Sales Support System

Abstract

To more efficiently use information on a seminar in business activity.SOLUTION: A control unit reads information on all items corresponding to each reservation customer in the latest seminar reservation table (S2). Next, the control unit confirms whether or not the reservation customer is registered in the latest customer table (S3). When the customer is not registered (S3: No), the control unit adds the information on the reservation customer to the customer table, and stores it (S4). When the customer is registered (S3: Yes), the control unit compares contents in the stored customer table with the information recognized from the seminar reservation table with respect to the customer (S5). When there is new information recognized not to be described (S5:Yes), the control unit adds the new information to the customer table, and stores (registers) it in a storage unit 125 (S6).SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a sales support system used in the sales activities of securities companies and the like. [Background technology]

[0002] Sales support systems that use networks to manage and sell products are widely used. In particular, various financial products (securities, etc.) sold by financial institutions, securities companies, etc. are significantly different in nature from other products, and many complicated procedures and restrictions are imposed on their buying and selling, so systems that manage all information related to sales activities by computer are used. This makes it possible to carry out sales activities efficiently and also makes it easier to ensure that sales activities comply with the law.

[0003] The functions and configuration of such a system are described in Patent Document 1. This system uses a CRM (sales support) system that manages customer information (attribute information such as name, contact history, etc.), and a seminar / visitor reservation system that manages information related to seminars held by a company using this system (reservation table, event information, etc.). These are connected via a network, so the CRM system can also manage information related to seminars, for example. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2017-204179 A DISCLOSURE OF THEINVENTION [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] In the technology described in Patent Document 1, customer information is essential information that is directly used in sales activities. In contrast, information about seminars is indirectly used in sales activities, unlike customer information, and therefore the relevance of these pieces of information is weak and they are not linked to each other. Alternatively, information about seminars has not been fully utilized in sales activities.

[0006] For this reason, there has been a demand for a sales support system that can utilize information about seminars more efficiently in sales activities.

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has an object to solve the above problems. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The present invention is a sales support system that supports sales activities when selling financial products to customers, comprising: a seminar information table that stores seminar identification information, which serves as identification information for a plurality of seminars held for said customers, and seminar characteristic information in which the content or features of the financial products that the seminar targets are converted into keywords; a seminar reservation table that registers and stores reservation customer identification information, which serves as identification information for said reservation customers who have made a reservation to attend said seminar, in association with said seminar; a customer table that stores customer identification information, which serves as identification information for said registered customers, and customer characteristic information in which the preferences or suitability of said customers for purchasing financial products are converted into keywords; and a database server having a control unit for storing the seminar information table, the seminar reservation table, and the customer table in a storage unit by input via a network, and the storage unit, wherein when the customer registered in the customer table is recognized as the reserving customer registered in the seminar information table, the control unit compares the seminar characteristic information of the seminar reserved and registered by the reserving customer with the customer characteristic information of the customer, and when there is any information in the seminar characteristic information of the seminar that does not match the customer characteristic information of the customer, updates the customer table so as to add the seminar characteristic information that does not match to the customer characteristic information of the customer. . In addition, a customer who is not registered in the customer table at the time of registering the reservation can be registered as the reservation customer in the seminar reservation table, and the control unit determines whether the reservation customer is registered as the customer in the customer table by comparing the reservation customer identification information of the reservation customer with the customer identification information of the customer registered in the customer table, and if the reservation customer is not registered in the customer table, creates the customer identification information and customer characteristic information of the reservation customer in the customer table based on the reservation customer identification information of the reservation customer and the seminar characteristic information of the seminar for which the reservation customer has registered, and adds the reservation customer as a new customer to the customer table to update the customer table. In addition, three or more items may be set corresponding to the customer identification information in the customer table and the reservation customer identification information in the seminar reservation table, and the control unit may determine that the reservation customer is registered as the customer in the customer table when there is a customer in the customer table for which two or more of the items in the customer identification information match the reservation customer identification information. The control unit may also set a flag in the customer table to distinguish between the customer who has been registered in advance and the customer who has been newly registered as the customer by the control unit. Also, the database server includes a display unit for displaying information; The control unit updates the contents of the customer table by the control unit. On the display unit It may be displayed. In addition, the seminar information table and the seminar reservation table may be created by a seminar reservation system connected to the sales support system via a network, and the control unit may obtain the seminar information table and the seminar reservation table from the seminar reservation system during a predetermined time period and store them in the memory unit, and then update the customer table based on the seminar information table and the seminar reservation table. In addition, the control unit may create a daily report table that registers the fact that contact regarding the seminar has been made to the customer and store it in the memory unit, compare the seminar characteristic information of the seminar registered in the seminar information table with the customer characteristic information of the customer registered in the customer table to determine whether the seminar can be recommended to the customer, and if it is determined that the seminar can be recommended to the customer, cause an email regarding the seminar to be sent to the customer if contact regarding the seminar to the customer is not registered in the daily report table. Effect of the Invention

