How to Use an Intake Form to Improve Your Discovery Meeting [QUICK WIN] (Ep175)

September 30, 2026

What if one simple tool could help you run better discovery meetings, create stronger proposals, close more business, and even write better marketing copy?

I'm talking about your intake form.

You might think of an intake form as simply a way to collect basic information before meeting with a potential client. But I use mine for a whole lot more.

In this episode, I’m sharing how to use an intake form to get more out of every discovery meeting and client opportunity. You’ll discover what to ask potential clients before you meet, how to use their answers to arrive prepared and position yourself as a strategic partner, and how to turn their responses into voice of the client data you can use in your marketing and content. If you want a simple way to improve your discovery meetings while making your entire business development process more productive and effective, this episode is for you.

Prefer a quick read of the main takeaways from this episode? Read the distilled version on the Consulting Matters blog →

RELATED EPISODES

How to Land Strategic Client Engagements without Pushy Sales (Ep129) →
https://www.betsyjordyn.com/podcasts/consulting-matters/episodes/2149081551

How to Use a Discovery Meeting to Multiply Revenue and Impact (Ep132) →
https://www.betsyjordyn.com/podcasts/consulting-matters/episodes/2149090265

The Anatomy of High-IMPACT Sales Pages and Proposals (Ep85) →
https://www.betsyjordyn.com/podcasts/consulting-matters/episodes/2148233168

How to Conduct a Market Scan and Find Your Niche →
https://www.betsyjordyn.com/blog/how-to-conduct-a-market-scan-and-find-your-niche

NEXT STEPS

Learn more about my VIP brand-building & messaging services, custom-designed for purpose-driven consultants and coaches → https://www.betsyjordyn.com/services

Get free templates and guides to nail your niche, clarify your value, craft compelling messages, and position yourself for the right clients and opportunities → https://www.betsyjordyn.com/downloads

