Digital Map Interface for Coordinating Business Solicitation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Marketing teams face inefficiencies in identifying and coordinating with target businesses for advertising products, leading to duplicative contacts, uneven coverage, and missed opportunities due to lack of accurate record-keeping and coordination among sales representatives in a specific area.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented methodology using a digital map interface to identify and coordinate with target businesses, allowing users to select geographic areas, locate businesses, and indicate interest in listings, with features like color-coding for availability, star marking for interest, and bulk creation of pre-filled listing drafts, implemented in a client-server environment with machine-readable mediums.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If multiple sales people actively solicit businesses in the same area without coordination, then more businesses may be contacted, but duplicative contacts occur and time and money are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the record-keeping and coordination functions into a centralized digital system that all salespeople access. The system combines business listing data, solicitation status tracking, and salesperson activity records into a unified database, eliminating siloed record-keeping and enabling real-time coordination across the sales team.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where solicitation status is automatically updated and communicated to all salespeople in real-time. When a business is contacted or marked as solicited, this information is immediately reflected in the digital map and listing records, providing continuous feedback that prevents other salespeople from making duplicative contacts.
2Loss of time
If accurate record-keeping and coordination systems are implemented, then duplicative contacts are reduced, but system complexity and implementation costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs self-service mechanisms where the digital map and business listing system automatically tracks and updates solicitation status without requiring manual coordination between salespeople. The system self-updates records when businesses are contacted, automatically preventing duplicative efforts without needing complex manual coordination protocols.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a digital intermediary system (the online map and business listing platform) that mediates between salespeople and business targets. This intermediary automatically manages the coordination function, handling record-keeping, status tracking, and information distribution, thereby reducing the complexity of direct human-to-human coordination.
3Productivity
If sales force coverage is expanded to ensure comprehensive area coverage, then more businesses are reached, but travel time and resource allocation become inefficient
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by pre-identifying and mapping all target businesses in an area before salespeople begin their routes. The digital map and business listing system预先 prepares comprehensive business directories for specific geographic areas, allowing salespeople to plan efficient routes and know exactly which businesses to visit, eliminating wasted travel to already-solicited businesses.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides real-time feedback on which businesses have already been contacted, allowing salespeople to dynamically adjust their routes and priorities. This feedback mechanism ensures that salesforce expansion translates directly into additional unique business contacts rather than redundant visits, optimizing travel time and resource allocation.
4Device complexity
If manual tracking of solicited businesses is used, then record-keeping is simple, but coordination between multiple sales people becomes difficult and inaccurate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical record-keeping systems (paper logs, spreadsheets, manual updates) with an automated digital system. The online map and business listing platform uses electronic databases and automated tracking to record solicitation status, eliminating the inaccuracies and coordination difficulties inherent in manual systems while maintaining simplicity through user-friendly interfaces.
Data Source
AI summary
Marketing techniques are disclosed that allow companies to efficiently identify target businesses to solicit for purchase of advertising products. One embodiment includes a map-based interface for selecting a neighborhood and locating any businesses known to a company selling advertising products in that area, with the intent of allowing a company representative to select a set of those businesses to contact regarding the company's advertising products. The map displays business listings as markers on the map, with color-coding used to indicate listings the representative has already contacted, and listings that some other representative has contacted.