[0009] According to the present invention, information about seminars can be used more efficiently in sales activities. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing a configuration when a sales support system according to an embodiment of the present invention is used; [Diagram 2] 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a database server used in the sales support system according to the embodiment of the present invention; FIG. [Diagram 3] 3A shows an example of a customer table and FIG. 3B shows an example of a daily report table used in the sales support system according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] 2A shows an example of a seminar information table and FIG. 2B shows an example of a seminar reservation table used in the sales support system according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 5] 10 is a flowchart showing an operation of updating a customer table in the sales support system according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 6] 13 is an example of an updated customer table. [Figure 7] 11 is a flowchart showing an operation of sending an e-mail based on a customer table and a seminar information table in the sales support system according to the embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration when a sales support system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention is used. Here, the sales support system 1, a seminar reservation system 2, and a sales representative terminal 3 are connected via a network N.

[0012] The sales support system 1 is composed of a Web server (computer) 11 and a database server 12. The Web server 11 is used mainly for exchanging data with other systems, and the database server 12 is used mainly for storing and managing data.

[0013] The database server 12 stores, as a customer table, identification information and various other information about customers related to the company (company selling financial products) using this sales support system 1. The database server 12 also stores, as a daily report table, keywords representing the date and time when the company's employees (salespeople) contacted customers registered in the customer table and the outline of the content of the conversation at that time. The specific contents of the customer table and daily report table will be described later.

[0014] The seminar reservation system 2 is also composed of a Web server 21 and a database server 22. The functions of this seminar reservation system are similar to those of the seminar and visitor reservation system described in Patent Document 1. For this reason, various seminars related to the company using this sales support system 1 are managed here, and the database server 22 stores identification information and various information for each seminar within a certain period including the present as a seminar information table. The database server 22 also stores information on reservation registrants or participants for each seminar as a seminar reservation table. The specific contents of the seminar information table and the seminar reservation table will be described later.

[0015] As described above, the data related to the customer stored in the database server 12 can be registered from the sales representative terminal 3 operated by the sales representative. At this time, the sales representative S is associated with the sales office (branch or department) to which he or she belongs.

[0016] 2 shows the configuration of the database server 12 in the sales support system 1. Here, a control unit 121 having a CPU that controls the entire database server 12 is provided. When the control unit 121 performs this operation, an operation unit 122 such as a keyboard or touch panel that accepts user operations, and a display unit 123 that is a display that displays various information are provided. In addition, a working memory 124 that is used when the control unit 121 operates is also provided.

[0017] Also provided is a storage unit 125 consisting of a large-capacity hard disk and non-volatile memory for storing various information relating to customers and seminars, as described below. Also provided is an interface unit 126 for exchanging various data including the above information by connecting with the Web server 11 via an intranet or the like. The database server 22 in the seminar reservation system 2 also has a similar configuration to the above, although the individual functions and stored information are partially different. These configurations are the same as those of an ordinary computer.

[0018] 3 shows an example of the specific contents of the customer table (a) and daily report table (b) stored in the database server 12 (storage unit 125). These are initially input by the sales representative S via the sales representative terminal 3, but may be updated by the control unit 121 as appropriate, as described later.