If you're on LinkedIn, come say hi! → https://www.linkedin.com/in/betsy-jordyn/

Episode Transcript

[00:00] What is an intake form and why do you need one? Find out on today's quick win on the consulting
[00:05] matters podcast. And welcome to the consulting matters podcast. This is the show for purpose-driven
[00:13] consultants and coaches who are ready to own the power what they do and position themselves to the
[00:17] clients the impact the income that they're ready for. I'm your host Betsy Jordan and I am both a
[00:22] business mentor and a brand positioning and messaging strategist. You can find out about all the things
[00:26] they do to help my clients build thriving consulting or coaching businesses that they love on my website
[00:30] at www.batsyjordan.com and don't forget Jordan is with a wide. So on today's episode I'm doing my
[00:37] first quick win episode and it's all about the intake form and how to use it to maximize your
[00:42] productivity and effectiveness for your discovery meeting and so much more. So let me explain what
[00:47] an intake form is. It is a series of questions that you can send someone after they fill out a
[00:52] contact form on your website or they send an email asking to meet with you or better yet
[00:57] uses your online calendar to book time with you beyond their basic contact information.
[01:02] So an intake form helps you improve your discovery meeting and eventually your proposals your close
[01:07] rates and fees by giving you advanced insight into the potential starting point that your client is at
[01:13] like what they're struggling with what their goals are and more importantly the words they're
[01:16] using to describe those things. You know it's one thing for you to listen and then just put it in
[01:21] your words but because they are filling out their intake form you have their words and this way
[01:26] you arrive prepared and you could use that meeting to validate what you've already learned
[01:31] about them instead of asking basic discovery questions and this helps clients feel instantly
[01:36] understood helps you build trust right from the start. Your intake form also helps you take charge
[01:41] of the conversation and more easily pivot clients from wants to needs so that you can position
[01:46] yourself as a strategic partner versus a pair of hands and set the stage and expectations that you're
[01:51] here to help them solve their problems. You know versus selling them on a package solution
[01:55] which naturally leads to greater impact and income. So the reason why I have this particular
[02:00] episode right here in this series I have on sustaining success is productivity and systems that
[02:07] are behind your business are so important and there's a real moment of truth that comes
[02:12] with how you're a landing client so the intake form is a huge part of this. So now that you know
[02:18] what an intake form is let's get into what it takes to get your setup and working for you.
[02:23] First determine what you need to know about your clients before and after your discovery
[02:28] meetings so that you can craft the right questions. So here's the questions I ask on my intake form
[02:33] and why. So the first question I ask is what's going on in your business and or career that made
[02:38] you reach out to me at this time what challenges are you struggling with. So this tells me instantly
[02:43] like what their pain is and so that I could really connect at that emotional level like what they're
[02:49] in pain about and what they perceive is getting in the way of what they want.
[02:54] And then I ask the next question you know what have you tried to solve your challenges so far that
[02:58] hasn't worked for you why hasn't it worked. So this is giving me a market scan of like what's
[03:03] there and what else is causing them pain. The next question what would you be able to accomplish
[03:08] in your business and create for your life if you found the right solution to your challenge.
[03:12] So this is telling me their goals what's important to them you know what is it that they're
[03:16] really trying to achieve right now and this this is critical for me this is where the the need is
[03:23] the goal I want to position myself against my client's goals not their pain points. Then I ask
[03:28] you know there are a lot of other business mentors branding agencies messaging experts out there
[03:33] why did you reach out to me in particular why are you interested in exploring working with me.
[03:38] This gives a lot of insight into what kind of solution they want and also what attracts them
[03:43] about what they might have seen on my website or what they heard on my podcast this helps me
[03:47] understand a little bit more about like why me and what type of solution they might be looking for.
[03:53] Then I ask the questions around what questions you have about me my background my programs are
[03:57] just my style that you want to make sure we address and our discovery meaning and I do this in part
[04:02] because I do want to know what they want to know about me but I also want to establish like hey we're
[04:06] having a two-way conversation here you know like I'm not here to sell you on something I'm here
[04:10] also for you to get to know me and let's see if we're a fit like I'm not going to automatically
[04:14] assume that everything that I put out there is perfect for every client and I don't want them to
[04:19] assume that you know it's part of the way I do my discovery meetings is I focus on let's do the
[04:24] discovery meaning to get really clear in your goals and if we kind of have like this good vibe
[04:28] check you know that we're on the same page and you like my stance and you like how I operate then
[04:32] I'll move to the proposal I never ever ever sell on the discovery meeting anything because I create
[04:38] custom solutions so that might be something for you to consider next question super important
[04:43] select the statement that best describes you and your situation right now this is a drop down
[04:48] at the financial resources and I'm ready to invest in my next level brand and positioning
[04:52] or option two is I have access to the financial resources and we'll tap into them if I'm confident
[04:57] I can get an ROI the third drop down is I have minimal financial resources to invest in my business
[05:04] and prefer to do things as cheaply as possible or number four I don't have financial resources
[05:08] right now to do much with my business so this is important especially if you have an online calendar
[05:13] and people have booking time with you is you want to make sure you're not looking for the like
[05:17] freebie tire kickers I mean it's nothing wrong with people who need that but that's what your
[05:21] free resources on your website are for so you can redirect them if they say I don't have any money
[05:26] or I have minimal you could say you know what it's totally awesome but this is a VIP program
[05:31] but here's some other lower price things that you might be interested in if you have a course
[05:35] you could direct them to that so this keeps you from wasting time and setting the wrong expectations
[05:41] and my favorite response so as I really like when people click I have access but I will tap into
[05:46] them if I'm confident I can get an ROI because that makes me feel like you know what I get to
[05:50] prove that you know because that's part of like working on your brand positioning is you can
