation processing unit 133 of the control unit 130 of the server terminal 100 refers to the negotiation data 3000 in the storage unit 120 and refers to a prompt sentence for giving an instruction necessary for performing a search for the negotiation between the inquiring user and the salesperson user. The prompt sentence can be one stored in advance and is a text sentence for giving an instruction necessary for improving the accuracy of the search result when performing a search via a large language model.

[0048] An example of the prompt sentence in this example is shown in FIG. 10. As shown in FIG. 10, for the company name to which the inquiring user belongs (for example, as the "company name", "ABC Co., Ltd.") input by the salesperson user, the prompt sentence includes, as the search result, the sales amount, the number of employees, the business outline, the capital, the head office location, the listing status, the founding year, the parent company, the representative director, the URL of the company website, the latest news, and items and contents regarding remarks of the company to which the inquiring user belongs, and it can be instructed that the remarks should be described in detail in a predetermined number of characters (for example, about 1000 characters) regarding the contents included in the above items. As another example, when the information received from the inquiring user via the inquiry form is already included in the contents of the items of the preset prompt sentence, it can also be instructed to include that information as the search result (answer sentence). This is because such information may be more accurate than the information obtained from the search result. Note that the salesperson user can also edit, such as adding or deleting any one (for example, the founding year) of the items included in the above prompt sentence.

[0049] Subsequently, as the process of step S203, the negotiation processing unit 133 of the control unit 130 of the server terminal 100 executes a search process based on the input enterprise name of the inquiring user and the prompt text. During the search process, the server terminal 100 instructs a server that implements an external large language model (LLM) (for example, ChatGPT) to search for information regarding the enterprise to which the inquiring user belongs based on the enterprise name of the inquiring user and the prompt text. The LLM vector-converts the question text (for example, the company name) received as text data, searches for vector values obtained by vectorizing the data acquired by each website, which serve as the basis for the search results, and generates an answer generated based on the detected approximate values as the search results. When generating the search results, the LLM refers to the above prompt text, generates an answer text based on the instructed items and content, and transmits the reconfigured result as the search results to the server terminal 100.

[0050] Subsequently, as the process of step S204, the information reception unit 131 of the control unit 130 of the server terminal 100 receives the above search results via the communication unit 131 and stores them as the enterprise information of the inquiring user in the user data 1000 or the negotiation data 3000 of the storage unit 120. Also, the negotiation processing unit 133 of the control unit 130 of the server terminal 100 transmits the search results to the enterprise terminal 300 via a business communication application such as Slack (registered trademark), which is a means for transmitting and receiving information preset by the enterprise's sales staff. The enterprise's sales staff can refer to the received search results, confirm detailed information about the background of the inquiring user and the affiliated enterprise, and have a conversation for the negotiation with the inquiring user (or other staff of the enterprise to which the inquiring user belongs), so that they can smoothly respond to the negotiation while increasing the probability of the negotiation being concluded.

[0051] Although the embodiments according to the invention have been described above, they can be implemented in various other forms, and can be implemented with various omissions, substitutions, and changes. These embodiments, variations, and omissions, substitutions, and changes are included in the technical scope of the claims and the equivalent scope thereof.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0052] 1 System 100 Server Terminal, 110 Communication Unit, 120 Storage Unit, 130 Control Unit, 200 User Terminal, 300 Enterprise Terminal, NW1 Network

Claims

1. A method for acquiring information of a user who has made an inquiry to a company, comprising: The control unit of the server terminal receiving a search request for detailed information of a user who has made an inquiry to the company from a company terminal of a person in charge of the company; Refer to a prompt sentence for instructing the search, which is stored in a storage unit of the server terminal; receiving a search result from a large-scale language model based on the prompt sentence; The search results are transmitted to the enterprise terminal.

2. 2. The method of claim 1 , The method, wherein the user details include details of a company to which the user belongs.

3. 2. The method of claim 1 , The method, wherein the user details include the company the user belongs to and the user's personal details.

4. 2. The method of claim 1 , The prompt sentence instructs that any one of the following items be output as a search result: the user's job title, job description, work history, the URL of the user's company, and the URL of the user's social networking site.

5. 2. The method of claim 1 , The prompt sentence instructs that any one of the following items be output as search results: sales revenue, number of employees, business overview, capital, head office location, listed status, year of establishment, parent company, representative director, company URL, and most recent news of the company to which the user belongs.

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