[0019] In the customer table (FIG. 3(a)), multiple items are stored for each customer. Here, the items are the department / branch code (number) of the department / branch to which the salesperson who handled the customer belongs, the customer code (number) assigned to each customer, the customer name (Japanese name in kanji), the customer name (kana), the address, the telephone number, the email address, and the account information (account number). These are customer identification information for identifying the customer. In FIG. 3(a), "***" means that it is set appropriately, although it is not illustrated here, and the same applies hereinafter. The "prospect flag" will be described later, but here, in the customer table, the department / branch code, the customer name, and the account information, which are the minimum identification information for the customer, are linked in advance, and for customers who have been assigned a customer code (three customers in FIG. 3(a)), it is recognized that the identification information for this customer has been sufficiently entered, and in this case "0" is set. "DM yes or no" indicates whether or not this customer wishes to receive direct mail (email) for sales from this company, with "○" meaning yes and "×" meaning no.

[0020] The items "Investment policy," "Capital characteristics," "Investment experience," "Interests," and "Financial assets" are information that indicates the customer's preferences or suitability when purchasing financial products (customer characteristic information), and all of them have been turned into keywords.

[0021] "Investment policy" indicates the basic investment policy of this customer, and here, keywords such as "aggressive" (if high risk, high return is desired), "stable" (low risk, stable income is desired), and "balanced" (between "aggressive" and "stable") are set. "Investment experience" indicates the form of investment (purchase of financial products) of this customer in the past, and here, keywords such as "stock spot" (stock spot trading), "stock credit" (stock credit trading), "bond" (bond purchase), and "investment trust" are set. Also, unlike "investment experience", the "interest" item does not specify the contents of past investments, but specifies the contents in which the customer is interested, and the keywords are the same as for "investment experience". The "investment experience" item may be blank (NULL) when this customer is registered. "Interest" may also be blank (NULL) if the customer does not desire any form other than that set in "investment experience".

[0022] "Financial assets" indicates the range of funds used when purchasing financial products for this customer. "Characteristics of funds" indicates the characteristics of these funds, and here, "surplus funds" (when there is sufficient surplus within the scope of these funds), "deposit money", "loans", "inheritance", etc. are set as keywords. In addition, "characteristics of funds", "financial assets", address, telephone number, and other items are left blank (NULL) if they are currently unknown.

[0023] The daily report table (Fig. 3(b)) is also created by the salesperson S and is entered, for example, from the salesperson terminal 3, and records are kept for each sales contact (information exchange) with each customer. Recorded here are the daily report ID (number) assigned to each contact, the customer code of the contacted customer (corresponding to that in the customer table (Fig. 3(a))), and the date and time of contact. Also recorded here is the target product category ("product category"), which is an important keyword corresponding to the content related to this contact. Here, examples of such keywords include "domestic stocks (somewhat specialized domestic stock investment)," "foreign stocks (somewhat specialized foreign stock investment)," and "investment trusts (investment trusts for beginners)." This "product category" corresponds to the "product category" in the seminar information table described later.

[0024] The form of this contact is also recorded here as "form," with specific examples given here being "telephone," "face-to-face," and "email." Additionally, "content" is the specific content of this contact, with only "seminar information" being specifically recorded here. In this case, the "seminar code" (described below) of that seminar is specifically recorded. For this reason, this daily report table identifies which seminar information was given to which customer.

[0025] On the other hand, data relating to seminars stored in the data server 22 in the seminar reservation system 2 is registered in the database server 22 via the sales representative terminal 3 or directly by the seminar manager. Regarding the seminar reservation table, when reservations for seminars are accepted directly from customers via the network N, the database server 22 can be created automatically.

[0026] Fig. 4 shows an example of the specific contents of the seminar information table (a) and seminar reservation table (b) used here. In the seminar information table (Fig. 4(a)), information on four seminars is registered, with each seminar being assigned a seminar code (number). Here, the "seminar code," start date and time, end date and time, and "title" of each seminar are stored. This information is stored as information for identifying the seminar (seminar identification information). Since the seminar information table and seminar reservation table are used for sales activities, it is preferable to keep the information stored even after the seminar has ended.

[0027] Meanwhile, in the seminar information table (Fig. 4(a)), "product category", "difficulty level", and "content" are stored as information (seminar characteristic information) that turns the contents or characteristics of this seminar into keywords. The keywords for "product category" are the same as those for "product category" in the daily report table (Fig. 3(b)). Customer categories based on the general level of proficiency required of customers when purchasing such products are set as "intermediate", "beginner", etc. in the "difficulty level" item. In addition, for example, the main items expected as reasons for purchasing products explained in the seminar and items that are particularly characteristic of the seminar are set in the "content" item, and here, "high tech", "asset formation", "dividend income", "inheritance planning", etc. are set as keywords.

