Time-Delayed Lead Access by Membership Plan

The Challenge

BelieveWorldWide needed to change how leads get sent to members based on their membership plan. Platinum Legacy members (one-time payment) should see new leads right away. Platinum Annual and Silver members should get them later, on a delay. Everything still had to follow the normal Brilliant Directories lead rules, including the first 5 members who can accept a lead. We also had to make sure nobody got duplicate emails or SMS once a lead was already closed or full.

The Solution

We built a tier-based delay system on top of the existing Lead System in Brilliant Directories:

1. Membership Tier Setup

   We set up three tiers with configurable delays. Tier 1 is immediate (0 min) for Platinum Legacy and similar plans. Tier 2 adds a delay (default 5 min) for recurring plans like Platinum Annual. Tier 3 adds the longest delay (default 10 min) for Silver and free members. Plans are managed from the admin plugin, not hardcoded, so the client can update tiers without touching code.

2. Auto Match Changes

   We modified the existing Auto Match flow so the match engine still runs once per lead, same as before. Tier 1 members get the normal treatment: matched and notified by email, dashboard, and SMS right away. Tier 2 and Tier 3 matches go into a queue instead. Nothing goes out until the delay passes.

3. Queue and Cron Release

   We added a queue system and a cron job that runs every minute. When the scheduled time arrives, it checks if the lead is still open and if there is still room under the 5-acceptance limit. If yes, it creates the match and sends notifications using the same logic as Auto Match. If the lead filled up before the delay ended, those queued matches get skipped. No duplicate alerts.

4. Lead Tier Manager Plugin

   We built a custom admin plugin where the client can assign membership plans to each tier and set delay times in minutes. The whole thing lives in the BD admin sidebar, no code edits needed for day-to-day changes.

5. Shared Tier Functions

   We put the core tier logic in one shared place used by both Auto Match and the cron job. That way email, dashboard, and SMS all go through one path. It also keeps duplicate notifications from going out when a lead closes early.

Technical Implementation Notes

Most of the work was PHP customization inside Brilliant Directories, custom database setup, changes to the Auto Match flow, a cron job that runs every minute, and a custom admin plugin for managing tier settings.