Left: what the sales team does. Right: what the lead sees, hears, and receives.
Single-threaded on Clay today. Every activity below sits on one desk. Future state shows where Katie takes lead-facing ownership.
Katie owns lead-facing work Intake → Closing. Clay retains legal, FDD, agreements, real estate, and lease. Dashed cells = still to be designed together.
Lead drops into FC via the franchise website form. Clay sees the new lead in the queue.
Lead drops into FC. Katie is assigned as primary; Clay is cc'd for awareness but doesn't touch it.
Submits her info on the franchise website. Sees a brief "thanks — we'll be in touch" confirmation on screen.
Workflow fires the welcome email + welcome SMS automatically the moment the form hits FC. No human action required at this step.
SMS fires shortly after the welcome email so she sees a second-channel signal we received her form.
Clay reads the form data, scans for obvious fit signals, and writes a personal email. Realistically slips to 48–72 hrs when Clay is pulled into Closing or Site/Lease work.
Katie's full attention is on the inbound funnel. Personal outreach lands same-day or next-day and leads with her 2005 franchisee story — operator-to-operator framing from the first touch.
Low-friction self-booking. Lead can pick a time without back-and-forth scheduling.
If she books, she lands on a confirmed slot with calendar invite. If she doesn't book, she stays in the queue for another personal nudge.
30 minutes. Clay walks her through the brand story, how franchising works with us, and answers her questions. Decides whether to move her to FDD.
30 minutes, operator-to-operator. Katie leads with lived experience, sets expectations on the full journey (not just this call), and gives her the "here's what happens next" roadmap before hanging up.
Her first human, voice-level impression of Mainstream Boutique. Sets the tone for the rest of the journey.
Leaves the call knowing what happens next, what the timeline looks like, and that the person on the other side has actually done what she's thinking about doing.
Clay generates the FDD package in the portal. Lead receives the portal link by email. Currently arrives without much context around it.
Katie delivers the FDD wrapped in human framing — a short guide on what to read first, what the legal language means in plain English, and an open invitation to ask questions.
Clay watches for the signed receipt. If it doesn't come in, he follows up manually — when he remembers to.
Katie owns receipt follow-up. Proactive re-engagement workflow fires automatically if she stalls, so nothing falls through silently.
Opens the FDD (or doesn't). Signs the receipt (or doesn't). This is where the cold FDD drop creates silent drop-offs in the current state.
Once FDD receipt is signed, schedule a live walkthrough to unpack questions.
She gets a named block of time to ask everything she's been worried about in the FDD.
Walks her through the sections that raise the most questions and addresses specific concerns she surfaces.
Katie runs it as an operator who's read it from the franchisee side. Clay joins if a legal question needs him.
Clay sends the forms after FDD review. Today this arrives with minimal framing around why we're asking.
Katie frames the disclosure as "helping us help you" — contextualized with how we use the info, and what it unlocks for her.
Reads for funding, experience, fit signals, and red flags.
Clay sanity-checks funding and fit. Katie continues owning the lead relationship while Clay's eyes are on the numbers.
Quiet window. If outreach goes silent here, doubt starts to build.
Katie proactively checks in so the quiet window doesn't feel quiet.
Deep-dive on the Three Questions framework. Currently feels like an interview to the candidate.
Katie reframes it as mutual discovery — we're both figuring out whether this is a fit.
Last gate before Closing. Confirm fit, financing, and that she understands what year 1 looks like.
Currently delivered verbally on the 3Q call. Easy to forget the details afterward.
Written tracker + next-steps email so she never has to guess where she stands.
Requests proof-of-funds docs or lender pre-approval. Reviews against the capital requirement.
Katie handles the conversation side; Clay confirms the numbers clear.
Connects the lead with current franchisees who match her profile. Essential trust-building step.
She gets to talk to women who've walked this path — often the most decisive touchpoint in the whole journey.
Internal review meeting. Decision made. Currently no communication to the lead during this window.
Lead gets an explicit "we're presenting you on [date], you'll hear from us within 48 hrs" note from Katie.
She knows she's been submitted but has no visibility into when she'll hear back.
Explicit commitment. No guessing.
Currently delivered as an email. Transactional.
Ritualized. Phone call from Katie + follow-up email + welcome packet in the mail.
Hard 16-day waiting period from FDD delivery before agreements can be signed. Clay tracks this in both states.
She can review, consult her attorney and spouse, and prepare for signing. Mandatory waiting period.
Clay retains agreement drafting in both current and future state. Legal sits on his desk either way.
No lead touchpoint during drafting. She may hear nothing for a week+.
Katie sends proactive check-ins while Clay drafts, so the quiet window isn't silent.
Agreement package + execution instructions land in her inbox.
Same, plus a plain-language agreement summary prepared by Clay to take the edge off the legal language.
All signatures complete. Finance collects the initial franchise fee.
Relief. Euphoria. The biggest leap of faith in the whole process is now behind her.
Currently ad-hoc. Depends on Clay's bandwidth.
Scripted welcome-to-the-family moment. Explicit "here's the next 90 days" so she knows the site/lease window isn't a void.
She signed — and now there's silence while real estate begins. Buyer's remorse risk is highest here.
Welcome kit + Katie's personal note + the roadmap arrive fast. She knows what's coming and that she belongs.
Clay runs the real estate work in both states. Multi-week to multi-month depending on market. Lowest-signal phase for the lead.
Weeks can pass between meaningful updates. Feels like the brand is dragging its feet.
Real estate delays reframed with market context. Katie's cadence fills the gaps between Clay's site updates.
Clay drives the lease negotiation in both states. This is where his operator knowledge pays.
She hears from Clay when milestones hit. Silence in between.
Same updates, plus Katie is checking in independently on her side so the relationship stays warm.
The actual exit of Sales → Onboarding. Not agreement execution — lease signature.
Currently treated as a procedural milestone.
Celebrated as its own moment. She made it through.
Handoff memo + kickoff schedule = Sales is done.
Handoff is warm because Katie has been her anchor since Intake. Named Onboarding contact, not a nameless team.
Cold handoff. New people, new process.
Continuity anchor still present. Onboarding starts from a warm place.
Clay decides: Inactive (eligible for re-engagement) or Dead Forever (excluded).
Katie owns the nurture bucket end-to-end. Same categorization model.
Status change is internal. She just goes quiet — for a week, a month, or forever.
SMS + email cadence. Currently ad-hoc content.
Structured cadence at months 1, 3, 6, 12 with value-add content rather than pitch.
Re-engagement is the only structured touch today. No library of value-forward content.
Quarterly market letter, founder stories, community highlights. Reasons to stay in touch that aren't "buy from us."
To be designed. Today she doesn't hear from us between re-engagement attempts.
Leads can sit in nurture indefinitely with no clear expiration.
Explicit 24-month window. If no engagement, reclassified Dead Forever and removed from active cadence.
Could receive a re-engagement touch years later from a lead she barely remembers submitting.
Either she re-engages within 24 months or we let her go with dignity. No stale outreach.