[0028] The database server 22 can also use AI technology to extract "product category," "difficulty level," and "content" from the title and summary of the seminar to create the seminar information table. The deletion flag is set to "1" if the corresponding seminar was once registered but then canceled, and is set to "0" if it is scheduled to be held (or has been held). This allows information about canceled seminars to be stored in the seminar information table.

[0029] In the seminar reservation table (Fig. 4(b)), when a customer makes a reservation to participate in a seminar registered in the seminar information table, information about each reservation is registered. Here, the "management ID" is a number that is assigned according to the order of customer reservations from a certain point in time. At this time, the "customer code" of the customer who made the reservation (reservation customer), the "branch code" of the branch that accepted the reservation, and the "customer name" are registered. If the reservation customer is registered in the customer table (Fig. 3(a)), the "customer code" is the same as that in the customer table, and the same is true for the "customer name". The branch (branch code) selected in the seminar reservation table is the branch that accepted the reservation, and is not necessarily the same as the branch (branch code) corresponding to this customer in the customer table. In addition, as in the customer table, the "telephone number", "email address", and "account information" are also registered. The "customer code", "branch code", "customer name", "telephone number", "email address", and "account information" in the seminar reservation table (Fig. 4(b)) are reservation customer identification information for identifying the customer who made the reservation for the seminar (reservation customer).

[0030] Next, the date and time when the reservation was made (reservation date and time) and the "seminar code" of the seminar to be reserved are registered. The "seminar code" corresponds to that in the seminar information table (Figure 4(a)), and is used to identify the seminar. Also, in order to retain information in the event that a reservation is cancelled after it has been made, a "deletion flag" is set here as in the seminar information table ("0" if the reservation is made, and "1" if the reservation is subsequently cancelled).

[0031] As described above, it is preferable to store the seminar reservation table even after the seminar has ended. In this case, if the seminar can be attended without prior reservation, it is preferable to register customers who attend without prior reservation as reservation customers.

[0032] Here, the reservation customer (customer name: D KKK) with management ID Y000004 in Figure 4(b) is not registered in the customer table, so there is no customer code (NULL). Also, because the reservation was made from a privately owned PC and not via a branch, there is no branch code (NULL) either. As mentioned above, the reservation customer identification information contains multiple items, but in the seminar reservation table, it is not necessary for all of these items to be entered, and it is still possible to make a reservation for a seminar in this case.

[0033] Since the sales support system 1 and the seminar reservation system 2 are connected via a network N, the database server 12 (sales support system 1) can obtain and store the seminar information table and seminar reservation table created by the seminar reservation system 2. However, the seminar information table and seminar reservation table are irregularly updated in the seminar reservation system 2 every time a seminar is planned or every time a reservation for participation in a seminar is made. The seminar information table and seminar reservation table in the sales support system 1 are updated less frequently than those in the seminar reservation system 2, and can be updated, for example, once a day during a predetermined time period, such as at night when direct sales activities are not being conducted by sales representatives.

[0034] At this time, the sales support system 1 can update the customer table using the latest seminar reservation table and seminar information table obtained. After that, the updated customer table can be used to efficiently carry out sales activities. This operation will be described below.

[0035] Fig. 5 is a flow chart showing the operation of updating the customer table in this way. This operation is performed every time database server 12 reads and updates the latest seminar information table and seminar reservation table as described above (S1). Thereafter, control unit 121 in database server 12 reads out information on all corresponding items for each reserved customer (Y000001 to Y000004 in Fig. 4(b)) in the latest seminar reservation table stored in memory unit 125 (S2).

[0036] Next, the control unit 121 checks whether the reserving customer is registered in the latest customer table (S3). This determination is made by comparing the reserving customer identification information in the seminar reservation table (FIG. 4(b)) with the customer identification information in the customer table (FIG. 3(a)). As described above, since NULL items are allowed in the reserving customer identification information in the seminar reservation table, it is not necessary for all items in the reserving customer identification information to match the corresponding items in the customer identification information in order to recognize that the reserving customer is registered. For example, if the "customer code" and the "customer name" match, or if the "department / branch code" and the "account information" match, the reserving customer can be determined to be registered in the customer table (S3: Yes). In other words, if three or more corresponding items are set in the reserving customer identification information in the seminar reservation table and the customer identification information in the customer table, and two or more of these items match, the reserving customer can be determined to be registered in the customer table (S3: Yes).

