Client Intake Form

The gap between sold and started is where margin disappears

Work is won in a conversation and delivered by people who weren't in it. What the client expects, who signs things off, which systems you'll need access to - all of it lives in one person's memory until someone writes it down.

A single intake form makes that handover an artefact. It also protects the scope: what the client described at the outset, dated, in their own words, is the reference point when the brief starts drifting in month two.

Why ask it all up front

Half-finished information is worse than none: it looks like you can begin, and then you can't. A client who fills in one page has told you enough to quote, schedule and prepare - without a single back-and-forth.

It also sets the tone. A form that asks precisely, and only once, reads as a business that has done this before. That impression is doing real work while your competitor is still emailing "quick question".

A first impression that reads as organised

In professional services the enquiry process *is* a sample of your work. A form that asks precise questions and loads instantly says something that a generic "contact us" box cannot.

It also protects your time: the questions that qualify a piece of work - scope, timing, who decides - are far easier to ask in writing than in a first call.

It works on a phone, on a bad signal

People fill these in from a car park, a waiting room, a sofa at 11pm. This form is one small page that opens the instant they tap the link and submits without needing anything clever in their browser - so an answer sent on two bars still reaches you.

Make it yours in a minute

Change the wording, drop the questions you don't need, add the ones you do, put your own colour on it. Saving publishes it, and you get a link to paste into your website, your email signature or a message. Responses land in your dashboard and download as a spreadsheet whenever you want them.

What this template asks

• Main contact name
• Job title
• Email address
• Phone number
• Company
• Billing address
• What have you asked us to do?
• What does success look like?
• Preferred start date
• Is there a deadline?
• Type of engagement
• Agreed budget or range
• Who has final sign-off?
• Who will we work with day to day?
• Anyone else whose view matters?
• How quickly can you turn around questions and approvals?
• What will we need access to?
• Anything we should know before we start?
• Purchase order number, if you need one on invoices
• Who should invoices go to?
• I have received and accept your terms of business

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