When our web design agency builds websites for our clients, the discovery call is the key conversion point on the website – where most of our buttons and calls to action lead. But what happens when someone lands on your discovery call booking screen? Are they greeted with a thoughtful, streamlined questionnaire? We do a lot of work to drive leads to our website and guide them to booking a call – so it’s critical you have a discovery call intake form for your clients that gets you results – aka more leads and sales!

If you’re not going beyond the basic name, email, and phone number questions (or asking too many questions), you could be missing out on potential clients from your website, and hurting your sales conversion rates (the number of leads who become clients).

As a dietitian, you’re likely familiar with performing client intake focused on medical history, symptoms, and other details required to provide safe, effective support. But, there’s a separate set of questions you should be asking BEFORE you even dive into the details – via a sales-focused intake form as part of your discovery call process.

Why are client sales intake questionnaires so important?

The questions you ask as part of your discovery call booking process are a powerful sales tool that will be that first point of connection between you and your customers. Intake forms are more than a simple contact form because they are designed to let you know what your client needs are and if your business is capable of attending to them. 

If you don’t have one, or have one that’s not well thought-out, you can lose leads and hinder your business.

Well thought-out questions show you care

Another great thing about intake forms is that they show you care about the client-business relationship. This is because you’re taking the time to ask the right questions, which will help potential clients to see you are exactly what they’ve been looking for. 

Better questionnaires equal better discovery calls 

One of the most exciting parts of an intake form is that it’s going to allow you to have more productive discovery calls. By gathering a client’s information upfront, you’ll be able to know their problems and challenges and be prepared to provide solutions during the call, which will make for a better client experience.

Creating the perfect client intake form that gets results

To create the perfect client intake form, think beyond what information YOU want to collect from your client, and put yourself in your clients’ shoes. Think about what’s going to make the form most useful for your client, without overwhelming them with too many questions, as this may lead to them quitting. 

Ultimately, you want to collect all the information you need for the call to be productive, so you can adequately show this person how you can help them (and you can’t do that when you know nothing about them!). On the flip side, you don’t want to make the mistake of asking too much – audit your questions and really consider what’s critical, and what can either be asked/learned during your call, or once you begin working together. 

This is going to be highly dependent on your business, services, sales process, and clientele – but below are 3 tips for getting started!

#1: Which service(s) are they interested in?

First, you want to be clear about what potential leads want your help with. Having a service drop-down is very helpful so they can select which of your services they are interested in. However you do this, just make sure it’s connected to what your services are on your website. For example, if you have three packages listed on your website, you should have a place in your questionnaire for your client to select between those packages. 

#2: Understand why they need your help

Next, you want to be asking in some way, shape or form, what they’re struggling with, what challenges they’re facing, and why they’re seeking your help. For example, for our discovery calls, we ask prospective clients what are their current struggles with their website, what the biggest challenges in their business are right now, and why they’re considering a new brand or website.

For an RD offering group coaching programs for women with digestive issues, you could be asking about the type of digestive issues they are struggling with, what they’ve already tried, and why they’re decided to get in touch with you.

#3: What does success look like?

Finally,  you want to find out what success looks like to them. You may ask prospective clients what their goal is in working together, or what’s the one thing they would love for you to help them solve.  Basically, you want to know what their ultimate success factor is.

Now use these responses in your discovery call!

Now that your prospective client has given you this wealth of information about how you can help them – make sure you use it! Review their responses prior to your call. Think about the deeper motivations they have, or areas you know you can help them with. Be sure to use their words on the call to demonstrate you understand their needs and are listening to them. 

Need more intake questionnaire ideas?

If you’re having some trouble coming up with ideas, you can look at the questionnaires of businesses that are similar to yours to get inspired, and then change the questions to fit your clients’ and your business’ needs. Remember to audit your questions once you’ve compiled everything you think you want to ask – how can you make it easy for your lead to answer, and still gather the information you need? 

Remember that a thoughtful client intake form for your discovery calls can help drive more leads and more sales from your website (helping you get more leads even when you’re on vacation!). Invest the time in getting it right! And if you want to dive deeper into understanding your customers’ needs, the questions you need to be asking, and how to identify the problems they’re facing, my Dietitian’s Guide to Marketing is a great place to start. Head on over here to grab it, it’s completely free!