[0037] If the customer has not been registered (S3: No), the control unit 121 adds information about the reserving customer to the customer table and stores (registers) it in the storage unit 125 (S4). If the customer has been registered (S3: Yes), the control unit 121 compares the contents of the customer table stored in the storage unit 125 with information about the customer recognized from the seminar reservation table (S5), and if there is new information that has been recognized as not being listed (S5: Yes), the control unit 121 adds the new information to the customer table and stores (registers) it in the storage unit 125 (S6). Specific examples of these operations will be described later.

[0038] After the customer table has been updated in this way (S4, S6), the control unit 121 uses the display unit 123 to display the latest registered details regarding this customer (S7). This allows the manager to confirm the details. This display may also be performed on the sales representative terminal 3 in FIG. 1 so that the sales representative S can confirm it.

[0039] The above operation is repeated sequentially until the information on all reserved customers in the seminar reservation table is read (S8: Yes), thereby updating the customer table stored in the storage unit 125 based on the latest seminar reservation table.

[0040] The operation (S4) when the customer is not registered (S3: No), and the operation (S6) when the customer is registered (S3: Yes) and there is new information that is recognized as not having been entered (S5: Yes) will be specifically described. Figure 6 shows the contents of the customer table updated by such operations when the original customer table is as shown in Figure 3(a) and the seminar reservation table is as shown in Figure 4(b).

[0041] When the current customer table is that of FIG. 3(a) and the seminar reservation table is that of FIG. 4(b), in the above judgment criteria, the "customer code", "department / branch code", and "account information" are NULL in the reservation customer identification information of the seminar reservation table (FIG. 4(b)), so this corresponds to the case where the reservation customer with management ID Y000004 has not been registered as a customer (S3: No). In this case, the control unit 121 reads out the seminar code (900904) in this case, and reads out the seminar characteristic information of this seminar in the seminar information table (FIG. 4(a)) obtained at the same time as the seminar reservation table (S1). This allows it to recognize that the "title" of this seminar is "Life plan for the 100-year life era", the "product category" is "other", the "difficulty level" is "beginner", and the "content" is "asset formation".

[0042] In this case, an example of information about this customer (customer who has made a reservation) that the control unit 121 adds to the customer table is shown in the row in FIG. 6 where the customer code is A00104. Here, A00104 is assigned to this customer as a new customer code as customer identification information. The customer name, telephone number, and email address stored in the seminar reservation table are also registered. The aforementioned potential customer flag, which is set to "0" for customers who have already been registered, is set to "1" for such newly registered customers. "DM allowed / not allowed" is set to "X" as the default.

[0043] Next, as for the customer characteristic information, the contents (customer characteristic information) after "investment policy" in the customer table are inferred and set based on the fact that this customer has booked (requested to attend) the seminar. Here, since the "difficulty" of this seminar is "beginner" and the "content" is "asset formation" in the seminar characteristic information in the seminar information table, it can be inferred (recommended) that the "investment policy" in the customer table for this customer is "stability oriented" and the "interest" is "investment trusts". For this reason, a customer table in which these are set is created for this customer. Note that the relationship between the keywords in such seminar characteristic information and the keywords in the customer characteristic information can be appropriately determined depending on the content. Here, since "capital characteristics", "investment experience", and "financial assets" are unknown at this point, these are set to blank (NULL).

[0044] In other words, if the customer is not registered (S3: No), the control unit 121 adds customer identification information and customer characteristic information about this customer to the customer table based on the latest seminar reservation table and seminar information table, and stores them in the memory unit 125 (S4).

[0045] Next, the operation (S6) in the case where the current customer table is that of FIG. 3(a) and the seminar reservation table is that of FIG. 4(b) and a customer is registered (S3: Yes) but there is new information that is recognized as not being entered (S5: Yes) will be described. For the reservation customer (customer code: 100103) with the management ID Y000003 in FIG. 4(b), a customer with the same "customer code" and "customer name" exists in the customer table (S3: Yes). In this case, the control unit 121 reads out the seminar code (900903) in this case from the seminar reservation table, and reads out the seminar characteristic information of this seminar in the seminar information table obtained at the same time as the seminar reservation table (S1). As a result, it is recognized that the "title" of this seminar is "How to select stocks of foreign stocks", the "product category" is "foreign stocks", the "difficulty level" is "intermediate", and the "content" is "dividend income".

