Business activity support apparatus and business activity support method

Abstract

To properly and more widely extract business activity recommended to a business person having unaccepted order cases.SOLUTION: A business activity support apparatus is configured to: generate a partial activity sequence indicating pre-activity and post-activity as two business activities carried out in different elapsed times, and the elapsed time when each of the pre-activity and the post-activity is executed, for each of an unaccepted order case and an accepted order case; extract, from the partial activity sequence in an accepted order case similar to the unaccepted order case, a non-executed partial activity sequence which is not matched with any of the partial activity sequence in the unaccepted order case; and determine a recommended activity sequence based on the elapsed times of the pre-activity and the post-activity in the non-executed partial activity sequence and a period of time from a start of the unaccepted order case to the current point.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a sales action support device and a sales action support method. [Background technology]

[0002] Sales representatives perform sales activities such as gathering customer information, holding customer meetings, answering questions, and holding internal meetings in order to secure orders. The actions taken by sales representatives for each sales case are stored in information such as meeting minutes, email transmission and reception records, and memos. From this information, the actions taken by sales representatives can be digitized and arranged in chronological order.

[0003] JP 2023-141668 A (Patent Document 1) is a background technology in this technical field. This publication states that "The business support system stores a business pattern estimation model that is generated based on information associating a business flow, which is information indicating the flow of a series of tasks performed in relation to a business, with a business pattern, which is information indicating the type of business flow corresponding to the series of tasks, and identifies a business pattern corresponding to history information, which is information indicating the history of tasks related to the business, and, for each business pattern, pattern-specific sequence information that classifies the sequences constituting the corresponding business flow according to the impact each of them has on the performance results of the business, and history information of the business to be supported, and identifies a business pattern corresponding to the history information using the business pattern estimation model, and generates business performance support information, which is information for supporting the performance of the business, based on the pattern-specific sequence information of the identified business pattern" (see abstract). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2023-141668 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] The technology described in Patent Document 1 refers to past successful orders in which similar actions were performed, and uses information on the order of actions to present actions that are recommended to be performed from the current point onward. In other words, the technology described in Patent Document 1 assumes an action that has already been performed in the target unordered order, and extracts actions that are recommended to be performed from the current point onward from actions that were performed after the assumed action in similar successful orders.

[0006] Therefore, the technology described in Patent Document 1 may not be able to extract, in the case of a similar successful order, an action that was performed before the assumed action as an action that is recommended to be performed from the present time onwards, even if it has not been performed in the unordered order and is still possible to perform in time.

[0007] Therefore, one aspect of the present invention is to appropriately and broadly extract sales actions to be recommended to sales representatives of pending orders. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In order to solve the above problem, one aspect of the present invention employs the following configuration: A sales behavior support device includes a processor and a memory, and the memory holds sales behavior history information indicating sales behaviors performed for each of cases, including unreceived cases and received cases, in sales activities, and the elapsed time from the start of the case until each of the sales behaviors was performed, and the processor refers to the sales behavior history information to generate partial behavior sequences indicating, for each of the unreceived cases and the received cases, a pre-behavior and a post-behavior, which are two sales behaviors performed at different elapsed times, and the elapsed time at which each of the pre-behavior and the post-behavior was performed, and generates partial behavior sequences for the unreceived cases. The method compares the partial action sequence in the received case with the partial action sequence in the received case, extracts similar cases from the received case that are similar to the unreceived case, extracts unexecuted partial action sequences from the partial action sequences in the similar cases that do not match any of the partial action sequences in the unreceived case, determines a recommended action sequence from the unexecuted partial action sequence based on the elapsed time of the previous action and the next action in the unexecuted partial action sequence and the time from the start point of the unreceived case to the present time, and generates data for displaying information showing the sales action indicated by the recommended action sequence. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible to appropriately and extensively extract sales actions to be recommended to sales representatives for pending orders.

[0010] Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a sales action support device according to a first embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data configuration of case information according to the first embodiment. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data configuration of sales behavior history information in the first embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data configuration of partial action sequence information of pending orders in the first embodiment. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data configuration of partial action sequence information of an ordered job in the first embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data configuration of similar case partial action sequence information in the first embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data configuration of unexecuted partial action sequence information in the first embodiment. [Figure 8] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data configuration of recommended action sequence information in the first embodiment. [Figure 9] FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a sales action support process according to the first embodiment. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen configuration of a recommended action display screen in the first embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0012] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The examples are illustrative for explaining the present invention, and some omissions and simplifications have been made as appropriate for clarity of explanation. The present invention can be implemented in various other forms. Unless otherwise specified, each component may be singular or plural.

[0013] In order to facilitate understanding of the invention, the position, size, shape, range, etc. of each component shown in the drawings may not represent the actual position, size, shape, range, etc. Therefore, the present invention is not necessarily limited to the position, size, shape, range, etc. disclosed in the drawings.

