Abstract: The object of the present invention is to provide a system for evaluating the customer equity of products and services provided by a company, with consideration of customer-purchase trends, and to provide a means for evaluating the ratio of repeat customers and the customer-equity growth ratio by store, region, and/or customer group, and to provide data for establishing an optimal plan for increasing sales. A system 100 for evaluating customer equity according to the present invention comprises a computer system 2 for conducting sales management for a company, and an evaluation computer 10 connected to the computer system 2 via a communications line 5. The evaluation computer 10 comprises a Web server 11, a communications controller 15, an application server 12, and a database 14 for recording purchase records received from a company or store.

Abstract: A method of generating intender leads in a distributed computer system includes the steps of identifying purchase indicators and extracting prospect identifiers from the purchase indicators. Purchase indicators are pieces of data that represent a potential future purchase by a prospect. For example, an online classified advertisement selling an automobile is a purchase indicator for a potential future purchase of a new car by the old car seller. The prospect identifier, such as a telephone number or email address, uniquely identifies the prospect likely to make the future purchase. Preferably, the method also contains the steps of obtaining full contact information for the prospect from a profile database, applying a predictive model to the prospects to select intender leads, and transferring the intender leads to an interested party, such as a direct marketing service or sales force.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for understanding and predicting customer behavior called the Strategic Profiler is disclosed. In the Strategic Profiler, multiple participants input data representing ideals, reality, and experiences. The data are collected and analyzed using a multiple factor personality model to determine key value drivers, with one value driver associated with each factor in the multiple factor personality model employed. The data are further analyzed to determine the participants' impression of how closely reality meets the ideal, based both on impressions and experience. In a preferred embodiment, the Strategic Profiler is available to multiple users simultaneously through the World Wide Web.