Client intake questions that make the consultation itself better
What to ask when someone books, what to collect later in a secure form, and what to leave for the session, with a question bank for accountants, lawyers, advisers, designers, IT consultants and wellness practitioners.
Intake questions are the handful of things you need to know before a consultation so you can do the work well when the client sits down. They are not about deciding whether someone is a good lead. They are about walking into the meeting with the right file open, the right colleague invited and the right documents requested.
This guide splits intake into three moments: the booking form, a secure follow-up, and the session itself. It gives you a question bank by profession and sets out what never belongs in a booking form. If you are still setting up the consultation itself, start with our guide to booking consultations online, then come back here to tune the questions.
Booking form, follow-up form or the session: where each question belongs
The most useful rule for intake is simple: ask each question at the latest moment you can still act on the answer. A question that changes who attends, how long the slot is or what the client brings belongs at booking. A question that needs documents or sensitive detail belongs in a secure follow-up. A question that needs judgement or context belongs in the room.
At booking: three to five questions, no more
The booking form is a public web page filled in on a phone, often in a hurry. Keep it to what you need to prepare:
- The matter in one line: 'What would you like help with?' with a short text box.
- A category choice: a short list of the services you actually offer, plus 'not sure'.
- Who will attend: just them, a partner, a business partner, a family member.
- Format or access needs: 'Is there anything that would make the meeting easier for you?' as an optional free text box.
- A profession-specific essential: for example, the other party's name for a law firm's conflict check.
In a secure follow-up: documents and detail
Once the booking is confirmed, send a link to whatever secure channel you already use: a client portal, practice-management system or encrypted file request. That is where prior-year returns, contracts, floor plans, system diagrams and identity checks go. The booking confirmation can tell the client to expect it, which our guide to writing appointment confirmation emails covers.
In the session: anything that needs a conversation
Goals, worries, family circumstances, risk appetite and history are better explored face to face or on a call. Typed into a form at midnight, they are either too brief to be useful or more than the client meant to share.
Choice questions or free text?
Use a choice list when you will act on the answer automatically, such as routing to the right person or preparing a checklist. Use free text when you need the client's own words. A good pattern is a choice list followed by one optional 'anything else?' box. Mark only what you truly need as required; every required field is a reason to abandon the form.
What never goes in a booking form
As general information, not legal advice: data protection law in the UK (UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018) and Australia (the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles) both expect you to collect only what you need for the purpose. In practice, never ask for tax file numbers, National Insurance numbers, bank or card details, passport numbers, or health and medical details in a general booking form. Australian TFNs carry extra rules of their own. Collect those, if at all, through systems designed for them.
Why the right intake questions change the consultation
A consultation without intake usually spends its first ten minutes on facts that could have been gathered in advance: what the client wants, who is involved, what documents exist. That is time the client is paying for, or time you are giving away on a free first meeting. Good intake moves those facts out of the room so the session can go straight to advice.
Intake also prevents wasted meetings. A lawyer who discovers a conflict of interest halfway through a first meeting has a problem that one booking question would have caught. An accountant who learns in the room that the client needs a company structure review, not a personal tax return, may need to rebook with a colleague. Our legal consultation booking template and accountant tax consultation template show how those firms phrase this on a real page.
The risk runs the other way too. Over-collecting is a privacy problem and a trust problem. A booking form that asks for a date of birth, a TFN and a description of a medical condition before a client has even met you reads as careless, and if that data sits in email inboxes and calendar invites, it spreads further than you intended.
Finally, intake is part of the client's first impression. Short, relevant questions show you know your work. Long, generic forms show you copied someone else's. If your page is losing bookings for other reasons, our list of common booking page mistakes is worth a look.
What well-placed intake questions give you
Sessions that start with advice: the facts arrive before the meeting, so the first minutes go on the client's problem.
Fewer rebooked consultations: a category question routes clients to the right person or the right length of session.
Earlier conflict checks: law firms can screen the other party's name before anyone shares confidential detail.
Less sensitive data in the wrong places: identifiers and documents go to secure systems, not booking forms and calendar invites.
Better document requests: you know what to ask for in the follow-up, so clients bring the right paperwork.
A form people finish: three to five short questions are more likely to be completed on a phone than fifteen.