[0014] Examples of various types of information may be described using expressions such as "table," "list," and "queue," but the various types of information may be expressed using data structures other than these. For example, various types of information such as "XX table," "XX list," and "XX queue" may be expressed as "XX information." When describing identification information, expressions such as "identification information," "identifier," "name," "ID," and "number" are used, but these are interchangeable. Furthermore, in the embodiments, identification information described using these expressions is expressed using symbols, numbers, natural language, or a combination thereof, but the identification information may be in a format other than these.

[0015] When there are multiple components having the same or similar functions, they may be described using the same reference numeral with different subscripts. When there is no need to distinguish between these multiple components, the subscripts may be omitted.

[0016] Furthermore, the sales action support device in this embodiment is typically realized by an information processing device, but may also be realized as a platform having the functions of the sales action support device. [Example]

[0017] 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a sales action support device 101. The sales action support device 101 is configured by a computer having, for example, a processor 105, a memory 112, an auxiliary storage device 102, a communication device 113, an input device 110, and a display device 111.

[0018] The processor 105 is, for example, a central processing unit (CPU) or a graphics processing unit (GPU), and executes a program stored in the memory 112 .

[0019] The memory 112 includes a ROM (Read Only Memory), which is a nonvolatile storage element, and a RAM (Random Access Memory), which is a volatile storage element. The ROM stores unchanging programs (e.g., a BIOS (Basic Input / Output System)). The RAM is a high-speed, volatile storage element such as a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), and temporarily stores programs executed by the processor 105 and data used when the programs are executed.

[0020] The auxiliary storage device 102 is a large-capacity, non-volatile storage device such as a magnetic storage device (HDD (Hard Disk Drive)) or a flash memory (SSD (Solid State Drive)), and stores programs to be executed by the processor 105 and data to be used when the programs are executed. That is, the programs are read from the auxiliary storage device 102, loaded into the memory 112, and executed by the processor 105.

[0021] A part or all of the programs executed by the processor 105 may be provided to the sales behavior support device 101 from a removable medium (CD-ROM, flash memory, etc.) which is a non-transitory storage medium, or from an external computer equipped with a non-transitory storage device via a network, and may be stored in the non-volatile auxiliary storage device 102 which is a non-transitory storage medium. For this reason, the sales behavior support device 101 may preferably have an interface for reading data from removable media.

[0022] The sales behavior support device 101 is a computer system configured on one physical computer or on multiple logically or physically configured computers, and may operate in separate threads on the same computer, or may operate on a virtual computer constructed on multiple physical computer resources.

[0023] The auxiliary storage device 102 stores, for example, case information 103, sales behavior history information 104, partial behavior sequence information for unordered cases 401, partial behavior sequence information for ordered cases 501, partial behavior sequence information for similar cases 601, partial behavior sequence information for unexecuted cases 701, and recommended behavior sequence information 801.

[0024] Case information 103 indicates information related to cases in sales activities. Hereinafter, cases in sales activities will also be simply referred to as cases. Sales action history information 104 indicates the history of sales actions taken for cases. Hereinafter, sales actions will also be simply referred to as actions. Case information 103 and sales action history information 104 are set in advance, for example, before the sales action support process described below starts.

[0025] The partial action sequence information for unordered cases 401, the partial action sequence information for ordered cases 501, the partial action sequence information for similar cases 601, the partial action sequence information for unexecuted cases 701, and the recommended action sequence information 801 are all information generated by the sales action support processing described below, and details of these pieces of information will be described later.

[0026] The processor 105 includes, for example, a behavior sequence generation unit 106, a similar case extraction unit 107, an unexecuted behavior sequence extraction unit 108, and a recommended behavior classification unit 109, all of which are functional units.

[0027] The behavior sequence generation unit 106 generates partial behavior sequence information for unordered cases 401 and partial behavior sequence information for ordered cases 501 based on the case information 103 and the sales behavior history information 104. The partial behavior sequence information for unordered cases 401 indicates a partial behavior sequence for an unordered case for which a recommended sales behavior is to be generated. The partial behavior sequence information for ordered cases 501 indicates a partial behavior sequence for an ordered case.

[0028] A partial action sequence is defined by a pair of two actions performed for a case that are performed in a different order in time (i.e., two different actions performed on different days), and the dates on which each of the two actions was performed (the elapsed time from the start of the case).

[0029] The similar case extraction unit 107 extracts similar case partial behavior sequence information 601 from the received case partial behavior sequence information 501. The similar case partial behavior sequence information 601 indicates partial behavior sequences of cases that include all of the partial behavior sequences indicated by the unreceived case partial behavior sequence information 401, among received cases.

