# US 2014/0156365 A1 · Method and apparatus for incentivizing professionals in a consultation system > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2014/0156365 A1 - Document ID: US20140156365A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 14/176,007 - Filed: 2014-02-07 - Published: 2014-06-05 - Earliest claimed: 2010-08-11 - Assignees: Pearl.com LLC - Applicants: Pearl.Com LLC - Inventors: Emily A.S.R. Porter; Oron Nadiv; Andrew Naslund - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140156365A1 ## CPC - G06Q 30/0208: Trade or exchange of goods or services in exchange for incentives or rewards - G06Q 10/10: Office automation; Time management - G06Q 10/101: Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services - G06Q 10/40: Business processes related to social networking or social networking services - G06Q 30/0185: {Product, service or business identity fraud} - G06Q 30/0206: {Price or cost determination based on market factors} - G06Q 30/0207: Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates - G06Q 30/0283: Price estimation or determination - G06Q 40/12: Accounting - H04M 3/51: Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention {, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing} - H04M 2203/401: Performance feedback - G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR - H04M: TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION (circuits for controlling other apparatus via a telephone cable and not involving telephone switching apparatus G08) ## Abstract In exemplary embodiments, a computer implemented method for incentivizing professionals answering questions or responding to service requests in a consultation system is described where a ranking score is calculated for each professional admitted to the consultation system, and based on the professional's ranking score, he is provided early or delayed access to the user posted questions and requests. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A computer implemented method of incentivizing professionals answering or responding to user posted questions or requests in a consultation system, the computer implemented method comprising: calculating a ranking score for each professional admitted to the consultation system; and providing early or delayed access to the user posted questions/requests to the professional based on the ranking score. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein for each professional the ranking score is calculated based on at least one of a customer satisfaction score, a peer review quality score a seniority status, a per customer earnings or repeat metric, jurisdiction of licensure, volume of question answered or other services provided, repeat customer rate, average earnings per customer, seniority status and bonus points accumulated by performing activities that promotes the consultation system. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the customer satisfaction score is a net promoted-based score. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein bonus points are awarded to each professional based on the level of participation of the professional in activities promoting the consultation system. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The method of claim 4, wherein the activities promoting the consultation system include writing blog articles, creating a complete profile, participating in consultation system product development, testing, participating in public relations activities. ### Claim 6 (depends on 4) The method of claim 4, wherein the bonus points are awarded based on the number of stale questions the professional answers. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the bonus points are awarded based on the number of “bad news” questions the professional answers, ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: incentivizing professionals by providing immunity from customer rating to the professional answering immunity eligible questions. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The method of claim 8, wherein the immunity eligible questions include stale, low fee or no fee questions, and bad news questions. ### Claim 10 (depends on 7) The method of claim 7, further comprising: providing the professional answering the bad news question with a template response. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: providing an opt out option to the professional that selects a stale, low price or bad news question to answer. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: providing the professional a larger share of a fee for the posted question based the professional's ranking score. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the ranking, score of the professional is increased based on the professional's activities outside of the consultation system that promotes the professional's public profile. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein a new professional is provided delayed access to the question list during a probationary period. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the professional with ranking scores below a threshold is provided delayed access to the question list during a probationary period, ### Claim 16 (depends on 14) The method of claim 14, further comprising using the ranking score to provide the professional with privileges not related to question access tune. ### Claim 17 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein an access time value for the early or delayed access is between negative days up to positive days. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The method of claim 17, wherein the professional's ranking score and the corresponding professional's early or delayed access time value are recorded as entries in a question access time table for each professional. ### Claim 19 A machine-readable storage medium having embodied thereon instructions w when executed by at least one processor, causes a machine to perform operations comprising: calculating a ranking score for each professional admitted to the consultation system, wherein for each professional the ranking score is calculated based on at least one of a customer satisfaction score, a peer review quality score, a seniority status, a per customer earnings or repeat metric, jurisdiction of licensure, volume of question answered or other services provided, repeat customer rate, average earnings per customer, seniority status and bonus points accumulated by performing activities that promotes the consultation system; and providing early access to the user posted questions to the professional with a high ranking score.