[0046] In this case, the control unit 121 compares the customer characteristic information of this customer in the customer table with the information recognized from the seminar information table as described above (S5). For example, here, it is determined whether the "product category" recognized from the seminar information table matches the "investment experience" and "interest" (NULL in this case) in the current customer table. In this case, since the "product category" recognized from the seminar information table, "foreign stocks", is different from the "investment experience" ("bonds"), it is recognized that there is unregistered information ("foreign stocks") (S5: Yes). In other words, the reservation customer with the management ID Y000003 (customer code 100103) corresponds to a case where the customer is registered (S3: Yes) and there is new information recognized as not being described (S5: Yes).

[0047] In this case, the result of the control unit 121 rewriting the customer table is reflected in the row of this customer in Fig. 6. Here, compared to the case of Fig. 3(a), "Foreign stocks" has been added to "Interest" for the customer with customer code 100103. This customer table will be used from now on.

[0048] By creating and updating the customer table in this way, the sales support system 1 can efficiently carry out sales activities for customers registered in the customer table. For example, when a new seminar is defined and registered in the seminar information table, and this seminar has a "product category" that matches the contents set in the "investment experience" and "interest" in the customer table, the database server 12 can send information about the seminar as an e-mail to the e-mail address registered in the customer table. In this case, by registering in the daily report table that such an e-mail has been sent, it is possible to prevent the same customer from being contacted multiple times with the same content.

[0049] Fig. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the database server 12 (control unit 121) in this case. This operation can be performed after the customer table is updated by the operation in Fig. 5, or after the seminar information table is updated (a new seminar is registered).

[0050] Here, the control unit 121 reads out information about one seminar from the latest seminar information table stored in the memory unit 125 (S11). This recognizes the "product category," "difficulty level," and "content" of this seminar as seminar characteristic information (Fig. 4(a)). Next, the control unit 121 reads out information about one customer from the latest customer table (S12). This recognizes the "DM availability" of this customer, and "investment policy," "investment experience," and "interests" (Figs. 3(a) and 6) as customer characteristic information.

[0051] Next, the control unit 121 compares the seminar characteristic information of the seminar, such as "product category," "difficulty level," and "content," with the customer characteristic information of the customer, such as "investment policy," "investment experience," and "interest," to determine whether or not attending the seminar can be recommended to the customer (S13).

[0052] In this case, for example, if the "product category" and "content" of the seminar are consistent with the "investment experience" and "interest" of the customer, the seminar can be deemed preferable. Even if these are consistent, for example, the "difficulty level" of seminar 900903 in FIG. 4(a) is set to "intermediate," it can be determined that the seminar is not preferable if the customer's "investment experience" is NULL. Alternatively, the seminar can be deemed preferable only if the "investment experience" is limited and not NULL.

[0053] Also, for example, for a customer whose "investment policy" in the customer table is "stability-oriented," a seminar whose "product category" in the seminar information table is "investment trust (investment trust)" can be recommended. Or, for example, for a customer whose "fund nature" in the customer table is "inheritance," a seminar whose "content" in the seminar information table is "inheritance measures" can be recommended. That is, the control unit 121 can compare the recognized seminar characteristic information with the recognized customer characteristic information to estimate the suitability of the seminar to the customer (whether it can be recommended or not). The correspondence between the keywords in the seminar characteristic information and the keywords in the customer characteristic information used as a criterion for determining suitability is set appropriately according to the content.

[0054] If it is determined that this seminar can be recommended to this customer (S13: Yes), the control unit 121 refers to the latest seminar reservation table stored in the memory unit 125 and determines whether or not a reservation for this seminar has already been made by this customer (S14). This determination is made based on whether or not the customer code of the reserving customer who has reserved this seminar in the latest seminar reservation table matches that of this customer. Alternatively, this determination may be made in the same manner as the determination of whether or not the reserving customer is registered in the customer table in FIG. 5 (S3).