[0030] The unexecuted behavior sequence extraction unit 108 extracts unexecuted partial behavior sequence information 701 from the similar case partial behavior sequence information 601. The unexecuted partial behavior sequence information 701 indicates a partial behavior sequence that is included in the similar case partial behavior sequence information 601 but is not included in the unordered case partial behavior sequence information 401. In other words, the unexecuted partial behavior sequence information 701 indicates a partial behavior sequence that has been performed for an ordered case but has not been performed for an unordered case for which a recommended behavior is to be generated.

[0031] The recommended action classification unit 109 extracts recommended action sequence information 801 from the unexecuted partial action sequence information 701. The recommended action sequence information 801 indicates a partial action sequence including an action in which the elapsed time at the time of execution of the action is shorter than the currently elapsed time of the open job for which the recommended action is to be generated, among the partial action sequences indicated by the unexecuted partial action sequence information 701. In other words, the recommended action sequence information 801 indicates a partial action sequence including an action that has not been executed for the open job for which the recommended action is to be generated, but that is still in time for its execution.

[0032] For example, the processor 105 functions as the behavioral sequence generation unit 106 by operating in accordance with the behavioral sequence generation program loaded into the memory 112, and functions as the similar case extraction unit 107 by operating in accordance with the similar case extraction program loaded into the memory 112. The same relationship between the programs and the functional units applies to the other functional units included in the processor 105.

[0033] In addition, some or all of the functions of the functional units included in processor 105 may be realized by dedicated circuits such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), or a CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device).

[0034] The input device 110 is a device such as a keyboard or a mouse that receives input from a user. Specifically, for example, the input device 110 receives input of information indicating an unordered job for which recommended actions are to be generated from a user. The display device 111 is a device such as a display device or a printer that outputs the execution results of a program in a format that can be viewed by a user. Specifically, for example, the display device 111 displays information included in the recommended action sequence information 801 generated by the recommended action classification unit 109.

[0035] The communication device 113 is a network interface device that controls communication with other devices in accordance with a predetermined protocol. The communication device 113 may also include a serial interface such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus).

[0036] In the above example, the information used by the sales behavior support device 101 is stored in the auxiliary storage device 102 inside the sales behavior support device 101, but some or all of this information may be stored in the memory 112, or may be stored in an external database or the like connected to the sales behavior support device 101 via a network.

[0037] Furthermore, in the above example, the sales behavior support device 101 accepts information input from an input device 110 inside the sales behavior support device 101 and displays the information on a display device 111 inside the sales behavior support device 101, but an external terminal may be connected to the sales behavior support device 101 via a network, and the sales behavior support device 101 may accept information input from an input device possessed by the external terminal via the network and display the information on a display device possessed by the external terminal via the network.

[0038] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the data configuration of the case information 103. The case information 103 indicates, for example, a case ID, a case status, a case start date, a case type, and a person in charge of the case. The case ID is an ID that identifies the case. Case statuses include won, lost, and not won. Lost indicates that an opportunity to win an order has been missed, and a lost case will not be won in the future. Not won indicates that it is not yet certain whether the order will be won or lost due to circumstances such as ongoing negotiations, and an not won case will either be won or lost in the future.

[0039] The start date of a case indicates, for example, the date on which sales activities related to the case started, or the date on which business negotiations related to the case started. Case types include, for example, new and renewal. A new case is a case related to sales to get a customer to sign a new contract for a service, product, etc., and a renewal case is a case related to sales to get a customer who has an existing contract for a service, product, etc. to continue the contract. The person in charge of the case indicates the person who will be conducting sales activities related to the case.

[0040] 3 is a diagram showing an example of the data configuration of the sales action history information 104. The sales action history information 104 indicates, for example, a case ID, an action ID, elapsed time, and an action flag corresponding to each of multiple types of sales actions. The action ID is an ID that identifies a record of the sales action history information 104. The elapsed time indicates the time that has elapsed since the start date of the case indicated by the case ID.

[0041] The action flag corresponding to each of the multiple types of sales actions indicates whether or not the sales representative performed the corresponding sales action at the timing indicated by the elapsed time ("1" indicates that the action was performed, and "0" indicates that the action was not performed). In the example of Figure 3, action flags corresponding to eight types of sales actions are defined.

[0042] For example, the record with action ID "3" in the sales action history information 104 in Figure 3 indicates that, three days after the start date of a case with case ID "1", the person in charge performed two of the eight types of actions: "<Action 3> Action to obtain needs information" and "<Action 4> Action to obtain implementation timing information", and did not perform the remaining six types of actions.

[0043] 4 is a diagram showing an example of the data configuration of partial action sequence information for unordered cases 401. The partial action sequence information for unordered cases 401 is information output by the action sequence generation unit 106. The partial action sequence information for unordered cases 401 indicates a partial action sequence obtained from the action history in the sales action history information 104 for a case whose state is "unordered" and whose case ID is input by the user (i.e., the unordered case for which recommended actions are to be generated).

