A Nurture candidate needs a sequence built from their own record, not a newsletter. Write down what is missing, the date it should resolve, who owns the follow-up, and the rule that ends the sequence. Then send only messages that move one of those dependencies forward.
This guide works one fictional candidate from the first call to the re-grade: five messages with full copy, one conditional trigger, the pause, consent and exit rules, and the arithmetic behind the final grade. The schedule is an example built around her dates. It is not a recommended cadence for anyone else.
The candidate going into nurture
The franchisor is “Northfield Inspections”, a fictional US home inspection network, and the candidate is Record B from the qualification guide. We’ll call her Dana. All times are US Central.
| Field (rules v2.1) | Answer | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Territory | TX-AUS-03 (Open) | R1 pass |
| Own liquid funds | $60,000 now; selling a rental, closing expected 15 Aug; confirmed by Sam on the first call, Sat 9 May 2026 | R2 dependency |
| Year-one role | “I’ll do the inspections myself” | R3 pass |
| Timing | “6 to 12 months” | R4 dependency |
| Questions she raised on the call | “What does a normal week look like in year one?” and “How much training is there before I start?” | Stored as content needs |
| Consent on the form, 8 May | Email: yes. Text messages: no | Email only, no texts. A 1:1 phone call is recorded as its own permission entry when she agrees to a specific call |
Grade: Nurture (amber). Lifecycle state: active. Owner: Sam, development rep. Reassessment date: Thu 20 Aug, five days after her closing date.
Two things decide the whole sequence. The dependencies tell you when to contact her (around 15 Aug). Her questions tell you what to send in between. Anything that does neither doesn’t get sent.
Who owns what
| Role | Owns |
|---|---|
| Sam, development rep | The record, every send decision, the reassessment call, the re-grade |
| Marketing ops | Building the templates, suppression on unsubscribe, the send log |
| Development Director | Exceptions to a rule, reassignment if Sam is away more than 5 staffed days |
Marketing can build the sequence. It can’t change the grade. Only the rep re-grades, against the written rules.
The sequence, with the copy
Every email goes out under Sam’s name and reply address, and every one carries the unsubscribe link and the footer your counsel has approved for the market. The fictional contact details below use example.com and a 555 number.
N0. Recap, same day as the call (Sat 9 May, 1:1 email)
Subject: Our call today, and what happens next
Hi Dana,
Thanks for the time this morning. Here’s what I took away, so you can correct anything I got wrong.
- You’d like TX-AUS-03, which is open today.
- Your rental sale is due to close on 15 August, and that’s what takes your own funds past our minimum.
- You’re looking at a start 6 to 12 months out.
You asked what a normal week looks like in year one and how much training happens before you start. I’ll send a short answer to each over the next few weeks, nothing else.
I’ve put a call in for Thursday 20 August, after your closing. If that date moves, just reply and I’ll move with it.
Sam Northfield Inspections (fictional) · sam@example.com · 555-0142
N1. Answer her first question (Mon 18 May, template sent from Sam)
Subject: A first-year week at Northfield, hour by hour
Hi Dana,
You asked what a normal week looks like in year one. Here’s an illustrative week for an owner who does the inspections personally: five to eight inspections, a report for each that you write in Northfield’s software and send the same day or the next business day, and two mornings with local real estate agents. Bookings run through Northfield’s central booking tool, and you manage your own calendar, confirmations and reschedules in it. [Link: owner-role page]
The weeks vary with the season and the market. If anything on that page doesn’t match what you pictured, that’s worth a conversation before August, not after.
Sam
The week is fictional, written for this example. A real version has to come from your operations team and your existing owners, reviewed before it goes out.
N2. Answer her second question (Mon 15 Jun, template sent from Sam)
Subject: What training looks like before your first inspection
Hi Dana,
On training: here’s an outline of what Northfield provides in the first 90 days, who runs each part, and what’s left to you. [Link: training and support overview]
No need to reply. I’ll still call on 20 August.
Sam
T1. Conditional: territory status changes (did not fire)
If TX-AUS-03 moves from Open to Reserved or Sold while she’s in nurture, Sam emails the same staffed day and names an Open alternative:
Subject: An update on TX-AUS-03
Hi Dana,
I want you to hear this from me first: TX-AUS-03 is now reserved for another candidate. TX-AUS-05, which covers Round Rock, is open. If you’d like, I can send you the boundary map and we can talk it through on our 20 August call.
Sam
If she accepts the alternative, R1 becomes a dependency and she stays in Nurture. If she’ll only take TX-AUS-03 and declines every alternative, R1 fails and the grade becomes Disqualified.
N3. Check the dependency before the date (Mon 3 Aug, 1:1 email)
Subject: Is 15 August still on track?