[0055] If no reservation by this customer is found (S14: No), the control unit 121 refers to the latest daily report table stored in the memory unit 125 and judges whether or not the customer has already been contacted about this seminar (S15). This judgment is made based on whether or not the "seminar code" of the customer with this customer code in the latest daily report table is equal to the "seminar code" of this seminar.

[0056] If this contact has not yet been made (S15: No), the control unit 121 refers to "DM Possible / Not Possible" in the latest customer table stored in the memory unit 125, and recognizes that direct mail of this information is possible only if "DM Possible / Not Possible" is "O", and recognizes that it is not possible if it is "X" (S16).

[0057] If direct mail is permitted (S16: Yes), the control unit 121 causes the customer (S12) to create an e-mail containing the specific details of the seminar (S11), the date and time of the seminar, etc., and sends the e-mail to the e-mail address specified by the customer's "e-mail address" (S17). This instruction is preferably sent to the branch specified by the branch code of the customer in the customer table, or to the sales representative terminal 3 at that branch.

[0058] After this e-mail is sent, the sales representative in charge or the like adds a note to the daily report table (Figure 3(b)) indicating that an e-mail with such content has been sent to the customer from the sales representative terminal 3, and the note is stored in the memory unit 135 (S18).

[0059] If the seminar cannot be recommended (S13: No), if the customer has already booked the seminar (S14: Yes), if the customer has already been contacted about the seminar (S15: Yes), or if direct mail is not permitted (S16: No), then an e-mail will not be sent (S17) and the daily report table will not be updated (S18).

[0060] The above operations (S13 to S18) are performed for all customers in the latest customer table stored in the memory unit 135 (S19), and for all seminars in the latest seminar information table stored in the memory unit 135 (S20). The data server 12 itself may send the e-mail (S17) and update the daily report table (S18). In this case, before sending the e-mail, a message to that effect may be sent to the sales representative terminal 3 to have the sales representative S confirm it.

[0061] In addition, for a customer (S4) newly registered in the customer table by the operation of Fig. 5, the registered information has not yet been verified by the customer himself / herself, so the information may be inappropriate, and in this case, sending an e-mail (S17) may not be desirable. Since the potential customer flag is set to "1" for this customer as described above, in this case, in addition to the judgments (S13, S14, S15, S16) used to determine whether or not to send an e-mail as described above, a setting may be made such that an e-mail is sent (S17) only if the potential customer flag is "0". In this way, by setting different potential customer flags for the customer (S4) newly registered in the customer table by the operation of Fig. 5 and the customers who were originally registered, such an operation can be easily performed.

[0062] By the above operation, the contact regarding the seminar can be efficiently carried out based on the updated customer table. At this time, since the customer table is updated using the latest seminar reservation table as described above, this type of sales activity can be carried out particularly efficiently.

[0063] Note that seminars for which the deletion flag in the seminar information table (Figure 4(a)) is "1" (if the seminar was once registered but then canceled) are excluded in the operation of Figure 7 for sending email. However, information about this seminar may be used when updating the customer table (operation of Figure 5). That is, in this case, the customer table is updated (operation of Figure 5) for all registered seminars, regardless of the value of the deletion flag in the seminar information table.

[0064] Note that even if the deletion flag in the seminar booking table (Figure 4(b)) is "1" (if the customer has registered a booking but then cancelled), emails regarding the seminar to the customer (operation in Figure 7) will not be sent. However, information regarding the seminar for this customer may be used when updating the customer table (operation in Figure 5). In other words, even in this case, the customer table is updated (operation in Figure 5) for all registered customers, regardless of the value of the deletion flag in the seminar booking table.

[0065] In FIG. 7, the operation of sending an e-mail informing the customer of the seminar to the customer registered in the customer table is shown, but the control unit 121 can also instruct the control unit 121 to create and send e-mails with other contents to a customer newly registered in the customer table (S4) or a customer whose registered information has been added (S6). For example, for a customer newly registered based on the seminar reservation table (FIG. 6), since there are many NULL items such as "customer address" and "investment experience", it is possible to create and send e-mails to inquire about (or have the customer input) these items or to confirm other items. In this case, it is also possible to have the customer reset "DM availability". As shown in FIG. 6, the potential customer flag for this customer was set to "1", but after such confirmation and correction work is performed, the potential customer flag is set to "0", and from then on, this customer can be treated the same as other customers who were previously registered.