[0044] The partial action sequence information 401 for unordered cases indicates, for example, a case ID, a case status, a case type, a previous action, a subsequent action, a previous action elapsed time, a subsequent action elapsed time, a previous action ID, and a subsequent action ID. The case ID in the partial action sequence information 401 for unordered cases indicates a case ID entered by a user. The status of the case in the partial action sequence information 401 for unordered cases is "unordered."

[0045] The previous action indicates which of two actions included in a partial action sequence was performed earlier. The subsequent action indicates which of two actions included in a partial action sequence was performed later. The previous action elapsed time indicates the timing at which the previous action was performed, based on the elapsed time from the start date of the corresponding case. The subsequent action elapsed time indicates the timing at which the subsequent action was performed, based on the elapsed time from the start date of the corresponding case. The previous action ID indicates the action ID corresponding to the previous action in the partial action sequence. The subsequent action ID indicates the action ID corresponding to the subsequent action in the partial action sequence.

[0046] As will be described in detail later, a partial action sequence may include not only actions indicated by any of the multiple types of action flags mentioned above, but also an action indicating "start of an event." Note that "start of an event" is an action that can only correspond to a previous action, and its previous action elapsed time is "0" and its previous action ID is "-" (for example, a null value).

[0047] For any given case, a partial action sequence is defined by a combination of a previous action, a subsequent action, and the elapsed time of the previous action and the elapsed time of the subsequent action. In other words, for example, even if the combinations of previous actions and subsequent actions match in two partial action sequences in any given case, if the start time of the previous action in one partial action sequence differs from the start time of the previous action in the other partial action sequence and / or the start time of the subsequent action in one partial action sequence differs from the start time of the subsequent action in the other partial action sequence, the two partial action sequences are different from each other.

[0048] 5 is a diagram showing an example of the data configuration of received case partial action sequence information 501. The received case partial action sequence information 501 is information output by the action sequence generation unit 106. The received case partial action sequence information 501 indicates a partial action sequence of a case whose state is received and whose case type is the same as the unreceived case for which a recommended action is to be generated.

[0049] The received case partial action sequence information 501 indicates, for example, a case ID, a case state, a case type, a previous action, a subsequent action, a previous action elapsed time, a subsequent action elapsed time, a previous action ID, and a subsequent action ID. The state of the case in the received case partial action sequence information 501 is received.

[0050] 6 is a diagram showing an example of the data configuration of similar case partial behavior sequence information 601. The similar case partial behavior sequence information 601 is information output by the similar case extraction unit 107, and is a subset of the received case partial behavior sequence information 501. The similar case partial behavior sequence information 601 is information obtained by extracting only cases that include all combinations of preceding behaviors and succeeding behaviors included in the unreceived case partial behavior sequence information 401, that is, partial behavior sequences of similar cases, from the received case partial behavior sequence information 501.

[0051] The similar case partial action sequence information 601 indicates, for example, a case ID, a case state, a case type, a previous action, a subsequent action, a previous action elapsed time, a subsequent action elapsed time, a previous action ID, and a subsequent action ID.

[0052] 7 is a diagram showing an example of the data configuration of unexecuted partial action sequence information 701. The unexecuted partial action sequence information 701 is information output by the unexecuted action sequence extraction unit 108, and is a subset of the similar case partial action sequence information 601.

[0053] The unexecuted partial action sequence information 701 indicates a partial action sequence, among the partial action sequences indicated by the similar case partial action sequence information 601, that is not identical to any of the partial action sequences included in the unordered case partial action sequence information 401. In other words, the unexecuted partial action sequence information 701 indicates a partial action sequence, among the partial action sequences in similar cases, that includes an action that has not been executed in the unordered case for which a recommended action is to be generated.

[0054] The unexecuted partial action sequence information 701 indicates, for example, a case ID, a case state, a case type, a previous action, a subsequent action, a previous action elapsed time, a subsequent action elapsed time, a previous action ID, and a subsequent action ID.

[0055] 8 is a diagram showing an example of the data configuration of recommended action sequence information 801. The recommended action sequence information 801 is information output by the recommended action classification unit 109, and is a subset of the unimplemented partial action sequence information 701. The recommended action sequence information 801 indicates a partial action sequence that includes a partial action, among the partial action sequences indicated by the unimplemented partial action sequence information 701, whose post-action elapsed time is shorter than the current elapsed time of the pending job for which a recommended action is to be generated.

[0056] The recommended action sequence information 801 indicates, for example, a case ID, a case state, a case type, a previous action, a subsequent action, a previous action elapsed time, a subsequent action elapsed time, a previous action ID, and a subsequent action ID.