[05:54] help yourself get really confident like yeah I'm an investment that delivers a return
[05:59] and so I like when people ask me that prove it you know I when they ask me prove it what are
[06:02] the results that I can get I think that's awesome because that will show that this client has more
[06:07] of a vested interest they're not just going to say whatever you know yes I also ask how to do
[06:12] hear of me which gives me a lot of really great insights of where my clients are coming from
[06:16] it was really fascinating you know for a long time it was like my youtube channel on my blog
[06:20] then when I started working on my podcast it was podcast but now I'm starting to get a
[06:24] claud and chat giving giving me referrals so you might have heard me complain about claud and chat
[06:29] on other episodes on AI that we have a slightly dysfunctional relationship but I'm like yay at least
[06:35] you're still referring people to me and then the last one is can you commit that you'll show up and
[06:40] be at time for your call this is a really important one I had a lot of people booking time and not
[06:44] showing up so when I add can you commit and a yes or no I rarely have no shows it's very very rare
[06:52] so those are the questions that I asked so you have need to think about like how would you adapt
[06:56] these questions for yourself and what do you want to know on your discovery meeting or what do you
[07:00] want to know before your discovery meeting so once you have the questions clear then you need to
[07:04] decide how you're going to collect this information so even online calendar is super easy you just
[07:09] add more questions to the meeting type that you've created if you have a contact form on your
[07:12] website you can add in more questions and if you have people just email you you can make a google
[07:16] survey to send to them and then you need to decide how you can use the questions in your
[07:21] discovery meeting like so I create a powerpoint that mirrors the step of my discovery meeting process
[07:26] and then I cut and paste the client's intake form responses into the right sections
[07:29] so what's awesome about this is I get to mirror their words back to them and they get to see that
[07:35] yeah the time that they invested in filling out that form you know really does pay off because
[07:39] then they could say oh okay now I've organized they're thinking like I create instant value
[07:43] because I help them kind of frame up what they're thinking so just by getting the powerpoint at
[07:48] the end of the discovery meeting already creates value so now the real productivity
[07:52] maximizer you know again you might think it's odd that of all the quick wins I chose on this series
[07:58] on sustaining success year over year as an intake form but hear me out the streamlined path to
[08:02] profits has two parts you know attracting the right clients who are already primed ready to invest in
[08:06] working with you and a way to maximize the value of every lead and client opportunity so the thing is
[08:13] about your intake form is this does help you as I just explained with your discovery meeting
[08:19] is it's awesome to help you maximize every lead and opportunity you're going to close more business
[08:23] if your intake form is giving you really great insight which helps you create a high value
[08:28] discovery meeting that leads to a custom proposal I mean you could definitely see how your your
[08:33] close rates and your fees are going to increase right but there's this other whole thing around
[08:39] your voice of the client data source that your intake form can provide so if you use like maybe
[08:44] the google survey or if you use the online calendar you have instant data source for voice of the client
[08:50] so you can download reports for the questions and identify not just the themes of the common
[08:55] problems and goals that your clients might have but which will which is awesome that's amazing
[09:00] because that's going to help you streamline your contact creation when you're sitting there
[09:03] saying what do I talk about well you just go to your your little report and you see what people
[09:08] are asking and you just start answering those questions but the thing is is that it's in a survey
[09:12] format so now you get their words and you could ethically swipe those words for your copy for
[09:17] your website and your marketing which makes them feel like you're reading their minds because you
[09:21] are with their permission so the best copy that converts on your website isn't what you write
[09:28] and it's not what AI writes it's what's your clients write and you mirror it back to them like
[09:32] people ask me all the time like how do I find my voice you don't I mean you use you use your own
[09:37] voice when you're kind of saying well this is me this is what I do but especially when you're
[09:40] doing the mirroring sections like there's always a pain identifier section you have on your website
[09:45] when you can get it as close to the words that your clients are using that's amazing because
[09:50] then they're going to be like oh my god she gets me or he gets me you know that and it instantly
[09:55] builds trust it builds credibility this type of empathy builds trust and credibility beyond
[10:00] any credential that you could put out there so that's why we're doing it so that was your turn
[10:05] to take action so if you're already using an intake form a little for you to identify ways that
[10:10] you could better leverage it for your discovery meeting and your overall business development
[10:13] productivity if you don't have an online calendar got one it will definitely reduce friction and
[10:18] resistance for interested potential clients and it has all those other benefits I just mentioned
[10:23] and if you want to go deeper into discovery meetings and my partnership setup process or
[10:27] how to use a market scan to uncover and connect with your niche I'll put all the links of those
[10:31] episodes in the show notes so I'll definitely give you more where you can go deeper and that's
[10:35] a wrap on this particular quick win if you got value out of this quick win episode and you see
[10:40] that it's distinctly valuable from other episodes I'd love to hear from you about how this format
[10:45] is working I just I love the opportunity to just give a little tip that hopefully it can create big
[10:51] value for you and I also love for you to share any FAQs that you might have that I can include
[10:57] in future quick wins so please send me an email at Betsy at BetsyJordan.com and of course
[11:01] subscribe so you don't miss other episodes and until next time thanks so much for listening

How to Use an Intake Form to Improve Your Discovery Meeting [QUICK WIN] (Ep175)

What if one simple tool could help you run better discovery meetings, create stronger proposals, close more business, and even write better marketing copy?

FREE MESSAGING GUIDE

Clarify & Articulate The
Unique Value of What You Do

YESSSS!!!

How to Use an Intake Form to Improve Your Discovery Meeting [QUICK WIN] (Ep175)

What if one simple tool could help you run better discovery meetings, create stronger proposals, close more business, and even write better marketing copy?

FREE MESSAGING GUIDE

Clarify & Articulate The Unique Value of What You Do

YESSSS!!!

Clarify & Articulate The
Unique Value of What You Do