System and method for generating, capturing, and managing customer lead information over a computer network

A system for generating, capturing, and managing customer lead information wherein the improvement comprises:

• a customer lead information database having a plurality of customer lead profile records;
• means for acquiring customer lead information from a new customer lead and the means for acquiring customer lead information being selected from the group of database records in real-time, consisting of means for presenting a customer feedback form to a customer lead electronically in real-time and means for presenting a lead management form to a company representative electronically in real-time, the customer needs feedback form comprising at least one web page, the lead management form comprising at least one web page;
• means for dynamically capturing and responding to acquired customer lead information via at least one of an intranet and an internet through the use of customer lead web pages which interact with, and request data from, a customer lead management server database, populating the data fields of said pages from said server in real-time;
• means for creating or updating a customer lead profile record based on customer lead information dynamically captured in real-time;
• means for qualifying customer leads and determining a customer lead priority utilizing a ranking algorithm that calculates a customer lead priority score based on budget, authority, needs, and timeframe information in the customer lead profile record;
• such that the results of said ranking can be displayed in real-time within any web page;
• means for automatically adding the customer lead priority ranking to the customer lead profile record;
• means for automatically storing the customer lead profile record in the customer lead management server database;
• and
• means for electronically distributing customer lead records and information in real-time, via at least one of an intranet and an internet;
• and
• means for automatically electronically notifying at least one designated person when pre-determined data fields of a customer lead profile record are changed or are populated, resulting in a change in customer lead priority ranking, or resulting in any other pre-determined triggering event requiring attention by a company representative.

A method for generating, capturing, and managing customer lead information wherein the improvement comprises the steps of:

• providing a customer lead information database having a plurality of customer lead profile records;
• acquiring customer lead information from a new customer lead and acquiring customer lead information being selected from the group of database records in real-time, using means for presenting a customer feedback form to a customer lead electronically in real-time and means for presenting a lead management form to a company representative electronically in real-time, the customer needs feedback form comprising at least one web page, the lead management form comprising at least one web page;
• dynamically capturing and responding to acquired customer lead information via at least one of an intranet and an internet through the use of customer lead web pages which interact with, and request data from, a customer lead management server database, populating the data fields of web pages from the web server in real-time;
• creating or updating a customer lead profile record based on customer lead information dynamically captured in real-time;
• determining a customer lead priority utilizing a ranking algorithm that calculates a customer lead priority score based on budget, authority, needs, and timeframe information in the customer lead profile record, so that the ranking or score results can be displayed in real-time within any web page;
• automatically adding the customer lead priority ranking to the customer lead profile record;
• automatically storing the customer lead profile record in the customer lead management server database;
• and
• electronically distributing via at least one of an intranet or an internet, customer lead records and information in real-time.