[0057] 9 is a sequence diagram showing an example of sales behavior support processing. The sales behavior support device 101 receives an input of a case ID of an unordered case from the user via the input device 110 (step S901). Here, it is assumed that "2" is input as the case ID of the unordered case.

[0058] The behavior sequence generation unit 106 executes a behavior sequence generation process (S902). Specifically, for example, in step S902, the behavior sequence generation unit 106 generates partial behavior sequence information 401 for unordered cases and partial behavior sequence information 501 for ordered cases by the following process.

[0059] First, a specific example of the process of generating the unordered case partial action sequence information 401 will be described. The action sequence generation unit 106 acquires records whose case ID value is "2" entered by the user from each of the case information 103 and the sales action history information 104. That is, the action sequence generation unit 106 acquires record 1031 from the case information 103 in the example of Fig. 2, and acquires records 1041 and 1042 from the sales action history information 104 in the example of Fig. 3.

[0060] Record 1041 of the sales action history information 104 indicates that "<Action 8> Receiving Inquiry" was performed when the elapsed time was "0," and record 1042 indicates that "<Action 4> Obtaining Introduction Time Information" was performed when the elapsed time was "1." Therefore, the action sequence generation unit 106 determines the "<Action 8> Receiving Inquiry," which was performed earlier, as the previous action and the "<Action 4> Obtaining Introduction Time Information," which was performed later, as the next action, and determines the elapsed time "0" corresponding to the determined previous action as the previous action elapsed time and the elapsed time "1" corresponding to the determined next action as the next action elapsed time, thereby generating a partial action sequence. The action sequence generation unit 106 determines the action ID "6" indicated by record 1041 as the previous action ID and the action ID "7" indicated by record 1042 as the next action ID.

[0061] In this way, the action sequence generation unit 106 generates partial action sequences corresponding to all combinations of different actions performed at different elapsed times indicated by each record extracted from the sales action history information 104. For example, if multiple types of action flags have values ​​of "1" in record 1041 and multiple types of action flags also have values ​​of "1" in record 1042, the action sequence generation unit 106 generates partial action sequences for each combination of two actions, with each action whose action flag in record 1041 has a value of "1" being the previous action and each action whose action flag in record 1042 has a value of "1" being the subsequent action.

[0062] Furthermore, the behavior sequence generation unit 106 determines that, for all cases, an behavior called "case start", which is not included in the sales behavior history information 104, implicitly exists as a behavior performed at an elapsed time before all other actions. The behavior sequence generation unit 106 generates a partial behavior sequence that includes "case start" as a previous action and the performed actions indicated by records 1041 and 1042 as subsequent actions. Note that when the previous action is "case start", the behavior sequence generation unit 106 determines the previous action elapsed time to be "0" and the previous action ID to be "-".

[0063] The behavior sequence generation unit 106 stores information on all the partial behavior sequences generated by the above-described process in the pending order partial behavior sequence information 401 .

[0064] A specific example of the process of generating the received case partial action sequence information 501 will be described. The action sequence generation unit 106 acquires, from the case information 103, a record whose case type matches the case type of the unreceived case partial action sequence information 401 and whose status is "received." That is, the action sequence generation unit 106 acquires, from the case information 103 in the example of FIG. 2, a record 1032 whose case ID is "1" and a record 1033 whose case ID is "3."

[0065] The behavior sequence generation unit 106 acquires records related to the cases with the case ID "1" and the case ID "3" (i.e., each received case of the same case type as the target unreceived case) from the sales behavior history information 104, generates partial behavior sequences in the same manner as the generation of partial behavior sequences for unreceived cases described above, and stores information on the generated partial behavior sequences in the received case partial behavior sequence information 501.

[0066] In the process of generating the received case partial action sequence information 501, the action sequence generation unit 106 may extract from the case information 103 records whose case type matches the case type of the unreceived case partial action sequence information 401, whose status is received, and whose responsible person is a specific responsible person. The specific responsible person may be, for example, a responsible person designated by the user, or a responsible person whose proportion of received cases to the total number of received cases and lost cases indicated in the case information 103 (i.e., order rate) is high based on a specific condition (for example, a responsible person whose order rate is higher than a specific value, or a specific number of responsible persons in descending order of order rate).

[0067] The similar case extracting unit 107 executes a similar case extracting process (S903). Specifically, for example, the similar case extracting unit 107 generates similar case partial action sequence information 601 by the following process in step S903.

[0068] The similar case extraction unit 107 identifies similar cases of the target unordered case by comparing combinations of preceding actions and subsequent actions indicated in each record of the unordered case partial action sequence information 401 with combinations of preceding actions and subsequent actions indicated in each record of the ordered case partial action sequence information 501. Specifically, for example, the similar case extraction unit 107 identifies, from among the cases indicated in the ordered case partial action sequence information 501, cases that include all combinations of preceding actions and subsequent actions indicated in each record of the unordered case partial action sequence information 401 as the similar case.

