What your agent handles

The workflow is yours. The agent works it.

Fraink does not ship a fixed set of stages. Your workflow is a short YAML template that describes how your business actually runs: each stage, the one step the team owes there, when it is due, who it routes to, and the buttons they tap when it is done. Install a template that is close, then rename the words and tune the dates until it is yours.

What a stage is made of

One step. A due date. The buttons the team taps.

This is a real stage from the franchise development template. Nothing here is a board column. The step is the work; the buttons are how it went; each button says what happens next.

step_label: The one thing owed at this stage — “Call Dana Smith” — with a retry title for when it slips.
default_due_in_days: When it lands on Today. Zero means today. Overdue sorts to the top.
assign_to · on_multiple: Route the step to a role, and pick who gets it: fewest open steps, first in the list, or round robin.
outcomes: The buttons. Each one either advances to a named stage, retries after N days, or closes the record won, lost, or archived — and can ask for a date, an amount, or a reason.

- key: contacting
  label: New inquiry
  step_label: "Call {name}"
  retry_step_label: "Try {name} again"
  default_due_in_days: 0
  assign_to: role:Manager
  on_multiple: least_open_steps
  outcomes:
    - key: booked_call
      label: Book a discovery call
      effect: advance
      to: discovery
      prompt_for: datetime
    - key: no_answer
      label: No answer — try again
      effect: retry
      due_in_days: 1
    - key: nurture
      label: Not ready — follow up later
      effect: retry
      due_in_days: 14
    - key: not_qualified
      label: Not qualified
      effect: close_lost
      prompt_for: reason

Stage is derived from work

Nobody picks a stage. They tap how it went.

Today, overdue first

Every open record has exactly one next step. Today is that list, sorted by what slipped. The agent reads it the same way your team does.

“How’d it go?”

When the step is done, a person — or the agent, inside that person’s permissions — taps a button. The button decides the next stage, not a dropdown.

Your words

Candidate or Inquiry, Franchisee or Customer, Awarded or Signed. The vocabulary is part of the template, so the agent speaks the way your brand does.

One workflow, end to end

Franchise development, with Dana Smith as the candidate.

Five open stages from the bundled franchise template, then a terminal one. For each: what happens, what the agent does automatically, what still waits on a person, and what gets recorded.

Stage 1

New inquiry — Call Dana

The website form lands. Dana wrote why she is looking, her background, the market, timing, and capital. The call is a gut check, not blank discovery.

Automatic: Open the record, route the call to a Manager with the fewest open steps, put it on Today, tell the owner in conversation.
Waits on a person: Making the call. Tapping “Book a discovery call,” “No answer,” or “Not qualified.”
Recorded: Source, answers from the form, who owns it, and the button that was tapped.

Stage 2

Discovery call

Due in two days by default, or on the date the last button asked for.

Automatic: Draft the prep note from Dana’s answers. Send the calendar invite. Nudge if the date passes.
Waits on a person: The conversation itself. “Qualified — send docs,” “Need another call,” or “Not a fit” with a reason.
Recorded: The note, the outcome, and the reason if it closed.

Stage 3

Documents

Send the franchise documents and follow up on a cadence. The waiting period lives in the retry, not in a separate board.

Automatic: Attach the packet, set the seven-day follow-up, keep the record on Today until someone taps.
Waits on a person: Sending anything to Dana. “Docs sent — follow up” or “Ready to meet.”
Recorded: When docs went out and every follow-up since.

Stage 4

In-person meeting

Meet the team and see the model. Someone walks the market with a phone in hand.

Automatic: Hold the date, prep the packet from the record, reschedule when asked.
Waits on a person: Showing up. “Ready to award,” “Needs more time,” or “Not a fit.”
Recorded: The date, the notes, and the next step the agent should draft.

Stage 5

Award — sign and collect the fee

Paperwork on a real table. The agent does not sign.

Automatic: Attach the agreement, follow up weekly while it is “Still reviewing.”
Waits on a person: Signatures, counsel, and the fee. “Franchise awarded.”
Recorded: The close, who tapped it, and the record now marked Awarded.

Terminal

Awarded · Not a fit · Archived

Won, lost, and never-worked stay separate so your close rate is honest. A lost deal was contested; an archived one never was.

Automatic: Convert Dana to a Franchisee. Start the operating record and route her territory’s leads to her.
Waits on a person: Nothing. The buttons upstream already decided this.
Recorded: The reason, when it applies, from the lost-reasons list in your template.

Start from a template

Install one that is close. Then make it yours.

Franchise development

Call, documents, in-person meeting, award.

Home services

Call, site visit, quote, follow-up, deposit, open jobs.

Bookings

Inquiry, pick a date, deposit, trip details, with a catalog and pay links.

Simple sales

Contact, proposal, won or lost.

Rename the words and change the due days freely. Replace a live workflow with a different template only when you mean to change every button the team already knows.

How the agent works a stage