DYNAMIC FILTERING AND SORTING OF VISITORS FOR PROVIDING ASSISTANCE

1 . An apparatus comprising a memory and a controller, wherein said controller is configured to:

identify at least one visitor;

monitor said at least one visitor for visitor actions;

award points to said at least one visitor based on said actions in real time; and

sort said at least one visitor according to said awarded points.

2 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said controller is further configured to match said at least one visitor against a data base to retrieve information on said visitor and to award points to said at least one visitor based on said information.

3 . The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein said database is an external system and said controller is further configured to preload information from said external system and store in an internal memory.

4 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said controller is further configured to sort said at least one visitor according to an activity in addition to the points awarded.

5 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said controller is further configured to display at least one list of representations of visitors on an operator interface.

6 . The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein said controller is further configured to display representations of visitors having been awarded points exceeding a first threshold value in said at least one list.

7 . The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein said controller is further configured to display representations of visitors in said at least one list based on at least one criterion taken from a criteria group comprising: category, service, point range and event.

8 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said controller is further configured to determine if a visitor has been awarded points exceeding a second threshold level and if so, prompt said visitor informing said visitor that assistance is available.

9 . The apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the second threshold level is lower than the first threshold level.

10 . The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein said controller is further configured to dynamically monitor a visitor and award points for actions taken and dynamically match said visitor against a database and to retrieve information on said visitor to award points to said at least one visitor based on said information.

11 . The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the controller is configured to display said representation of a visitor to be indicative of a category and/or action of a corresponding visitor.

12 . The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the controller is configured to receive a selection of a visitor representation and in response thereto establish a communication link with the corresponding visitor.

13 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to award points to a visitor for:

having a high chopping cart value;

browsing expensive products or services;

being identified as a frequent visitor;

having a high status membership level of a bonus program; and/or

time spent on a page or completing an action.

14 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to:

assign a group of operators to a team, each operator having at least one related visitor and calculate and display a total value of the visitors related to the team.

15 . A method comprising:

identifying at least one visitor;

monitoring said at least one visitor for visitor actions;

awarding points to said at least one visitor based on said actions in real time; and

sorting said at least one visitor according to said awarded points.

16 . The method according to claim 15 , further comprising matching said at least one visitor against a data base to retrieve information on said visitor and awarding points to said at least one visitor based on said information.

17 . A computer readable storage medium encoded with instructions that, when executed on a processor, performs the method according to claim 15 .