U.S. patent application number 13/942375 was filed with the patent office on 2013-11-21 for systems and methods of matching purchase requests with consummated sales.
This patent application is currently assigned to TrueCar, Inc.. The applicant listed for this patent is TrueCar, Inc.. Invention is credited to James Berger, Jason McBride, Oded Noy, Scott Painter, Rosa Welton.
Application Number | 20130311341 13/942375 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40799627 |
Filed Date | 2013-11-21 |
United States Patent
Application |
20130311341 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Noy; Oded ; et al. |
November 21, 2013 |
Systems and Methods of Matching Purchase Requests with Consummated
Sales
Abstract
A sales matching system which may match sales of products or
services with consummated sales by collecting selected leads from a
group of lead suppliers, collecting a plurality of sales records
from multiple sales sources, and matching at least some of the
sales records to selected leads. The matches may be assigned a
matching confidence, and may reach a threshold level of confidence
to be considered a matched sale. The system may also generate
invoices to selected sellers identifying invoice-able sales for
which compensation may be obtained in exchange for providing leads
giving rise thereto.
Inventors: |
Noy; Oded; (Los Angeles,
CA) ; McBride; Jason; (Santa Monica, CA) ;
Berger; James; (Los Angeles, CA) ; Welton; Rosa;
(Bell Gardens, CA) ; Painter; Scott; (Bel Air,
CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
TrueCar, Inc. |
Santa Monica |
CA |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
TrueCar, Inc.
Santa Monica
CA
|
Family ID: |
40799627 |
Appl. No.: |
13/942375 |
Filed: |
July 15, 2013 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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11968137 |
Dec 31, 2007 |
8515817 |
|
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13942375 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/30 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 40/12 20131203;
G06Q 30/02 20130101; G06Q 40/10 20130101; G06Q 30/0601 20130101;
G06Q 30/0241 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/30 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 40/00 20060101
G06Q040/00 |
Claims
1. A method of matching leads with consummated sales comprising the
following steps: collecting selected leads from at least one lead
supplier which identifies a group of prospective buyers for
selected products or services; collecting a plurality of sales
records having sales data information for consummated sales of the
selected products or services, wherein the plurality of sales
records are derived from multiple sales sources; and matching at
least some of the sales records to the selected leads provided from
the group of lead suppliers according to a predetermined matching
confidence.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the consummated sales of the
selected products or services provide matched sales corresponding
to at least one of the sellers from a group of selected sellers
upon meeting a threshold level of matching confidence.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:
generating invoices to a group of selected sellers identifying
invoice-able sales of selected products or services for which
compensation may be obtained in exchange for providing the selected
leads giving rise thereto.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected leads are collected
from a group of lead suppliers.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected leads are collected
from the group of lead suppliers through the Internet or other
telecommunication medium.
6. A lead matching system comprising: a source of sales leads data
compiled from a plurality of lead suppliers; a source of sales
information including consummated sales data compiled from a
plurality of confirmed sales transactions by a group of sellers;
and a sales lead matching system in communication with the source
of sales leads data and the source of sales information, wherein
the sales lead matching system includes: a data normalization
engine for normalizing the source of sales information to provide a
normalized sales dataset; and a matching engine for automatically
matching at least one confirmed sale transaction from the
normalized sales dataset to at least one lead from the source of
sales lead data.
7. The lead matching system of claim 5, wherein the matching engine
establishes matches between the confirmed sales transactions within
the normalized sales dataset and the leads from the source of sales
lead data based on a predetermined matching confidence.
8. The lead matching system of claim 5, further comprising: a sales
matching application in communication with the matching engine for
identifying a plurality of matched sales that are automatically
approved sales or sales requiring manual review.
9. The lead matching system of claim 5, further comprising: a
financial system adaptor for receiving information related to the
automatically approves sales that are compiled in a financial
collections database or a financial invoices database.
10. The lead matching system of claim 5, wherein the financial
invoices database contains information related to invoice-able
sales that appear as a line item on an invoice to a seller from the
group of sellers for which compensation may be obtained by a sales
matching service provider for providing the selected leads giving
rise thereto.
11. A method of matching a sales leads with a consummated sale for
recognition and compensation to a sales matching service provider
comprising the following steps: collecting selected leads from a
group of lead suppliers through the Internet or other
telecommunication medium which identify prospective buyers of
selected products or services; collecting a plurality of sales
records having sales data information for consummated sales of the
selected products or services by a group of sellers, wherein the
plurality of sales records are derived from multiple sales sources;
and matching at least one sales record to at least one selected
lead from the group of lead suppliers according to a predetermined
matching confidence to provide a matched sales record.
12. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of:
generating an invoice for a seller from the group of sellers who is
identified in the matched sales record in accordance with a
preestablished business arrangement for compensation from the
seller to the sales matching service provider.
13. The method of claim 10, wherein multiple sales sources from
which the plurality of sales records are derived include
information from at least one or more of the following sources:
dealers, loan originators, and insurance carriers.
14. An automobile sales lead matching system comprising: a database
of automobile sales leads data compiled from one or more lead
suppliers; a database of automobile sales information including
sales data from automobile dealers derived from one or more
automobile sales related transactions; and an automobile sales lead
matching system in communication with the automobile sales leads
database and the automobile sales information database, wherein the
matching system includes: a data normalization engine for
normalizing the automobile sales information derived from one or
more sources of sales information to provide a normalized sales
dataset; and a matching engine for matching at least one sales
record from the normalized sales dataset to at least one lead from
the automobile sales lead database.
15. The automobile sales lead matching system of claim 13, wherein
the database of automobile sales information includes information
from dealer based sales of automobiles.
16. An automobile sales matching system comprising: a database of
automobile sales purchase requests compiled from a plurality of
sources of sales purchase request data; a database of automobile
sales information including sales data from automobile dealers
derived from a plurality of automobile sales related transactions;
and an automobile sales matching system in communication with the
automobile sales purchase request database and the automobile sales
information database, wherein the matching system includes: a data
normalization engine for normalizing the automobile sales
information derived from multiple sources of sales information to
provide a normalized sales dataset; and a matching engine for
matching at least one sales record from the normalized sales
dataset to at least one purchase request from the source of sales
purchase request data.
17. The automobile sales matching system of claim 15, wherein the
database of automobile sales information includes information from
dealer based sales of automobiles.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] This invention is directed to systems and methods of
matching leads with sales. The invention may include a sales
matching system which may collect selected leads from a group of
lead suppliers, collect a plurality of sales data from a variety of
sources, including sellers and other sources, and match at least
some of the sales records to the selected leads. In addition, the
invention may generate invoices to the selected sellers identifying
invoice-able sales.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Today, the Internet is a useful tool for purchasing products
or services. A sale may occur online after a lead has been provided
from a lead supplier, which may identify a group of prospective
customers, where the lead supplier may be a party other than the
seller of the product or service.
[0003] Typically, in such situations, the lead supplier may
generate an invoice where the seller may compensate the lead
supplier for a lead that led to the sale of a product. For example,
in the automobile sales industry, there may be a website where
potential customers seeking to purchase a car can enter information
in order to receive information about car dealerships or online
sellers, and contact or be contacted by these car sellers. In such
a situation, a business relationship might be created where the
dealership or seller could compensate the lead supplier for
providing the lead.
[0004] Oftentimes, invoices for this business model may be based on
easily measurable events such as banner views, page clicks, or the
leads themselves. In these situations, the lead suppliers may
create an invoice for the sellers, based on information that is
within their control as the invoicing party. Since this type of
information is within the lead suppliers' control, a lead supplier
may easily generate an invoice based on how many times a customer
has viewed a banner on its website, clicked an advertisement, or
generated a lead.
[0005] While looking at customer activity on a lead supplier's
website may provide some indication of customer exposure to seller
advertisements or whether the customer contacts a seller, it may
not provide an accurate indication of how many leads from the lead
suppliers actually result in a sale. When a lead is provided, many
different actions can occur. For instance, with an online
automobile lead, the customer submitting the lead may (1) not
purchase at all, (2) purchase somewhere else, (3) purchase as
indicated in the lead, or (4) purchase a different product from the
same seller, which may not exactly match the lead sent. Although
there might be an increased likelihood of a sale occurring from the
number of times an advertisement is viewed or a lead is created,
this information may not provide any accurate indication of how
successfully a lead becomes a sale. Unlike the advertisement and
lead information, sales information may not be in the invoicing
party's (i.e. the lead supplier's) control, and may mainly reside
with other parties, such as the seller.