Hi Dana,
One question: is the rental closing still set for 15 August? If it is, I’ll call on Thursday the 20th at a time that suits you. If it’s moved, tell me the new date and I’ll shift our call.
Sam
One question, one date. Dana replied the same day: still on track, call at 10:00. Sam logs that reply as a call permission entry (1:1 call, 20 Aug, 10:00, agreed by email on 3 Aug), separate from her email consent.
N4. Reassessment call (Thu 20 Aug, phone)
Sam reruns the rules on the answers he confirms on the call.
- R2 own liquid funds. The sale closed. Net proceeds of $31,000 are in her account, alongside the $60,000. $60,000 + $31,000 = $91,000, which is at or above the $70,000 minimum. Pass.
- R4 timing. She now plans to start in January 2027. The pass window is within 6 months of today, so before 20 Feb 2027. January is inside it. Pass.
- R1 and R3 haven’t changed. Both pass.
No fail, nothing missing, no dependency left. Re-grade: Qualified (green). Nurture stops that day and Sam books the development call. The log records the old grade, the new grade, the rules version and the date.
The branch that didn’t happen. Had the closing slipped to 30 Sep, R2 would stay a dependency with a new confirmed date. Dana stays in Nurture, and the next reassessment moves to Mon 5 Oct, five days after the new date. The sequence doesn’t restart. Sam sends one check-in before the new date, like N3.
Pause, consent and exit rules
Write these before the first send. Every one of them is in the downloadable rule sheet.
Pause
- She asks to pause and names a date: stop every automated send at once, set the lifecycle state to
paused, set the review date to the date she gave, and log her words. Her grade stays Nurture. - She asks to pause with no date: stop every automated send, set
paused, and Sam asks one clarifying question in his reply: is there a date she’d like him to check back, or would she rather not be contacted? If she doesn’t answer, the record gets a named internal review: Sam reviews it 30 days after her request. That review looks at the record only. It isn’t consent to contact her again, and no outreach resumes unless she agrees to it. - She replies with new funds, timing or territory information: stop the automated steps and re-grade within one staffed day.
Consent
- Email only goes to records with email consent stored. Texts need their own consent. Dana has none, so she gets no texts.
- Email consent doesn’t by itself mean she’s agreed to phone calls. Each agreed 1:1 call is logged as its own entry (date, time, how she agreed), and Sam only calls inside it.
- An unsubscribe suppresses all marketing email immediately, automatically. It isn’t automatically a grade change. Sam reviews within one staffed day and records whether she withdrew from the process (lifecycle
withdrawn) or only from email. The opt-out deadlines and footer rules differ by channel and market, so get them from counsel, not from this example. - These are Northfield’s illustrative permission and contact rules for the example. They aren’t legal certification for any market.
Exit
- Dependencies resolved and confirmed by the rep → Qualified, nurture stops, development call booked.
- She says she’s no longer interested → lifecycle
withdrawn, every send stops, and her last evidenced grade (Nurture) stays on the record. Declining isn’t a failed rule, so it isn’t Disqualified. - A must-have now fails, confirmed by Sam (funds fall under $56,000 with no approved exception; she’ll only take a Sold territory) → Disqualified with the failed rule as the reason.
- Three reassessments in a row with no reply → lifecycle
closed_no_response, grade stays Nurture, back toactiveif she returns. Three is Northfield’s house choice, not a benchmark.
The grade answers “does she fit the rules?” The lifecycle state answers “where does the relationship stand?” Keep them in separate fields so a quiet or departing candidate never shows up as a failed rule.
Entry, the rule people forget. A Not yet graded record never enters nurture. If nobody has established what the candidate needs, a sequence just hides the gap. It goes to the clarification route first. Nurture is for an assessed dependency; unresolved evidence stays Not yet graded.
What to measure, and what not to claim
Log each send, each reply, the grade after every reassessment and the lifecycle state. For Dana: 4 emails sent, 1 reply (to N3), 1 reassessment call, 1 re-grade, Nurture to Qualified in 103 days (9 May to 20 Aug).
That is an observation about one record. It doesn’t show that N1 or N2 caused the re-grade. Her rental sale did most of the work. To judge the sequence itself, compare re-grade rates between Nurture records that got dependency-led follow-up and records that didn’t, over the same period and with the denominators shown.
Start here
Open your current Nurture list and pick one record. Write down its dependency, the date it should resolve, the candidate’s questions from the call, and the owner. If you can’t fill in all four, that record isn’t ready for a sequence yet.
Download: O10-nurture-sequence.csv (Dana’s steps, triggers, branch outcomes) and O10-nurture-rules.csv (entry, trigger, pause, consent and exit rules you can adapt).
Related: How to qualify franchise leads · Franchise speed to lead · Turning sales-call questions into content · Cost per signed franchise
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