Patent ID: 8868448

Claim:
A computer implemented method for selling goods and services in conjunction with the Internet, comprising: receiving, by a computer within a network of computers, session information from a website about a customer session on the website, the website being associated with a selected enterprise from a plurality of enterprises and the session information comprising one or more products a customer is searching using a browser application executing on a customer computer; receiving, by the computer within the network of computers, customer information associated with the customer from the selected enterprise; determining, by the computer within the network of computers, from the session information and the customer information that the customer constitutes a sales opportunity appropriate for sales assistance; executing, by the computer within the network of computers, a matching engine to determine one or more desirable sales associates from among a plurality of sales associates for the customer based on weighted parameters comprising the session information and information about the plurality of sales associates, wherein said matching engine: determines a rule set to apply in order to match the customer with at least one of the plurality of sales associates, said rule set comprising two or more rules, respective rules having a relative weight associated therewith; generates a matching score for each of the plurality of sales associates based at least in part on a relative ranking of the sales associate with respect to each rule of the determined rule set multiplied by the relative weight associated with the corresponding rule; and dynamically changes the determined rule set based at least in part on a combination of sales successes and market conditions; transmitting, by the computer within the network of computers, a signal to a computer associated with a selected one of the one or more desirable sales associates in order to notify the selected sales associate that the sales opportunity regarding the customer exists; facilitating communication for a sales transaction between the customer computer and the computer associated with the selected sales associate via the Internet; receiving, by the computer within the network of computers, sales information; retrieving, by the computer within the network of computers, from a database of collateral sales material, best practices information to assist with closing a sale given the sales associate information associated with the selected sales associate, the customer information and the one or more products the customer is searching; and providing, by the computer within the network of computers, to the computer associated with the selected sales associate, the session information, the customer information, and the retrieved information.