[0006] Even if a lead supplier, or any other invoice-generating
party, wanted to receive information from a seller about whether a
lead led to a sale, the nature of the relationship is such that a
lead supplier or the invoice-generating party would not be able to
rely on the seller to self-report sales that are invoice-able. The
seller has very little incentive to keep track of leads that become
actual sales, because a successful match only results in the seller
having to compensate the invoicing party further. Additionally,
even if a seller wanted to track leads and sales, it would need to
expend a great deal of administrative effort to follow exactly what
leads led to a successful purchase of a car, and that effort could
be costly to the seller. Thus, with the current system a tension
may exist between the lead supplier who lacks sales information but
wants to generate invoices on successful leads and the seller who
has sales information but has no desire or incentive to put in the
effort of tracking a sale from a lead.
[0007] For example, one online referral system allows for online
and offline collection of information on potential purchasers from
lead suppliers and matches this information with relevant
participating sellers. See WO 01/40898, which is incorporated by
reference in its entirety herein. The lead supplier may join this
referral system and be rewarded for each lead supplied or for each
sale made. The system attempts to track the sale made by collecting
information from the merchants and the customers of the merchants'
products and/or services. For instance, when a sale is successfully
consummated, the merchant may update the information on the lead
and pay the system accordingly. This system runs into the problems
mentioned previously relating to how little incentive sellers have
to self-report.
[0008] There is a need for improved systems and methods of sales
matching that may accurately determine how many leads end up in
actual sales and generates invoices accordingly.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] The invention provides systems and methods for matching
leads with sales. Various aspects of the invention described herein
may be applied to any of the particular applications set forth
below or for any other types of sales matching systems or methods.
The invention may be applied as a standalone system or method, or
as part of an integrated business arrangement relating to sales of
products or services in which a purchase request may be supplied to
a seller. It shall be understood that different aspects of the
invention can be appreciated individually, collectively, or in
combination with each other.
[0010] The invention is directed to systems and methods of matching
leads with sales. The invention may include a sales matching system
which may collect leads from a group of lead suppliers and sales
records from various sources, which may include sellers and other
sources, and match at least some of the sales records to the
selected leads. Accordingly, the invention may generate an invoice
based on the matches of the leads and sales.
[0011] An aspect of the invention provides a sales matching system
that may include a sales matching service provider. The sales
matching service provider may be the owner of the system that may
match sales to leads.
[0012] The sales matching service provider may automatically
collect leads and sales data from multiple sources or systems.
Leads may be collected from lead suppliers, which may identify a
group of prospective customers for selected products or services,
or directly from the customers, and sales data may be collected
from sellers or other parties that may have sales data. By having
multiple sources of sales data, the sales matching service provider
may have a greater chance of spotting a consummated sale that
arises out of a lead, and may get around the self-reporting
problems that arise when relying only on sellers to provide sales
records. For instance, for automobile sales, lead data may include
leads from various lead supplier websites or directly from
customers interacting with the sales matching service provider.
Sales data may include information from a car dealer, loan
originators, insurance carriers, and so forth. The data collected
may include all of the sales records by the selling entity (such as
an automobile dealer) regardless of the source of the customer.
[0013] The sales matching service provider may also automatically
match sales data with leads. The system may use the collected leads
and sales data and some sort of algorithm to match the leads and
sales. After finding matches, the system may also automatically
assign a matching confidence to each match. The matching confidence
may indicate the probability the lead led to the sale. This may
result in a matched sale, which may be when a lead is matched with
sales data and meets a minimum matching criteria.
[0014] The sales matching service provider may automatically
generate all the appropriate invoices to the seller based on
contractual agreements and a business relationship with the seller.
For example, a sales matching service provider and a seller may
have a pay-per-sale arrangement, and the seller may compensate the
sales matching service provider for each lead that becomes a
verified sale. In this situation, the invoices generated may
include matches that reach a certain confidence threshold, based on
the confidence that is assigned to each match. An invoice-able sale
may be a matched sale that can be introduced as a line item in an
invoice to the seller based on the contractual agreement. A sales
matching service provider and a seller could also have a
subscription arrangement, where the seller may pay a fixed amount
for a set period of time that the sales matching service provider
enables lead suppliers or customers to communicate with the seller.
Finding matched sales may still be useful under a subscription
arrangement because it may enable parties to determine the value of
leads as translated to sales.
[0015] Unlike systems that only look at data in the
invoice-generating party's control and estimate lead success based
on that data, the sales matching service provider may look at sales
data from multiple sources to see the actual success of the lead in
terms of verified sales. Also, by automatically collecting lead and
sales data and matching the leads and sales, the sales matching
service provider may gain an accurate sense of how many of the
leads provided by suppliers or customers become actual sales by the
seller. By using a multiplicity of sources, including sales
information from the seller, the sales matching service provider
may spot when a sale occurs and access information about the nature
of the sale. With this additional information, the sales matching
service provider may determine whether the lead became a sale with
some degree of confidence. Also, because the seller may not be
responsible for tracking the sale and informing the sales matching
service provider when a lead becomes a sale, the problems that
arise in the usual self-reporting scenario may not arise.