[0069] In the example of Figure 4, in the partial action sequence information 401 for unordered cases, records 4011, 4012, and 4013 respectively indicate the combinations of (previous action, subsequent action) as (start of case, <action 8> receive inquiry), (start of case, <action 4> obtain implementation time information), and (<action 8> receive inquiry, <action 4> obtain implementation time information).

[0070] 5, records 5011, 5012, and 5013 in the partial action sequence information 501 for ordered cases are all records related to a case with a case ID of "1." Furthermore, records 5011, 5012, and 5013 indicate the following combinations of (previous action, subsequent action): (start of case, <action 8> receive inquiry), (start of case, <action 4> obtain implementation time information), and (<action 8> receive inquiry, <action 4> obtain implementation time information), respectively. In other words, the case with a case ID of "1" is a similar case because it includes all the combinations of previous actions and subsequent actions indicated by the records in the partial action sequence information 401 for unordered cases.

[0071] 5, the case with the case ID "3" does not include the combination of the preceding action and the succeeding action indicated by the records 4011, 4012, and 4013. Therefore, the case with the case ID "3" is not a similar case.

[0072] The similar case extraction unit 107 extracts only records related to similar cases from the received case partial action sequence information 501, and generates similar case partial action sequence information 601 made up of the extracted records.

[0073] In the above example, the similar case extraction unit 107 identified, among the cases indicated by the partial action sequence information 501 for ordered cases, cases that include all combinations of preceding actions and following actions indicated by each record of the partial action sequence information 401 for unordered cases as the similar case. However, among the cases indicated by the partial action sequence information 501 for ordered cases, cases that include more than a predetermined percentage (or more than a predetermined number) of combinations of preceding actions and following actions indicated by each record of the partial action sequence information 401 for unordered cases may also be identified as the similar case.

[0074] The unexecuted behavior sequence extraction unit 108 executes an unexecuted behavior sequence extraction process (S904). Specifically, for example, the unexecuted behavior sequence extraction unit 108 compares the combination of the previous behavior and the subsequent behavior of each record in the similar case partial behavior sequence information 601 with the combination of the previous behavior and the subsequent behavior of each record included in the unordered case partial behavior sequence information 401. From the similar case partial behavior sequence information 601, only those records whose combination of the previous behavior and the subsequent behavior do not match any of the combinations of the previous behavior and the subsequent behavior indicated by the records in the unordered case partial behavior sequence information 401 are extracted, and unexecuted partial behavior sequence information 701 is generated from the extracted records.

[0075] The combinations of (previous action, subsequent action) indicated by records 6011, 6012, and 6013 in the similar case partial action sequence information 601 in the example of Fig. 6 match the combinations of (previous action, subsequent action) indicated by records 4011, 4012, and 4013 in the unordered case partial action sequence information 401 in the example of Fig. 4. Therefore, the unexecuted action sequence extraction unit 108 generates information obtained by excluding records 6011, 6012, and 6013 from the similar case partial action sequence information 601 in the example of Fig. 6, as unexecuted partial action sequence information 701 in the example of Fig. 7.

[0076] The recommended action categorization unit 109 executes a recommended action categorization process (S905). Specifically, for example, in step S905, the recommended action categorization unit 109 generates the recommended action sequence information 801 by the following process.

[0077] The recommended behavior categorization unit 109 calculates the elapsed time from the start date of the unordered case of the input case ID to the present time. From the unexecuted partial behavior sequence information 701, the recommended behavior categorization unit 109 extracts records in which the previous behavior is “start of case” and the elapsed time of the subsequent behavior is longer than the calculated elapsed time of the unordered case (i.e., records indicating a partial behavior sequence in which the timing to execute the subsequent behavior following “start of case” (since “start of case” is essentially synonymous with the fact that the behavior has not been executed, the subsequent behavior does not presuppose the execution of the previous behavior) has not passed), and records in which the previous behavior is an behavior other than “start of case” and both the elapsed time of the previous behavior and the subsequent behavior are longer than the calculated elapsed time of the unordered case (i.e., records indicating a partial behavior sequence in which the timing to execute neither the previous behavior nor the subsequent behavior has passed). The recommended behavior categorization unit 109 generates information consisting of only the extracted records as recommended behavior sequence information 801.

[0078] If the current date is December 3, 2023, then according to record 1031 of the case information 103 in Fig. 2, two days have elapsed since the start date of the unordered case with case ID "2" to the current date. In this case, the recommended action classification unit 109 extracts only one record 7011 whose previous action is "start of case" and whose subsequent action is "<action 3> obtain needs information" from the unexecuted partial action sequence information 701 in the example of Fig. 7, and generates recommended action sequence information 801 in the example of Fig. 8.

