Blogs | The Patent Geek
Being as I typically share these articles on LinkedIn, I figure it's only right that I feature a LinkedIn patent application - published as US2019/0096007.
This patent application (which means it is still in the patent prosecution stage and not yet a protected patent) features an algorithm to make connections between LinkedIn users. In particular, the algorithm helps connect a sales representative with a prospect or lead (aka a 'decision maker') by determining a 'decision maker score'.
A 'decision maker' here is basically anyone that a particular sales representative would wish to contact. A decision maker score, is defined in the application as being "based at least in part on the member's title or other indications of the member's power or influence in a target organization (e.g., a company that is targeted by a sales representative)".
The algorithm then determines a 'prospect score' of the decision maker to a particular sales representative. The prospect score is a personalized metric that reflects how valuable the prospect (or 'lead') is to the sales rep based on their respective user profiles and social activity on the platform. The algorithm then recommends a connection path (e.g., through a user interface shown below) to connect the 'decision maker' and the sales representative.
Should you ever wonder how that sales rep found you... you might be a Decision Maker! This brings me to another point. We know that LinkedIn can be leveraged as a pitching platform, however, there are nicer ways to do this! Some of which are mentioned here in this article.
