The salesman portion of the TARGET system is designed to be used by salespeople as they make telephone contact with prospective buyers (and sellers) of equipment. Movement from one function to another is via a single keystroke, using the function keys to select the desired screen. As the user moves from screen to screen, the system "porter" carries along such information as the current prospect name, last machine selected and preferred delivery method (print, direct fax, email) and fills in these values as defaults on each screen. The currently-available functions are: Prospect Maintenance This is used to add or modify prospect name/address information. There are fields for mobile phones and pagers, email addresses, web site addresses, and selection criteria. Telephone numbers are validated by area code/state combination during entry. Prospect database can be searched by combinations of data fields. Existing contact information can be converted from most software applications, reducing the need to manually re-enter each prospect. Prospect Tracking On this screen the system display the complete history of contact with the selected prospect. Every quote, letter, fax, phone call, and even phone message is automatically kept as a permanent record and available on the tracking screen. There is no limit to the number of history items that may be kept; some of our installations have nearly one million prospect tracking records. Quote Maintenace This is used to produce the actual quotes that are sent to a given prospect. A quote may be printed, faxed, or emailed. (A picture may automatically accompany any e-mailed quote.) Of course, a complete record of the action taken is written to prospect tracking. Quote Inquiry The quote inquiry function shows all currently active quotes on a particular piece of equipment. Quote Resolution Since the system will remind the salesman to follow up on quotes, the quote resolution screen is used to tell the system when a quote has turned into a sale (or a no-sale). If it is a sale, the further tracking of the quote is left to the back office staff; if a quote is resolved as a no-sale, a permanent record is kept but further follow-up is not required. Machine Inquiry This part of the system is used to search for machinery; the system uses the UED category system (the industry standard for over 40 years but recently officially adopted by all major publications) to control searching. Each category may be searched by capacity, manufacturer, and type fields. Matching equipment is "remembered" by the system to allow rapid quoting of several pieces of equipment in response to the same customer need. Machine Entry This is used to enter equipment for sale by prospects, equipment needed by prospects (wanteds) and equipment the salesman wants to track. Machine Matchup This function looks for available inventory, consignments, or brokerage equipment that would satisfy a "wanted" entry. The matching is intelligent with automatic range parameters. It can also be used in reverse to find wanteds that match a given item available for sale. Other Functions There are other screens also available by single function key selection. These are used for interoffice electronic mail, running reports, accessing UEN, and making entries on the office calendar. Back