[0079] The recommended action categorizing unit 109 generates data for displaying a recommended action display screen, and displays the recommended action display screen on the display device 111 (S906), thereby completing the sales action support process. The recommended action display screen will be described in detail later.

[0080] By the above-described sales behavior support process, the sales behavior support device 101 can extract ordered cases in which the same partial behavior sequence as the partial behavior sequence performed by the salesperson was performed for the specified unordered case. Furthermore, the sales behavior support device 101 can extract a partial behavior sequence that has not been performed for the unordered case from the extracted partial behavior sequence of the ordered case.

[0081] Furthermore, the sales behavior support device 101 extracts only those actions from the extracted unexecuted partial action sequences in which the elapsed time from the start of the received case when the action was executed is shorter than the elapsed time from the start of the unordered case to the present time, thereby being able to present, as recommended actions, partial action sequences that have not been executed for the unordered case but that are still in time in consideration of the performance of past received cases. This allows the sales behavior support device 101 to present sales actions that should be taken to win the case to the person in charge of the unordered case currently undergoing negotiation. Furthermore, by taking into account partial action sequences that include "start of case" as a previous action, the sales behavior support device 101 can also extract subsequent actions that do not require the execution of a previous action.

[0082] The sales behavior support device 101 may also determine the recommended behavior using information on lost cases. Specifically, for example, for a lost case whose case type matches the case type of the unreceived case partial behavior sequence information 401 and whose status is lost, the sales behavior support device 101 generates information corresponding to the received case partial behavior sequence information 501, the similar case partial behavior sequence information 601, and the unexecuted partial behavior sequence information 701, respectively, by the same method as that described in steps S902 to S904.

[0083] The recommended behavior classification unit 109, for example, includes in the recommended behavior sequence information 801 only those partial behavior sequences indicated by the records extracted in step S905 whose probability of receiving an order if the partial behavior sequence is performed after the elapsed time is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

[0084] Furthermore, the recommended behavior classification unit 109 may include, for example, in the recommended behavior sequence information 801, only those partial behavior sequences indicated by the records extracted in step S905, for which the conditional probability that the partial behavior sequence would have been performed after the elapsed time when the job was accepted is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

[0085] The winning probability and the conditional probability can be calculated, for example, based on the number of orders that will be received if the partial behavior sequence indicated by the unexecuted partial behavior sequence information 701 (for orders that have been received) is implemented, or the number of orders that will be received if the partial behavior sequence indicated by information equivalent to the unexecuted partial behavior sequence information 701 for orders that have been lost is implemented.

[0086] The recommended behavior classification unit 109 may, for example, include in the recommended behavior sequence information 801 only the partial behavior sequences indicated by the records extracted in step S905 that are not included in the information corresponding to the unimplemented partial behavior sequence information 701 for lost projects.

[0087] In this way, the sales behavior support device 101 determines recommended behaviors using information on lost sales cases as well, thereby making it possible to present behaviors that are more likely to lead to winning orders.

[0088] 10 is a diagram showing an example of the screen configuration of a recommended action display screen. The recommended action display screen 1001 displays information indicating, for example, a case ID input by a user, the case type of the case indicated by the case ID, the start date of the case, the person in charge of the case, and the number of days elapsed since the start date of the case to the present time. This information is generated, for example, from the case information 103.

[0089] Furthermore, for example, information indicating actions already performed for the case indicated by the case ID is displayed on the recommended action display screen 1001. The information indicating actions already performed for the case is generated, for example, from action IDs and elapsed times corresponding to actions whose action flags are 1 indicated in the sales action history information 104.

[0090] Furthermore, the recommended action display screen 1001 displays information indicating, for example, recommended actions that indicate which actions should be performed and action dates that indicate by when the recommended actions should be performed. The recommended actions indicate the previous and subsequent actions included in the recommended action sequence information 801, and the action dates indicate the previous action elapsed time and subsequent action elapsed time corresponding to the previous action and the subsequent action, respectively. Note that "start of project" is essentially synonymous with not performing the action, and therefore "start of project" is not displayed as a recommended action.

[0091] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but includes various modifications. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail to clearly explain the present invention, and the present invention is not necessarily limited to those including all of the described configurations. Furthermore, it is possible to replace part of the configuration of one embodiment with the configuration of another embodiment, or to add the configuration of another embodiment to the configuration of one embodiment. Furthermore, it is possible to add, delete, or replace part of the configuration of each embodiment with other configurations.

[0092] Furthermore, the above-described configurations, functions, processing units, processing means, etc. may be partially or entirely implemented in hardware, for example, by designing them as integrated circuits. The above-described configurations, functions, etc. may also be implemented in software, with a processor interpreting and executing a program that implements each function. Information such as the programs, tables, and files that implement each function can be stored in a memory, a recording device such as a hard disk or SSD (Solid State Drive), or a recording medium such as an IC card, SD card, or DVD.

