How a Client Intake Form Can Help Service-Based Companies Boost Sales and Preserve Resources

When a small business experiences an influx of leads, it can be time-consuming to sort through them. It can also be frustrating to forward them to a sales representative who spends time speaking with them only to discover they are not a good fit for your company.

At this point, in addition to taking away company time, it also has wasted company resources.

Using an intake form to vet your leads during the lead generation process can help your team know whether a lead is a good fit for your company and avoids wasting time on those who would likely never purchase.

What is an intake form, and what type of companies should use them?

An intake form is a questionnaire that companies use to onboard new clients.

The questions asked in the intake form help the company determine whether the client is a good fit for its services and create a strategy to address the potential client's needs and pain points.

Intake forms are most helpful for service-based businesses, such as real estate, accounting, digital marketing, medical professionals, law firms, and renovation or interior design services.

The benefits of using a client intake form

By utilizing an intake form, service-based industries can streamline communication with the client and the timeline to deliver the service. Also, they can better define the scope of work needed and set reasonable expectations for clients.

In addition to these, client intake forms also offer these benefits to service-based industries:

1. Ensure you can provide high-quality service and professionally represent your company

An intake form allows you to collect ample information about your clients upfront, which saves your team from asking these questions further into your working relationship.

When your team has the information they need early on, they can better serve your client and provide stellar customer service.

Also, it makes your company look professional to potential clients since you are asking the right questions straight away to address their needs, which will encourage them to trust your company and your team.

2. Save time

A client intake form can save your sales representatives from spending time trying to sell to leads who do not require the service your company offers, thus giving them more time to cater to those who are. As a result, your company can earn higher revenues.

It also saves time for the representatives working with a client once they sign up with your company. Before ever speaking with them, the representative can gather a firm understanding of the client’s wants, needs, pain points, and expectations for the service.

This knowledge helps your team know exactly what the client wants at the beginning of the project to allow for a speedy turnaround time.

3. Avoid scope creep or unnecessary editing rounds

If you do not understand your client's needs at the beginning of the project, your team members might feel awkward when asked to do unplanned work not covered in the initial quote.

When you have the knowledge one can gain from an intake form, you can plan ahead and gather the resources you need to complete the project beforehand to avoid having to do so when the project deadline is nearing.

Also, if you offer a service that requires multiple rounds of edits, such as a marketing agency, utilizing a client intake form can drastically decrease the number of edits for each project.

Since your team knows what the client expects and needs from the service before starting the project, they can go into it equipped to deliver a high-quality result.

What questions should you include in a client intake form?

The most important thing to remember when creating your client intake form is that it will need to be tailored specifically to the service you offer.

For example, a real estate intake form should not have the same questions as the form used by a marketing agency. A real estate intake form may ask the client about the neighborhood they want to live in, the type of house, and their family size. On the other hand, a marketing agency may ask about their email list size, their budget, and what social media channels they use.

However, some components should stay the same, which include:

• A welcome message
• Contact fields (first name, last name, email address, etc.)
• Prompting questions that will help you generate a quote for the project (if applicable)
• Ask about their challenges and how they hope the service you provide will help them achieve their goals
• Ask if there is any additional information that they would like to share 
• Provide them with the next steps (for instance, a representative will call you within 48 hours of returning this form)

Once you have these points covered on your client intake form, you can ask the questions that are pertinent to your industry and service.

After you have crafted the perfect client intake form for your company, you can implement it and reap the many benefits covered in this article, including running your company smoothly, preserving company resources, and boosting sales.

Want to read our featured articles?

Single-Family vs. Multi-Family Investment - What Would Be a Better Choice for You?

How to Pick the Best Invoicing Software for Your Business

Everything You Need to Know About Reducing Customer Acquisition Costs

Like our content and want even more useful and powerful information to grow your business and advance in life faster?

Consider subscribing to Fund&Grow Premium Coaching where you can find the latest strategies, information, and resources on business development, entrepreneurship, marketing, finance, real estate, as well as Personal and Business credit.

It’s also where we share exclusive 0% APR Business Credit Card offers that just hit the market and the most impactful industry trends.  You can also expect to hear from our internal industry specialist team at Fund&Grow for instantly applicable tips and tools to help you experience personal growth and business prosperity.

About Fund&Grow Premium Coaching:

Whether you just launched a start-up or you’re already a seasoned entrepreneur, Fund&Grow Premium Coaching will provide actionable methods to improve your day-to-day business operations and achieve maximum sustainable growth.

In our Premium Coaching, you’ll read content-packed articles on credit & financial education, inspirational content-packed tips, resources from our industry experts, and tons of actionable content to save you precious energy, money, and time along your entrepreneurial journey. 

Prosperity Pulse is the ultimate Premium Coaching that will connect you to the latest business and entrepreneurial trends in the marketplace so you can act on them before the competition. 

Not only will you get a digital copy of the Premium Coaching, but we will mail you a physical print version each month.  Click here to sign-up for Fund&Grow Premium Coaching.