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US 2014/0372168 A1Published application
Systems and methods of initiating contact with a prospect
Assigneesalesforce.com, inc.
InventorBlake Markham
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The technology disclosed relates to easily and efficiently initiating contact with a prospect. In particular, it relates to identifying colleagues of a sales representative that are connected to the prospect and further determining strength of relationships between the colleagues and the prospect. The strength of relationships is determined by logging levels of communication between the colleagues and the prospect on one or more communication media and calculating proximity metrics dependent on commentary provided by the colleagues about the prospect.
Claims20
A method, including:
- receiving a selection of a particular entity by a sales representative who wants to establish or strengthen contact with the particular entity;
- accessing an entity database and presenting a list of employees of the particular entity, wherein the list identifies respective titles and job functions of the employees;
- accessing a social network database and identifying colleagues of the sales representative that are connected to respective employees listed in the list of employees;
- evaluating strength of relationships between the identified colleagues and the respective employees, wherein the evaluation includes
- determining levels of communication between the identified colleagues and the respective employees on one or more communication media;
- and
- calculating proximity metrics dependent on commentary provided by the identified colleagues about the respective employees;
- and
- in response to receiving a selection of one or more identified colleagues of the sales representative, sending an introduction request to the identified colleagues for establishing or strengthening the contact with the particular entity through the respective employees.
6 more elements
A system, including:
- a processor and a computer readable storage medium storing computer instructions configured to cause the processor to:
- receive a selection of a particular entity by a sales representative who wants to establish or strengthen contact with the particular entity;
- access an entity database and present a list of employees of the particular entity, wherein the list identifies respective titles and job functions of the employees;
- access a social network database and identify colleagues of the sales representative that are connected to respective employees listed in the list of employees;
- evaluate strength of relationships between the identified colleagues and the respective employees, wherein the evaluation includes
- determining levels of communication between the identified colleagues and the respective employees on one or more communication media;
- and
- calculating proximity metrics dependent on commentary provided by the identified colleagues about the respective employees;
- and
- in response to receiving a selection of one or more identified colleagues from the sales representative, send an introduction request to the identified colleagues for establishing or strengthening the contact with the particular entity through the respective employees.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.