[0066] Also, in the above example, various tables are created and managed as shown in Fig. 1, and the operations shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 7 are performed by the database server 12. However, for example, a device (server) in which the sales support system 1 and seminar reservation system 2 in Fig. 1 are integrated may be used. Also, these operations may be performed on the seminar reservation system 2 side in Fig. 1, and the seminar reservation system 2 may essentially be used as the sales support system. In other words, it is sufficient that the above operations are performed within the entire system.

[0067] The present invention has been described above based on the embodiment. This embodiment is merely an example, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications are possible in the combination of the respective components, and that such modifications are also within the scope of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0068] 1. Sales Support System 2. Seminar booking system 3 Salesperson terminal 11, 21 Web Server 12, 22 Database Server 121 Control Unit 122 Operation section 123 Display section 124 Working Memory 125 Storage section 126 Interface section N Network S Salesperson

Claims

1. A sales support system that supports sales activities in selling financial products to customers, a seminar information table storing seminar identification information for identifying each of a plurality of seminars held for said customers, and seminar characteristic information in which the contents or characteristics of financial products targeted by said seminars are expressed as keywords; a seminar reservation table in which, for a reservation customer who has registered a reservation for participation in the seminar, reservation customer identification information that serves as identification information of the reservation customer is registered and stored in association with the seminar; A customer table storing customer identification information, which is identification information of the registered customer, and customer characteristic information, which is a keyword representing the customer's preference or suitability for purchasing financial products; is used, a control unit that causes the seminar information table, the seminar reservation table, and the customer table to be stored in a storage unit by input via a network; and a database server having the storage unit; The sales support system is characterized in that, when the control unit recognizes that the customer registered in the customer table is a reservation customer registered in the seminar information table, it compares the seminar characteristic information of the seminar reserved and registered by the reservation customer with the customer characteristic information of the customer, and if there is any seminar characteristic information of the seminar that does not match the customer characteristic information of the customer, it updates the customer table so that the seminar characteristic information that does not match is added to the customer characteristic information of the customer.

2. In the seminar reservation table, a customer who is not registered in the customer table at the time of reservation registration can be registered as the reservation customer, The control unit is determining whether or not the reserving customer is registered as the customer in the customer table by comparing the reserving customer identification information of the reserving customer with the customer identification information of the customer registered in the customer table; If the reservation customer is not registered in the customer table, The sales support system described in claim 1, characterized in that the customer identification information and customer characteristic information of the booking customer are created in the customer table based on the booking customer identification information of the booking customer and the seminar characteristic information of the seminar for which the booking customer has registered, and the customer table is updated by adding the booking customer as a new customer to the customer table.

3. The customer identification information in the customer table and the reservation customer identification information in the seminar reservation table are set to three or more items in correspondence with each other, The control unit is The sales support system according to claim 2, characterized in that if there is a customer in the customer table for which two or more of the items in the customer identification information match the reservation customer identification information, the reservation customer is determined to be registered as the customer in the customer table.

4. The control unit is The sales support system according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that a flag is set in the customer table to distinguish between a customer who has been previously registered and a customer who has been newly registered as a customer by the control unit.

5. The database server includes a display unit for displaying information, 5. The sales support system according to claim 1, wherein the control unit causes the display unit to display the contents of the customer table updated by the control unit.

6. the seminar information table and the seminar reservation table are created by a seminar reservation system connected to the sales support system via a network, A sales support system as described in any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the control unit obtains the seminar information table and the seminar reservation table from the seminar reservation system during a predetermined time period and stores them in the memory unit, and then updates the customer table based on the seminar information table and the seminar reservation table.

7. The control unit is creating a daily report table for registering the fact that the customer has been contacted regarding the seminar, and storing the table in the storage unit; comparing the seminar characteristic information of the seminar registered in the seminar information table with the customer characteristic information of the customer registered in the customer table to determine whether the seminar can be recommended to the customer; A sales support system as described in any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that if it is determined that the seminar can be recommended to the customer, and if contact information for the customer regarding the seminar is not registered in the daily report table, an email informing the customer about the seminar is sent to the customer.

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