A CRM for multi-branch businesses: one customer, several locations, the right access

A multi-branch business needs one customer record per customer, not one per branch, with a home branch on the record and every appointment and conversation marked with the branch it involved. Branch managers see and manage the customers and conversations their branch serves; the owner sees everything and can compare branches. The AI books at the right branch and the record follows the customer wherever they go.

One record, not one per branch

A customer who visits the Main Street office and then, once, the Northgate one is one person. Two records means two histories, two consent states and a reminder from the wrong branch. The record has a home branch (where they usually go) and a history that shows which branch each appointment and conversation involved.

What a branch manager sees

The customers with their branch as home branch, plus anyone with an appointment or conversation at their branch. Their branch's calendar, staff, rotas and time off. Their branch's numbers. They can update records for their customers, book, and handle conversations. They cannot see another branch's calendar or numbers, and they cannot edit the list of locations, which is the owner's.

The reason is not distrust. A manager who can see three branches' calendars will, eventually, book into the wrong one, and a manager who can edit locations will, eventually, change a timezone by accident.

What the owner sees

All branches, switchable to any one, with the same views a manager has for each. Plus the comparisons: bookings, no-shows, missed calls, response time and reviews by branch, side by side, by week. The point of the multi-branch setup is that the owner can see which branch needs attention without phoning each manager.

What staff see

A practitioner sees their own appointments and the customers on them. A front-desk person at a branch sees that branch's queue and customers. Nobody sees more than they need to do their job, which is also how the business stays on the right side of privacy expectations.

The shared parts

The inbox is usually shared across branches for conversations that have not yet been tied to a branch (a text to the main number asking about a service). Once the AI or a person books at a branch, the conversation is assigned there. Consent is per customer, not per branch. Tags and fields are the same across branches.

The AI across branches

It asks which branch when it needs to, remembers the answer on the record, books against that branch's staff and hours in that branch's timezone, and puts the address on every confirmation. Knowledge can differ per branch (parking, services offered) and the AI uses the right branch's facts.

Adding a branch

Address, phone, timezone, hours, services, staff, a manager invited with the manager role and that branch. The manager sees only their branch from the moment they accept. Customers can be assigned a new home branch in bulk if a branch moved or split.

Frequently asked questions

Can a customer have two home branches?

One home branch, with history at any number of branches. The home branch is where reminders default to and which manager sees them by default.

Can a manager run two branches?

A manager role is one branch, so that each branch has exactly one accountable manager. Someone who runs two is an admin, with access to everything.

What about franchises?

A franchise where each location is a separate business is several businesses, each with its own record set. A company-owned chain is one business with branches. Ask which model fits before setting up.

What Frontiva does here

In Frontiva, contacts, leads and the inbox are shared across the business, while locations, calendars, staff rotas and overview figures are scoped: the owner switches between branches and a branch manager sees only their own. Analytics can be filtered to one location. A contact has no home-branch field today, so use a tag if you need one. See AI booking for multi-location businesses for the booking side.