A franchise inquiry form has one job: give the development rep what they need to decide the next step. Ask too little and the first call turns into a discovery call. Ask too much and you lose people before they’ve decided they’re interested.
One test settles most arguments: every question has to change what happens next. If nobody can say what they’d do differently with the answer, cut the question.
Below is a field-and-routing starting specification: the exact wording, options, help text, required flags, field keys, CRM properties, validation rules, routing and confirmation messages. It uses the same rules as the qualification guide, so the form and the grading follow one policy. Some implementation choices are still yours (field-length limits, phone formatting, retry handling), and they’re marked as choices, not requirements.
The questions
Fictional US franchisor, Northfield Inspections (home inspection). The illustrative total investment is USD 95,000 to 140,000, with at least USD 70,000 from the candidate’s own liquid funds.
| # | Key | Question (exact wording) | Type | Options | Help text | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | operating_territory | Which area would you like to operate in? | Dropdown + text | Open territories (by name and ID) / Somewhere else (text box appears) / Not sure yet | “This is where you’d run the business, not necessarily where you live.” | Yes |
| 2 | liquid_funds | How much could you invest from your own liquid funds, without borrowing? | Single choice | Under $56,000 / $56,000 to $69,999 / $70,000 to $99,999 / $100,000 or more / Prefer to discuss | “Total investment is $95,000 to $140,000. At least $70,000 needs to come from your own cash or savings. Don’t include loans, home equity or money you’re expecting but don’t have yet.” | Yes |
| 2a | funding_source | Where will the rest of your own funds come from? | Single choice + text | Sale of a property / Sale of another asset / Savings or investment maturing / Other (text) | “Not a loan. Money that will be yours.” | Shown only if Q2 = $56,000 to $69,999. Optional |
| 2b | funding_expected_date | When do you expect those funds? | Date (month and year) | Shown only if Q2 = $56,000 to $69,999. Optional | ||
| 3 | year_one_role | How do you see your role in the first year? | Single choice | I’ll do the inspections myself / I’m open to it and want to discuss / I’ll hire inspectors from day one / I’m looking for an investment someone else runs | “Our model needs owners to carry out inspections personally for the first 12 months.” | Yes |
| 4 | start_timing | When would you like to start? | Single choice | Within 3 months / 3 to 6 months / 6 to 12 months / 12 to 18 months / Just exploring | (none) | Yes |
| 5 | trade_background | Have you worked in building, trades or property? | Single choice | Yes, professionally / Some experience / No | “Not required. It helps us plan your training.” | No |
| 6 | main_question | What’s your main question about this opportunity? | Text | (free text) | “We’ll answer it on the first call.” | No |
| 7 | heard_about_us | How did you hear about us? | Single choice + text | Search engine / Social media / Podcast or video / Friend or family / Existing franchisee / Franchise broker or portal / Event / Other (text) | (none) | No |
| 8 | first_name | First name | Text | Yes | ||
| 9 | last_name | Last name | Text | Yes | ||
| 10 | Yes, valid email format | |||||
| 11 | mobile | Mobile number | Tel | “So your rep can call you.” | Yes | |
| 12 | marketing_opt_in | Send me occasional franchise updates by email | Checkbox, unticked by default | No; separate from the inquiry |
Above the submit button, use form-purpose copy along these lines: “We use these answers to match you with the right territory and rep. See our privacy policy for how we store them.” Have the privacy policy and opt-in wording reviewed for each market you recruit in. This spec doesn’t certify legal compliance.
Where contact details sit, and whether the form is one step or two, are design choices to test, not rules. Field placement doesn’t decide quality. The questions do.
Why the wording is deliberate
- Q1 says “operate”, not “live”. The operating area is what decides territory fit.
- Q2 defines the money and has no overlapping bands. “Own liquid funds, without borrowing”, with the real minimum in the help text, gets one meaning back. The $56,000 band edge matches the qualification rule exactly.
- Q2 has “Prefer to discuss”. Some serious candidates won’t put money on a web form. That answer sends the record to a call. It never makes it red.
- Q3 separates four answers that mean different things. Someone open to doing the inspections, someone who wants to hire, and someone after a passive investment each need a different response.
Validation before routing
Run these checks on the receiving system (not only in the browser) before any grade is assigned. A failed check is a technical validation error, never a candidate grade:
| Check | If it fails |
|---|---|
| Every required field present and non-empty | Reject; ask the candidate to complete it |
| Every choice value is in the allowed list for its field | Reject the payload (it’s tampered with or from an old form version) |
| operating_territory is currently Open (checked against the availability record at submission time, not the dropdown that was loaded earlier) | Accept, but treat it as “territory not on list”: R1 manual review, plus flag territory_stale |
| email valid, mobile normalized (your choice of format, for example E.164) | Reject with a field message |
| Free text within length limits (your choice, for example 500 characters) | Reject with a field message |
| Same idempotency key or submission ID received again (for example a double click or a retry) | Return the original result; never create a second inquiry |
Routing
After validation, the form uses the shared rules (R1 to R4) and the same precedence as the qualification guide:
| Step | If | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Q3 = “investment someone else runs”; or Q2 = “Under $56,000” | Disqualified, closed with the reason recorded (Q2 under $56,000 can still go to an approved-exception review if your policy has one). A Sold territory can’t be chosen in the dropdown. If one is typed into “Somewhere else”, it goes to step 2, and the rep applies R1 on the call |
| 2 | Q1 = “Somewhere else” or “Not sure yet”, or flagged territory_stale; Q2 = “Prefer to discuss”; Q2 = $56,000 to $69,999 (with or without Q2a and Q2b, because a funding plan is only a dependency once a rep has confirmed the named source and date); Q3 = “open to it” or “hire from day one” | Not yet graded: the rep calls to clarify (for hire-from-day-one, check the existing-operator exception) |
| 3 | Q4 = 6 to 12 months, 12 to 18 months, or “just exploring” (and nothing in steps 1 or 2) | Nurture: dated follow-up |
| 4 | All of: Q1 a currently Open territory, Q2 $70,000 or more, Q3 “I’ll do the inspections myself”, Q4 within 6 months | Qualified: rep call booked |
Step 4 lists its conditions explicitly instead of saying “everything else”. A record that matches none of the steps (for example, from a new option nobody added to the rules) goes to Not yet graded with flag unrouted, never to Qualified.