[0016] Another embodiment of the invention provides a mechanism
that may normalize or clean the lead and sales data that a sales
matching service provider receives from various sources. When
information is gathered from multiple sources, such as a car
dealership and an auto insurance company, the data from each of the
sources may be stored in different formats, based on the standards
of each of the sources. A normalization mechanism may put the data
into a standard format for the sales matching service provider.
This normalization may assist with data comparison and matching.
The mechanism may also remove any unnecessary data, so only data
that is relevant for matching the leads and sales and assigning a
matching confidence may remain.
[0017] Additionally, the sales matching service provider may also
include data cleaning mechanisms that could handle duplicate
invoicing and other multiple-source matching conflicts. For
instance, a customer could communicate with more than one lead
supplier, so that multiple leads could result in a single sale.
Also, multiple data sources of sales data could show duplicate
information for the same sale, such as when a car dealership sales
record and auto insurance company both have records for the same
sale.
[0018] After the sales matching service provider may try to match
the normalized and cleaned data, the system may also have various
mechanisms to handle exceptions and edge cases for approval.
Matches between leads and sales may be made with varying degrees of
confidence. If the matched sale does not clearly meet the threshold
confidence to be an approved sale and is not automatically
approved, an additional review may assist in determining whether
the match may be an approved sale. If this additional review still
results in uncertainty, an additional manual review may take
place.
[0019] This entire system of the sales matching service provider
may be fully web-enabled. The sales matching service provider may
receive leads and sales data over the Internet from multiple
sources, such as lead suppliers and sellers. This information
relating to leads and sales data may be stored on one or more
servers in databases as with other sources of information described
elsewhere herein. A matching engine may automatically match the
leads and sales, and the sales matching service provider may
generate invoices that may be sent to sellers while keeping track
of all financial accounting information. The sales matching service
provider may maintain an appropriate level of data security
throughout the process.
[0020] The sales matching service provider may connect to a data
warehouse so that the buyer relationship managers can conduct
effective business offline, based on reporting. The data warehouse
may store records that may be part of a reporting system that can
provide dealers with feedback or analysis based on sales
information.
[0021] In one embodiment of the invention, a seller may request
sales credit or may request to reject sales from the sales matching
service provider. A seller may choose to request sales credit or to
reject sales if the seller disagrees with an item on an invoice.
The sales matching service provider may determine whether to grant
the request, and may adjust approved sales and invoice information
accordingly.
[0022] Other goals and advantages of the invention will be further
appreciated and understood when considered in conjunction with the
following description and accompanying drawings. While the
following description may contain specific details describing
particular embodiments of the invention, this should not be
construed as limitations to the scope of the invention but rather
as an exemplification of preferable embodiments. For each aspect of
the invention, many variations are possible as suggested herein
that are known to those of ordinary skill in the art. A variety of
changes and modifications can be made within the scope of the
invention without departing from the spirit thereof.
INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE
[0023] All publications and patent applications mentioned in this
specification are herein incorporated by reference to the same
extent as if each individual publication or patent application was
specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by
reference.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0024] The features and advantages of the invention may be further
explained by reference to the following detailed description and
accompanying drawings that sets forth illustrative embodiments.
[0025] FIG. 1 shows a barebones sales matching system where a lead
supply and raw sales data sources may communicate with a sales
matching service provider.
[0026] FIG. 2 illustrates lead supply and sales data sources and
how the data may be stored in a sales matching system.
[0027] FIG. 3 illustrates data flow within a sales matching
system.
[0028] FIG. 4 illustrates seller interactions with a sales matching
system.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0029] While preferred embodiments of the present invention have
been shown and described herein, it will be obvious to those
skilled in the art that such embodiments are provided by way of
example only. Numerous variations, changes, and substitutions will
now occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the
invention. It should be understood that various alternatives to the
embodiments of the invention described herein may be employed in
practicing the invention. It is intended that the following claims
define the scope of the invention and that methods and structures
within the scope of these claims and their equivalents be covered
thereby.
