📖 Cannbus.org Concepts Guide
Leads, RFQs & Broadcasts
— explained visually
New to the platform? This guide explains the four core concepts with diagrams, flows, comparison tables, and real-world examples from the cannabis industry.
📌 What is a Lead?
⚡ Lead Generation
📋 Multi-Vendor RFQ
📣 Supplier Broadcast
Concept 1 of 4
What is a Lead?
A lead is a record of interest — a potential customer who has expressed intent to do business with you. Understanding what a lead is, and is not, is the foundation of everything else on this page.
🎯
Lead
A person or company who has shown interest in buying from your business.
On Cannbus.org, a lead is a digital record created every time a buyer submits an inquiry to your business. It captures their contact information, their message, how they found you, and tracks the status of your relationship with them from first contact through to a closed deal.
Real-world analogy
Think of a lead like a customer walking into your dispensary and handing over their business card. They have not bought anything yet — but they have shown interest. Your job is to follow up and turn that interest into a purchase. In the cannabis B2B world, leads happen digitally before any in-person meeting.
Anatomy of a Lead Record on Cannbus.org
FIGURE 1 — Every lead on Cannbus.org captures 9 data points. PII fields are encrypted at rest.
Lead status lifecycle — tracking a prospect from inquiry to deal
🔵 New
→
🟡 Contacted
→
🟣 Qualified
→
🟢 Converted ✓
or
⚫ Closed
| Status | Meaning | Typical action | Who changes it |
|---|---|---|---|
| New | Arrived — not yet reviewed | Open lead, make first contact | Owner or staff |
| Contacted | First outreach made | Add a note summarising what was said | Owner or staff |
| Qualified | Confirmed genuine opportunity | Send pricing, schedule call | Owner or staff |
| Converted | Deal closed — new customer! | Mark converted; start onboarding | Owner or staff |
| Closed | Not a fit or unresponsive | Archive; note reason | Owner or staff |
💡 Why leads matterWithout a systematic way to track inquiries, businesses lose prospects between cracks. A lead record ensures every potential customer has an owner, a status, a history, and a clear next step — nothing falls through.
Concept 2 of 4
Lead Generation
Lead generation is the process of attracting potential customers and converting their interest into a lead record. On Cannbus.org, this happens when a buyer finds your listing and submits an inquiry.
⚡
Lead Generation
The system that brings potential buyers to your business and captures their intent as a lead record.
On Cannbus.org, lead generation is the end-to-end process starting when a buyer discovers your business listing through the directory — and ending with a lead appearing in your dashboard inbox, complete with contact details, message, and instant notification. The platform handles spam filtering, quota enforcement, and multi-channel notification automatically.
Real-world analogy
Lead generation is like fishing. Your Cannbus.org listing is the bait — placed where your ideal buyers (cannabis buyers, dispensaries, cultivators) are actively searching. When a buyer bites (submits an inquiry), the platform automatically lands the fish (creates the lead record) and alerts you immediately so you can reel them in (follow up and close the deal).
FIGURE 2 — Lead Generation: Point-to-Point Process Flow
🔍
Step 1
Buyer searches directory
/business/directory/
→
📋
Step 2
Opens your listing
Views profile & form
→
✏️
Step 3
Fills inquiry form
Name · Email · Message
→
🛡️
Step 4
Spam & quota check
6 filters run silently
→
💾
Step 5
Lead record created
status = New
→
🔔
Step 6
4-channel alert fires
Email · Bell · SMS
→
📥
Step 7
Lead in your inbox
/dashboard/leads/
→
🤝
Step 8
Follow up & convert
Close the deal
The 6-layer spam protection pipeline — how fake inquiries are filtered
1
🍯 Honeypot field
A hidden form field invisible to humans. Bots fill it automatically. If the honeypot field contains any value → lead marked spam silently. Visitor still sees a success message.
2
🤖 reCAPTCHA v3 scoring
Google's invisible bot detector runs on every form submission. Scores each visitor 0.0 (bot) to 1.0 (human). Submissions scoring below the configured threshold are marked spam. No puzzles or checkboxes — fully invisible to real users.
3
🌐 IP rate limiting
Limits the number of submissions from a single IP address per day. Excess submissions return an HTTP 429 "Too many requests" page — not silently. Protects against flood attacks.
4
🗑️ Disposable email detection
Email domains commonly used for temporary addresses (e.g. mailinator.com, guerrillamail.com) are rejected automatically. Ensures real businesses submit inquiries — not throwaway addresses.
5
🔁 Duplicate detection
If the same email address contacts the same business within 24 hours, the second submission is marked spam automatically. Prevents the same buyer from flooding your inbox.
6
📊 Monthly quota enforcement
Checks remaining lead quota atomically using database-level locking (SELECT FOR UPDATE). If quota is reached, visitor sees a 429 page. No lead is created. Prevents over-delivery beyond plan limits.