Building your intake in six moves
List what you check before every consultation — Write down what you look up or ask in the first ten minutes of a typical meeting. That list is your raw material.
Sort each item into booking, follow-up or session — Apply the 'latest moment you can act on it' rule. Move anything sensitive or document-based out of the booking form.
Choose the question type — Turn routing questions into choice lists with a 'not sure' option. Keep one optional free text box for context.
Write the questions per event type — In Calenix, add custom booking questions to each event type, so a tax return review asks different things from a business structure meeting.
Set up the secure follow-up — Prepare the portal invite or file request you will send after booking, and mention it in the confirmation email.
Review after ten bookings — Check which answers you actually used. Delete questions nobody needed and reword any that clients misread.
Sample intake question bank by profession
| Feature | Ask at booking | Collect securely later | Explore in the session |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accountant | Individual, sole trader or company; service needed; financial year concerned | Prior returns, statements, ID checks via your practice system | Plans, cash flow worries, structure |
| Lawyer or solicitor | Area of law; other party's name for conflict check; any urgent deadline | Contracts, correspondence, ID verification | Full facts, objectives, options |
| Financial adviser | Topic (retirement, investment, insurance); individual or couple | Statements and fact-find through your licensed systems | Goals, risk tolerance, circumstances |
| Architect or designer | Project type; site location (suburb or town); rough stage | Plans, photos, title or planning documents | Brief, budget, style, constraints |
| IT consultant | Business size band; main system or problem; who else attends | Network diagrams, access arrangements (never passwords by form) | Priorities, risks, timelines |
| Wellness practitioner | Service type; first visit or returning; access needs | Health questionnaire via a secure, appropriate system | History and goals, with consent |
Habits of firms with good intake
Explain why you ask: a short line such as 'so we can check for conflicts' makes clients more willing to answer.
Offer 'not sure' or 'prefer to discuss' on every choice question about money or circumstances.
Write questions in the client's language, not yours: 'selling a property' rather than 'conveyancing matter'.
Keep different question sets for different event types rather than one long form for everything.
Tell clients in the confirmation exactly what you will ask for next and how to send it securely.
Check your privacy notice covers what the booking form collects and where the answers are stored.
Remember that answers may appear in calendar events and email notifications, and phrase questions with that in mind.
Intake mistakes that cost time or trust
Asking for tax file numbers, National Insurance numbers or bank details in a public booking form.
Collecting health or medical details in a general scheduling tool instead of a system built for them.
Making every question required, so clients abandon the form or type 'n/a' to get through.
Skipping the conflict check question at a law firm and discovering the problem in the meeting.
Asking discovery-style sales questions when the client has already decided to engage you.
Never reviewing the answers, so clients spend effort on questions that change nothing.
Example: intake for a small accounting practice in Leeds
Take a fictional two-partner accounting practice in Leeds that offers personal tax returns, sole trader accounts and small company work. Before it changed its intake, every first meeting used the same general form with twelve questions, including date of birth, National Insurance number and annual income.
It rebuilt intake around three event types:
- Self Assessment review (45 minutes): 'Which tax year is this for?' [choice], 'Are you employed, self-employed or both?' [choice], 'Have we prepared your return before?' [yes / no], 'Anything else we should know?' [optional].
- Sole trader accounts (60 minutes): 'What does your business do?' [short text], 'Are you VAT registered?' [yes / no / not sure], 'Rough annual turnover' [bands, plus 'prefer to discuss'].
- Company structure meeting (60 minutes): 'Company name, if already registered' [short text], 'How many directors?' [choice], 'Who will attend?' [short text].
The confirmation email says: 'We will send you a secure link to our client portal within one working day. Please upload last year's return and any P60 or invoices there, not by email.' The NI number and ID checks now happen in the portal, as part of the practice's onboarding.
The practice runs bookings on Calenix. Three event types with their own questions need the Individual plan; the Free plan covers one. Its Outlook calendars are connected, and Teams links are added to video meetings where enabled. Calenix handles scheduling only; client records stay in the practice-management system. Compare this with our wider guide to appointment scheduling for accountants.
The illustrative maths: if better intake saves ten minutes in each of 40 consultations a month, that is nearly seven hours a month back for chargeable work.
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