[0030] Referring to the drawings in detail, FIG. 1 shows a
barebones sales matching system. Lead supply 10 and one or more raw
sales data source 11 may communicate over the Internet 12 with a
sales matching service provider. The lead supply 10 may include web
sites of lead suppliers 13, 14 that may identify a group of
prospective customers or may include customers that provide leads
directly. The raw sales data sources 11 may include sellers and
other sources of sales data 15, 16. For instance, in the case of
automobile sales, raw sales data sources may include car dealers,
loan originators, insurance carriers, and so forth.
[0031] The sales matching service provider may include a data
normalization and matching engine 17, a sales matching application
18, and financial systems 19. The data normalization and matching
engine 17 may receive the information from multiple sources,
comprising lead supply 10 and raw sales data sources 11, over the
Internet 12. It may normalize all of the data from the multiple
sources so that the information has a standard format, which may
make it easier to compare and match leads and sales. The data
normalization and matching engine 17 may also clean up the data to
remove duplicates and other unnecessary information. It may then
take the normalized data and match the leads with the sales. It may
also assign a confidence for each match, which may help to
determine whether a matched sale is an approved sale. The data
normalization and matching engine 17 may be in communication with
databases that store the information.
[0032] The sales matching application 18 may the matched sales that
are not obviously an automatically approved sale. The sales
matching application 18 may look more carefully at matched sales
data and may also look at additional information to determine
whether the matched sale reaches the threshold for an approved
sale.
[0033] The financial systems 19 may create an invoice which may use
the approved sale data. The invoice may depend on the business
arrangement between the sales matching service provider and the
sellers. For example, if there is a pay-per-sale arrangement, the
seller may pay the sales matching service provider depending on
invoice-able sales. Invoice-able sales may be approved sales, which
are matched sales that meet a certain confidence threshold, that
also fit the business arrangement. In another example, a sales
matching service provider and seller may have a subscription
arrangement, where the seller may pay to use the sales matching
service provider. If there are uncertainties, there may be
mechanisms to deal with conflicts and exceptions and edge
cases.
[0034] The financial systems 19 may keep track of invoices that
have been provided to sellers as well as anything that has been
collected from a seller. The financial systems 19 may keep a
general accounting for the sales matching service provider.
[0035] It shall be understood that any reference to the term leads
in the foregoing and following could be interpreted generally and
include purchase requests or other communications from a potential
buyer.
[0036] FIG. 2 illustrates leads and sales data sources and how data
may be stored in a sales matching system. There may be lead supply
20 and raw sales data sources 21 that communicate with a sales
matching service provider. An input/output communication port 22
may enable communication between the lead supply 20 and raw sales
data sources 21 and the sales matching service provider. The
input/output communication port 22 may communicate with a central
processing unit (CPU) 23. The CPU 23 may also communicate with an
input device 24, ROM 25, RAM 26, a clock 27, and databases 28.
[0037] The databases 28 may store information relevant to the sales
matching. Data received from lead supply 20 and raw sales data
sources 21 may be stored in lead supply and raw sales data sources
databases 28A, 28B. There may also be raw normalized datasets 28C,
which may include the data received from the lead supply 20 and raw
sales data sources 21 that have been normalized and cleaned up so
that data may be in a standard format, and any unnecessary
information may have been removed. A historical matched dataset 28D
may keep track of matched sales, which may include duplicates from
multiple sources. An approved sales database 28E may include
matched sales that reach a certain confidence threshold and are not
duplicates. If there are matches that are exceptions or edge cases,
they may have to undergo another approval process. If the
confidence threshold is met, the matched sale may be an approved
sale which may be stored in the approved sales databases 28E.
[0038] There may also be a set of databases devoted to financials
28F, 28G. This may include information about invoices and
collections. An invoices database 28F may include invoices
generated that may include invoice-able sales. Matched sales may
have been processed to determine whether they meet the confidence
threshold to become approved sales and fit in the business
arrangement to constitute invoice-able sales. A collections
database 28G may include accounting information, such as which
sellers have paid off their invoices, and so forth.
[0039] There may also be a data warehouse 28H. The data warehouse
28H may enable buyer relationship managers to conduct effective
business offline, based on reporting. The data warehouse 28H may
store records that may be part of a reporting system that can
provide dealers with feedback or analysis based on sales
information.
[0040] FIG. 3 illustrates data flow within a sales matching system.
There are several ways that data can get to a matching engine. A
sales matching service provider may receive data from lead supply
or from raw sales data sources. For lead supply, the source may be
a website which provides leads to customers, or may be customers
generating the leads directly. At the first step, a lead may be
submitted from a web site or a customer 30. This may become the
lead supply data, which may be stored in a lead supply database 31.
