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In an automated leads-and-bids matching 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. Lead segmentation data is captured on-the-fly for example by inducing potenti

In an automated leads-and-bids matching 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. Lead segmentation data is captured on-the-fly for example by inducing potential consumers to navigate their way through tree-organized web sites that categorize the consumers according to their geographic location, income/revenue range, class of products desired and/or other attributes. Live voice or other telecommunication connections to the pre-classified consumers are coupled to corresponding, pre-classified telecommunication nodes of a call processing system. The call processing system deduces the segmentation data of the consumers from the identities of the pre-classified nodes through which their connections pass. The deduced segmentation data is passed to an automated matching system or auctioning subsystem that finds the highest bids for each given lead.

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1. An apparatus, comprising: a leads processing system computer including a plurality of telecommunication nodes, wherein each telecommunication node is associated with its own telephone number, the system computer configured to perform the acts of:store bid profiles in a machine memory associated w

1. An apparatus, comprising: a leads processing system computer including a plurality of telecommunication nodes, wherein each telecommunication node is associated with its own telephone number, the system computer configured to perform the acts of:store bid profiles in a machine memory associated within the leads processing system each bid profile including specifications for desired leads and a bid, each bid profile associated with a corresponding lead buyer;subsequent to the storage of the bid profiles, receive at a first one of telecommunication nodes a telephone call from a human caller;identify lead data based upon the telephone number associated with the first one of the telecommunication nodes;compare at least the identified lead data to the stored bid profiles;responsive to the comparison of the identified lead data to the stored bid profiles, select a winning bid corresponding to a winning bid profile while the human caller continues with the telephone call; andtransfer the telephone call to the lead buyer corresponding to the winning bid profile. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the system computer is further configured to perform the acts of: interactively receiving lead data from the human caller corresponding to a desired good or service responsive to a distribution of promotional materials to consumers, and wherein said promotional materials include promotional content posted on a web site accessible via a digital network, and wherein the interactively received lead data is used to select the telecommunication node. 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the system computer is further configured to perform the acts of: interactively receiving lead data from the human caller corresponding to a desired good or service responsive to a distribution of promotional materials to consumers, and wherein said promotional materials include emailed promotional content coupled to a price offering, and wherein the interactively provided lead data is used to select the telecommunication node. 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the system computer is further configured to perform the acts of: interactively receiving lead data from the human caller corresponding to a desired good or service responsive to a distribution of promotional materials to consumers, and wherein said promotional materials are included in publicly-accessible publications including billboards, magazines and newspapers, and wherein the interactively received lead data is used to select the telecommunication node. 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the lead data comprise one or more of a promoter identification, a product or service identification, a scale of transaction indicator, a promotion channel identification, a customer rating, a geographic zone identifier, and a time-of-probable-closing indicator. 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the lead data from the human caller is collected by navigating the human caller through a tree-organized set of web sites, at the end of which the human caller is enticed to participate by making the telephone call. 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the system computer is further configured to: receive feedback from the lead buyer regarding quality of leads transferred to the lead buyer; andadjust a price of the lead based on the feedback received form the lead buyer. 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the feedback includes a deal-closing rate and the price of the lead is adjusted based on the deal-closing rate. 9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the system computer is further configured to: receive a phone number from the human caller; andinitiate the telephone call between the human caller and the lead buyer using the phone number. 10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the system computer is further configured to transfer the telephone call to an alternate lead buyer when the lead buyer is not available.