System for implementing automated open market auctioning of leads
In an automated leads-and-bids exchange system, bid profiles are defined to describe desires of lead buyers. Received leads are matched to active ones of the bid profiles whose specifications the leads substantially match. An auctioning subsystem finds the highest one or group of bids for each given lead. A quality rating database rates the quality of leads provided by different sellers. A price discounting engine discounts the amount paid to sellers who are rated as inferior sources of leads.
1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
receiving, by at least one computer, selectively activeatable bid profiles from corresponding lead buyers, wherein each bid profile includes specifications for desired leads and a bid, the specifications for each bid profile including one or more lead seller-specific attributes selected from the group consisting of: a lead seller's general leads quality history as defined across predefined conversion probability bands measured over a predefined time period; a lead seller's general leads quality history as defined by a number of defective leads as measured over a predefined time period; a quality of prospective consumer associated with a lead seller's leads as measured over a predefined time period; a lead seller's general leads quality history as defined by conversion rate over a predefined time period; a lead seller's general leads quality history as defined by connection to interested although non-converting potential customers; and a lead seller's general leads quality history as defined by staleness or freshness of leads associated with the lead seller;
storing the received bid profiles in a storage memory associated with the at least one computer;
receiving, at the at least one computer, a live lead from a lead seller, wherein the live lead includes lead data corresponding to the live lead and wherein the live lead is associated with a telecommunication link with a waiting human caller;
comparing, using the at least one computer, a set of activated bid profiles to the lead data to select matching ones of the activated bid profiles according to their bid profile specifications, the set of activated bid profiles comprising two or more of the received selectively activeatable bid profiles;
determining, using the at least one computer, a winning bid profile and a corresponding high bid from the selected matching bid profiles;
coupling, using the at least one computer, the lead buyer corresponding to the winning bid profile to the waiting human caller over the telecommunication link to establish a telephone call; and
determining, using the at least one computer, a price to be paid by the lead buyer for the establishment of the telephone call based at least on the high bid.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
enabling lead buyers to selectively activate and deactivate parts of or their entire bid profile specifications.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
enabling lead buyers to selectively limit a total number of leads won over the course of a predetermined time period.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
enabling lead buyers to specify in their bid profile specifications one or more of: a product, product type or range of products for which leads are sought by the corresponding bid descriptor, where product can be one or more of goods or services.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: adjusting the high bid based upon feedback regarding the lead seller.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one computer comprises a plurality of computers.