When a lead arrives — all 4 notification channels fire simultaneously
Email
Delivered within 60 seconds to your notify email. Shows contact details, full message, quota status, and a direct link to the lead in your dashboard.
Dashboard Bell
A red number badge appears on the bell icon in your topbar. Click it for a dropdown showing all new notifications. Refreshes every 60 seconds automatically.
SMS (opt-in)
Text message sent to your mobile within 30 seconds — but only if you have explicitly opted in with a mobile number. Never sent without consent.
Daily Digest
Morning summary email aggregating previous day's leads, broadcasts, and quota status. Only sent when there was activity — no noise on quiet days.
Concept 3 of 4
Multi-Vendor RFQ
An RFQ (Request for Quote) is a single inquiry sent to multiple vendors simultaneously. The buyer submits one form, and the platform fans the message out to each selected vendor independently.
📋
Multi-Vendor RFQ
One buyer inquiry → up to 10 vendors → one Lead record per vendor — all created instantly and in parallel.
RFQ stands for Request for Quote. On Cannbus.org, a buyer selects multiple businesses using checkboxes on the directory page, then submits a single form. The platform creates a separate, independent Lead record for each vendor simultaneously. Each vendor receives their own copy of the inquiry with urgency cues — but they never see who else was contacted.
Real-world analogy
Imagine a dispensary buyer sending out a "tender" document to five wholesale suppliers simultaneously — all asking the same question (price for 100kg flower). Each supplier competes without knowing who else is bidding. The buyer reviews all responses and picks the best offer. An RFQ on Cannbus.org works exactly like this, except it happens in seconds instead of days.
FIGURE 3 — RFQ Fan-Out: One Submission Creates Multiple Independent Lead Records
FIGURE 3 — RFQ creates one Lead per eligible vendor (atomically). Vendors at quota are silently excluded. Buyer gets a confirmation listing who received the inquiry.
10
Maximum vendors per single RFQ
1
Lead record created per vendor
60s
Vendor notification delivery time
0
Vendor names revealed to competitors
ℹ️ Why does each vendor's quota get decremented?Because each vendor receives an independent lead — not a shared one. The RFQ fan-out creates N separate, fully independent Lead records (where N = number of eligible vendors). Each lead counts as one toward that vendor's monthly plan allocation. This is fair and transparent — a vendor at capacity is silently excluded rather than receiving a lead they cannot service.
Concept 4 of 4
Supplier Broadcast
A Supplier Broadcast is the reverse direction of an RFQ. Instead of buyers finding suppliers, suppliers push their product catalog and files to multiple potential buyers simultaneously.
📣
Supplier Broadcast
A supplier pushes their product catalog + optional files to up to 50 selected member businesses at once.
On Cannbus.org, a Supplier Broadcast lets a seller proactively reach out to potential buyers rather than waiting for buyers to find them. The supplier selects recipients from the directory, chooses a published catalog and/or attaches files (PDF, images, spreadsheets), adds an optional message, and sends. Every opted-in recipient gets the broadcast in their inbox immediately with an email, bell notification, and optional SMS.
Real-world analogy
Think of a Supplier Broadcast like a targeted product mailer — but digital and instant. A wholesale cultivator mails their spring catalog to selected dispensaries. Each dispensary opens their mail, looks through the catalog, and decides whether to order. The big difference: on Cannbus.org, if a dispensary replies to the broadcast, the supplier receives a lead in their dashboard automatically — closing the loop back into the sales pipeline.
Direction comparison: RFQ vs Broadcast
📋 Multi-Vendor RFQ
🧑💼Buyer initiates the contact
→Buyer → Many vendors
❓Buyer needs a quote and is comparing options
📋Text message only — no attachments
🔢Max 10 vendors per RFQ
VS
📣 Supplier Broadcast
🏭Supplier initiates the contact
→Supplier → Many member buyers
📦Supplier has new products to promote
📎Catalog + files (PDF, images, Excel, CSV)
🔢Max 50 recipients per broadcast
FIGURE 4 — Supplier Broadcast: 3-Step Send Wizard & Delivery Flow
FIGURE 4 — 3-step wizard → platform validates → fan-out to opted-in members. Each member reply auto-creates a Lead record on the supplier's dashboard.
File attachment rules at a glance
3
Maximum files per broadcast
10 MB
Maximum size per file
50
Maximum recipients per broadcast
30d
Download link expiry
| Allowed file type | Use case in cannabis industry | Icon |
|---|---|---|
| PDF (.pdf) | Product catalogs, COAs (Certificates of Analysis), lab results, pricing sheets, compliance documents | 📄 |
| JPEG / PNG / WebP | Product photography, strain images, packaging images, QR code displays | 🖼 |
| Excel (.xlsx, .xls) | Wholesale price lists, inventory sheets, order forms, quantity break schedules | 📊 |
| CSV (.csv) | Bulk price exports, product SKU lists, batch tracking data | 📋 |
⚠️ At least one of catalog or file is requiredA broadcast with only a text message is not allowed. This policy ensures every broadcast delivers genuine product value to recipients — not spam. Suppliers who want to reach members must have something substantive to share.