For raw sales data sources, the process may start when a data
provider submits sales data 32. The data provider may be one of
multiple sources (seller, insurance, etc.). This submitted data may
become the raw sales data, which may be stored in a raw sales data
sources database 33. The sales data may then go through a data
normalizer 34, which may normalize and clean the data. This
normalized data may be stored in a raw normalized dataset 35. In
one embodiment of the invention, both the lead and sales data may
go through the data normalizer, and both sets of normalized data
may be stored in the raw normalized dataset.
[0041] The normalized lead supply data and the normalized sales
data may go through a matching engine 36, which may match the leads
and sales. A confidence may be assigned to each match. If the
confidence is so great that a sale definitely came from a lead, the
match may be approved automatically and may be stored in an
approved sales database 37. If the confidence is not automatically
approved, then a sales matching application 38 may conduct
additional analysis on the match. If, following the sales matching
application's 38 analysis, the match reaches a sufficiently high
confidence threshold, then the match may be approved and stored in
the approved sales database. If it is still unclear whether the
match confidence is enough 39, then the match may undergo
additional manual review 40.
[0042] The approved sales data may go through a financial system
adapter 41, which may create invoices that may be stored in
financial invoices databases 42. Whether an approved sale
constitutes and invoice-able sale may depend on the business
relationship between the sales matching service provider and the
seller. Also, based on the invoices, the system may account for
payments made, which may be stored in financial collections
databases 43.
[0043] The approved sales data may also go through a data adapter
44 which may prepare the data to be placed into a format that goes
with the data warehouse database 45. The data warehouse 45 may
store records that may be part of a reporting system that can
provide dealers with feedback or analysis based on their sales
information.
[0044] FIG. 4 illustrates seller interactions with a sales matching
system. A seller may communicate with a sales matching service
provider by providing raw sales data 50, requesting sales credit
52, or requesting to reject sales 53. A seller may also interact
with a sales matching service provider by receiving reporting data
such as invoices 61 or historical reports 62.
[0045] A seller may be one of the sources that may provide a sales
matching service provider with raw sales data 50. The raw sales
data may be stored in a raw sales database 51. The sales data may
go through a sales matching application 56, which may match sales
with leads. A confidence may be assigned to each match. If a match
reaches a sufficiently high confidence threshold, then the match
may be approved and stored in an approved sales database 59.
[0046] The approved sales data may also be used to generate
invoices, which may be stored in a financial invoices database 57.
Whether an approved sale constitutes an invoice-able sale may
depend on the business relationship between the sales matching
service provider and the seller. Also, based on the invoices, the
system may account for payments made, which may be stored in a
financial collections database 58.
[0047] A seller may request sales credit 52 or may request to
reject sales 53 from a sales matching service provider. Such seller
requests may be stored in a request queue database 54. The requests
may undergo a manual request review 55, which may determine whether
to grant or not grant the requests for sales credit or to reject
sales. Decisions whether to grant requests may be communicated to
the sales matching application 56. A granted request for sales
credit 52 may result in a match that automatically becomes an
approved sale, while a granted request to reject a sale 53 may
result in automatically preventing a match from becoming an
approved sale, no matter the confidence.
[0048] The sales matching system may also include a reporting data
database 60, which may include any data that the sales matching
service provider may wish to provide to the seller. For instance,
the sales matching service provider may provide the seller with
invoices 61, which may include invoice-able matches and
compensation that a seller may owe for a consummated sale from a
lead. If a seller disagrees with an item on an invoice, the seller
may make a request for sales credit 52 or request to reject sales
53 accordingly. The sales matching service provider may also
provide the seller with historical reports 62, which may include
information that may provide sellers with performance feedback or
analysis based on their sales information.
[0049] It should be understood from the foregoing that, while
particular implementations have been illustrated and described,
various modifications can be made thereto and are contemplated
herein. It is also not intended that the invention be limited by
the specific examples provided within the specification. While the
invention has been described with reference to the aforementioned
specification, the descriptions and illustrations of the preferable
embodiments herein are not meant to be construed in a limiting
sense. Furthermore, it shall be understood that all aspects of the
invention are not limited to the specific depictions,
configurations or relative proportions set forth herein which
depend upon a variety of conditions and variables. Various
modifications in form and detail of the embodiments of the
invention will be apparent to a person skilled in the art. It is
therefore contemplated that the invention shall also cover any such
modifications, variations and equivalents.
* * * * *