After the rep’s call, a confirmed funding source and expected date for a $56,000 to $69,999 candidate becomes an R2 dependency, so R2 is a Nurture dependency. The final grade is Nurture only if no confirmed failure or unresolved required rule takes precedence. Answers like “not sure” or “soon” stay Not yet graded until they’re confirmed. The rep records what was confirmed, and when.
Q5, Q6 and Q7 never change the grade. Q5 shapes training. Q6 prepares the call. Q7 fills the self-reported source field.
One completed submission
All values are fictional. The contact details use reserved example data (example.com email, a 555-01xx phone number). Never use a real person’s details in a test.
| Key | Submitted value | Validation / rule |
|---|---|---|
| operating_territory | Somewhere else: “Round Rock” | valid; R1 missing |
| liquid_funds | $70,000 to $99,999 | valid; R2 pass |
| funding_source / funding_expected_date | (not shown) | |
| year_one_role | I’ll hire inspectors from day one | valid; R3 manual review |
| start_timing | 3 to 6 months | valid; R4 pass |
| trade_background | Yes, professionally | valid (training only) |
| main_question | “Can I keep running my maintenance business?” | valid, under the length limit (call prep) |
| heard_about_us | Podcast or video | valid (self-reported source) |
| first_name / last_name | Jordan / Example | valid |
| jordan.example@example.com | valid format | |
| mobile | +1 512 555 0142 | valid; normalized to +15125550142 |
| marketing_opt_in | unticked | stored as false |
| submission_id / idempotency_key | SUB-EXAMPLE-0001 / IDEM-EXAMPLE-0001 | first receipt |
Routing result: validation passed. Precedence step 2. grade = blank, grading_status = Not yet graded. Flags: territory_unmatched, role_exception_check. Owner: the Texas development rep. Next action: a call to match Round Rock to a territory ID and discuss the existing-operator exception. Confirmation shown: “Accepted, territory pending”.
What the candidate sees
Show the confirmation only after the inquiry has been accepted by the receiving system:
| Case | Message |
|---|---|
| Accepted, Open territory | “Thanks. We’ve received your inquiry. Our team for [territory] will contact you.” Add a response time only if your staffing can actually meet it. |
| Accepted, territory pending | “Thanks. We’ve received your inquiry. We’ll confirm which territory covers [place] when we contact you.” |
| Accepted, known Sold territory | “Thanks. [Territory] isn’t currently available. We’ll contact you about nearby options.” |
| Delivery failed | “Something went wrong and your inquiry wasn’t sent. Please try again, or email [address].” Log the failure so the team can recover the record. |
Never show “You qualify”. A marketing form can’t approve anyone.
CRM mapping
Each key maps to its own CRM property and stores the exact option text. Add: grade, grading_status, flags, rules_version, submission_id, funding_confirmed_by / funding_confirmed_at (set by the rep), and the source fields from source tracking. Test with a marked test submission. Confirm every property arrived on the right contact, then confirm the test record is excluded from reporting.
What the top 100 franchise brands’ forms ask
On 31 October 2026 we checked the recruitment pages of the top 100 brands in Entrepreneur’s 2026 Franchise 500 (full audit). 31 of the 69 pages we could score had a readable inquiry form on the page. Of those 31 forms, 16 asked about capital, 13 asked where the candidate wants a territory, and 1 asked when they want to start. Timing is the question most forms leave out, and in the routing above it’s the one that separates Qualified from Nurture.
If your market calls it an enquiry form
UK and Australian franchisors usually call it a franchise enquiry form. The spec above works the same way. Change three things:
- Say “enquiry” in the heading, the button and the confirmation messages (“Thanks. We’ve received your enquiry.”).
- Use your currency in Q2 and its help text, with the band edges worked out from your own minimum.
- List territories the way your market names them, for example counties or postcode areas in the UK and regions or postcodes in Australia.
Have the privacy wording reviewed for each market, as above.
Start here
Put your current form next to this spec. For each field, write what you’d do differently with the answer. Remove the fields where the answer is “nothing”. Then check that territory, own liquid funds, owner role and timing are each asked in words that can’t be misread.
Download: inquiry-form-spec.csv (every field, validation rule, route and confirmation message, plus the completed submission) and decision-rules.csv.
Related: Qualifying candidates · Territory availability · Source tracking · Quiz versus multi-step forms
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