[0093] In addition, the control lines and information lines shown are those that are considered necessary for the explanation, and do not necessarily show all the control lines and information lines in the product. In reality, it can be assumed that almost all components are interconnected. [Explanation of symbols]

[0094] 101 Sales behavior support device, 102 Auxiliary storage device, 103 Case information, 104 Sales behavior history information, 105 Processor, 106 Action sequence generation unit, 107 Similar case extraction unit, 108 Unexecuted action sequence extraction unit, 109 Recommended behavior classification unit, 110 Input device, 111 Display device, 112 Memory, 113 Communication device

Claims

1. A sales action support device, a processor and a memory, The memory holds sales action history information indicating, for each of the cases including unordered cases and ordered cases in the sales activities, the sales actions performed and the elapsed time from the start of the case until each of the sales actions is performed; The processor: generating a partial action sequence indicating, for each of the unordered job and the ordered job, a pre-action and a post-action, which are two sales actions performed at different elapsed times, and the elapsed times at which the pre-action and the post-action were performed; comparing the partial action sequence of the unordered job with the partial action sequence of the ordered job, and extracting similar jobs from the ordered jobs that are similar to the unordered job; extracting an unexecuted partial action sequence from the partial action sequence of the similar job, the unexecuted partial action sequence not matching any of the partial action sequences of the unordered job; determining a recommended action sequence from the unexecuted partial action sequence based on the elapsed time of the preceding action and the succeeding action in the unexecuted partial action sequence and the time from the start time of the unordered job to the current time; A sales behavior support device that generates data for displaying information indicating the sales behavior indicated by the recommended behavior sequence.

2. 2. The sales action support device according to claim 1, The processor extracts, from the received orders, orders that include all of the partial action sequences in the unreceived orders as the similar orders.

3. 2. The sales action support device according to claim 1, The processor includes in the recommended action sequence, among the unexecuted partial action sequences, those in which the elapsed times of the preceding action and the succeeding action are both greater than the time from the start point of the unordered case to the present time.

4. 2. The sales action support device according to claim 1, The processor: generating the partial action sequence including, for each of the unordered case and the ordered case, an action indicating the start of the case that is deemed to have been performed before all of the sales actions indicated by the sales action history information as the previous action; A sales action support device that determines the elapsed time of a previous action in a partial action sequence where the previous action is an action indicating the start of the case as the start time of the case corresponding to the partial action sequence.

5. 5. The sales action support device according to claim 4, The processor includes in the recommended action sequence, among the unexecuted partial action sequences, those in which the previous action indicates the start of the case and the elapsed time of the subsequent action is greater than the time from the start of the unordered case to the current time.

6. 2. The sales action support device according to claim 1, The sales action history information indicates the sales action performed for each of the cases including the unordered case, the ordered case, and the lost case, and the elapsed time from the start of the case until the performance of each of the sales actions, The processor: generating the partial action sequence for the lost sales by referring to the sales action history information; comparing the partial behavioral sequence of the unordered case with the partial behavioral sequence of the lost case, and extracting from the lost case similar lost cases that are similar to the unordered case; extracting, from the partial action sequences of the similar lost projects, a lost and unexecuted partial action sequence that does not match any of the partial action sequences of the unordered projects; A sales action support device that determines the recommended action sequence from the unexecuted partial action sequence based on the elapsed time of the previous action and the subsequent action in the unexecuted partial action sequence, the time from the start point of the unordered case to the current time, and the lost unexecuted partial action sequence.

7. 2. The sales action support device according to claim 1, The processor generates data for displaying information indicating the preceding action and the subsequent action indicated by the recommended action sequence, and the elapsed time corresponding to each of the preceding action and the subsequent action.

8. A sales action support method using a sales action support device, the sales action support device has a processor and a memory, The memory holds sales action history information indicating, for each of the cases including unordered cases and ordered cases in the sales activities, the sales actions performed and the elapsed time from the start of the case until each of the sales actions is performed; The sales behavior support method includes: the processor refers to the sales action history information and generates a partial action sequence indicating, for each of the unordered job and the ordered job, a pre-action and a post-action, which are two sales actions performed at different elapsed times, and the elapsed times at which the pre-action and the post-action were performed; the processor compares the partial action sequence of the unordered job with the partial action sequence of the ordered job, and extracts similar jobs from the ordered jobs that are similar to the unordered job; the processor extracts, from the partial action sequences of the similar jobs, an unexecuted partial action sequence that does not match any of the partial action sequences of the unordered jobs; the processor determines a recommended action sequence from the unexecuted partial action sequence based on the elapsed time of the preceding action and the subsequent action in the unexecuted partial action sequence and the time from the start time of the unordered job to the current time; The sales behavior support method, wherein the processor generates data for displaying information indicating the sales behavior indicated by the recommended sequence of actions.

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