Summary
Side-by-Side Comparison
All four concepts compared across every dimension that matters for your business decision-making.
| Dimension | Lead | Lead Generation | Multi-Vendor RFQ | Supplier Broadcast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who initiates | A buyer | The platform (automatically) | A buyer | A supplier |
| Direction | 1 buyer → 1 vendor | System captures buyer → vendor | 1 buyer → up to 10 vendors | 1 supplier → up to 50 buyers |
| Number of records created | 1 Lead | 1 Lead per submission | N Leads (1 per vendor) | N Recipient rows + 1 Broadcast |
| Content shared | Text inquiry only | Text inquiry only | Text inquiry only | Catalog + files + optional message |
| Attachments allowed | No | No | No | Yes — PDF, image, Excel, CSV |
| Max recipients | 1 | 1 | 10 | 50 |
| Quota used from | Vendor's leads_included | Vendor's leads_included | Each vendor's leads_included | Supplier's broadcasts_included |
| Reply mechanism | Direct (offline) | Direct (offline) | RFQ reply → email to buyer | Reply button → auto-creates Lead |
| Notifications | Email + Bell + SMS + Digest | Email + Bell + SMS + Digest | Email per vendor + Buyer confirm + Bell + SMS | Email per member + Bell + SMS |
| Opt-out applies | No (always delivered) | No | Quota exclusion only | Yes — receive_broadcasts toggle |
| Available to | Anyone | Anyone (anonymous OK) | Anyone (anonymous OK) | Paid subscribers only (Pro+) |
| Vendor privacy | N/A (single vendor) | N/A | Vendor names hidden from each other | Opted-out members not named |
| Typical response time | 24–48 hours | 24–48 hours | 1–4 hours (competitive urgency) | Varies — inbox view |
60s
Lead email delivery
7×
Better conversion within 1 hour
10
Max vendors per RFQ
50
Max broadcast recipients
Decision Guide
Which feature should I use?
Use this guide to choose the right tool for your situation — whether you are a buyer comparing suppliers or a supplier trying to reach buyers.
Are you a buyer looking for products — or a supplier wanting to promote your products?
I am a BUYER
Use Inquiry Form or RFQ
If you want one specific supplier → use the Contact form on their listing page.
If you want to compare quotes from multiple suppliers → select up to 10 from the directory and use the RFQ button in the floating panel.
If you want to compare quotes from multiple suppliers → select up to 10 from the directory and use the RFQ button in the floating panel.
I am a SUPPLIER
Use Supplier Broadcast
Select up to 50 member businesses from the directory who match your target market. Launch the broadcast wizard. Attach your catalog and/or product files. Send — they receive it in their inbox within 60 seconds.
Requires Pro or Enterprise plan.
Requires Pro or Enterprise plan.
As a buyer — should I use a single inquiry or an RFQ?
Use single inquiry when…
Contact form on listing page
• You have already researched and chosen this supplier
• Your message is personalised or sensitive
• You are following up an existing conversation
• You need a specific product not available from multiple vendors
• Your message is personalised or sensitive
• You are following up an existing conversation
• You need a specific product not available from multiple vendors
Use RFQ when…
Directory → Checkbox → RFQ
• You want to compare prices from multiple vendors
• Your requirements are the same for all vendors
• You need the best price or availability
• You have not worked with any of them before
• Speed of response matters (RFQ creates urgency)
• Your requirements are the same for all vendors
• You need the best price or availability
• You have not worked with any of them before
• Speed of response matters (RFQ creates urgency)
Quick reference — all features at a glance
| I want to… | Feature to use | Where to start | Who can use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact one specific business | Lead / Inquiry Form | Business listing page → Contact form | Anyone (no account needed) |
| Get quotes from many vendors at once | Multi-Vendor RFQ | Directory → Tick checkboxes → "Send inquiry to N vendors" | Anyone (no account needed) |
| Push my products to potential buyers | Supplier Broadcast | Directory → Tick members → "Send product list to N members" | Pro or Enterprise subscribers only |
| Respond to an incoming inquiry | Lead management | Dashboard → Leads → Open lead → Reply or status update | Business owner & staff |
| View my broadcast deliveries and replies | Broadcast inbox | Dashboard → Broadcasts → Sent tab | Business owner & staff |
| Opt out of receiving broadcasts | Notification settings | Dashboard → Notification Settings → toggle receive_broadcasts | Business owner |