Client Intake Questions by Industry: Law to Coaching

TL;DR: The wrong intake questions waste everyone's time. This guide gives you the specific questions to ask inbound leads in law, real estate, accounting, and coaching — before you ever pick up the phone — so your first call is a closing conversation, not a discovery fishing trip.

Most professional-service owners book a discovery call, then spend the first 15 minutes learning things they should have known before they ever dialed. That's not a sales problem — it's an intake problem.

The fix isn't a longer form. It's two or three sharp, vertical-specific questions asked the moment the lead comes in. You get context. The prospect feels heard. Your first call starts at midfield instead of the parking lot.

By industry, here's what to ask and why each question earns its spot.

Why intake questions differ by vertical

The right intake question depends on what you need to know before the call. In law, you need to rule out conflicts and gauge urgency. In real estate, you need to know where someone sits in the buy/sell cycle. In accounting, you need the entity type and what broke. In coaching, you need to know what outcome they're chasing and whether they've already tried to solve it.

Generic questions — "How can we help?" or "Tell us about your project" — generate generic, useless answers. Specific questions signal expertise before you've said a word.

Response speed matters here too. The median B2B company takes 42 hours to reply to an inbound inquiry. Responding within five minutes converts leads to opportunities at roughly 21%, compared to 2.3% when you wait 30 minutes or more — about a 9x gap (Vendasta, 2023). Your intake questions need to go out fast. Speed carries them into the prospect's inbox while they still care.

Law firm intake questions

Law firms face two intake priorities that don't apply to most other verticals: conflict checks and statute-of-limitations triage. A lead who calls three firms and signs with whoever replies first may end up with a firm that has a conflict — and by then, the clock is ticking. Get the key facts before the call.

The questions:

What type of legal matter do you need help with? (Family law / Personal injury / Business / Estate planning / Criminal / Other) Why it's here: Routes the lead to the right attorney or intake path. Without it, your receptionist guesses.
Is there a deadline, court date, or statute of limitations we should know about? Why it's here: Flags emergencies immediately. A lead who answers "my hearing is in 10 days" needs a same-day callback, not a three-day nurture sequence.
Have you previously worked with an attorney on this matter? Why it's here: Surfaces conflicts, sets expectations about case complexity, and tells you whether the prospect is shopping or switching.
What county or state is this matter in? (For litigation and family law practices) Why it's here: Jurisdiction determines whether you can take the case at all.

For more on building an intake workflow for law firms, see our post on AI Lead Intake for Law Firms: Qualify Inquiries Fast.

One more thing on speed: law firms average $649 per lead, and roughly 26% of inbound inquiries go unanswered entirely. Answering fast with the right questions isn't a competitive edge — it's table stakes.

Real estate agent intake questions

Real estate leads arrive at wildly different stages of intent. One person is browsing on a Sunday and won't be ready for eight months. Another has a lease ending in 45 days. Treating them the same wastes everyone's time.

The questions:

Are you looking to buy, sell, or both? Why it's here: The simplest segmentation cut. Buyers and sellers need completely different follow-up tracks.
What's your target timeline — are you looking to move within 90 days, or still in the early research phase? Why it's here: Timeline is the single most predictive variable in real estate lead quality. An honest "6-12 months out" answer doesn't disqualify the lead — it tells you to move them to a nurture sequence, not a same-week call.
For buyers: Are you pre-approved, working with a lender, or still figuring out financing? Why it's here: A buyer without financing isn't a buyer yet. Knowing this before the call lets you refer them to a lender first, or at least set the agenda accurately.
For sellers: Have you had your home assessed or spoken with other agents? Why it's here: Tells you whether they're in price-discovery mode or ready to list. Agents who walk into listing appointments blind lose them to agents who came prepared.

For a full follow-up workflow built around real estate lead stages, see Real Estate Lead Follow-Up Automation Guide.

Accounting firm intake questions

Accounting inquiries cluster around a few high-frequency triggers: tax season, a bookkeeping mess, a new business formation, or a life event like a business sale, divorce, or inheritance. Each has a different scope, urgency, and fee range. Your intake questions should surface which bucket the lead falls into before the call.

The questions:

What type of service are you looking for? (Tax prep / Bookkeeping / Payroll / Business advisory / Catch-up accounting / Other) Why it's here: Scopes the engagement before the call. "Other" answers often reveal one-time projects your firm may or may not take on.
What entity type are you? (Individual / Sole proprietor / LLC / S-Corp / C-Corp / Partnership) Why it's here: Complexity — and pricing — scales dramatically with entity type. Knowing this upfront lets you give an honest fee range.
How current are your books? When were your records last reconciled? Why it's here: Surfaces catch-up work immediately. A prospect whose books are 18 months behind is a different engagement — and likely a different fee structure — than someone with clean records.
Is there a specific deadline driving this inquiry — a tax filing, an audit, or a transaction? Why it's here: Same urgency logic as law. A business owner with an IRS notice and a 30-day deadline is not the same lead as someone casually researching tax services in February.

Coaching and consulting intake questions

Coaching leads are often emotionally motivated — they've hit a wall, had a wake-up call, or finally decided to do the thing they've been putting off. The intake window, right after they fill out a form, is the highest-intent moment in the relationship. Ask questions that confirm fit and qualification at the same time.

The questions:

What's the main outcome you're trying to achieve in the next 90 days? Why it's here: Open-ended enough to reveal their real priority, specific enough to separate aspirational browsers from people ready to invest. The answer also becomes your agenda for the discovery call.
Have you worked with a coach or consultant on this before? What happened? Why it's here: Prior coaching experience signals a buyer who understands the process and is willing to invest. It also tells you what didn't work, which helps you position differently. A prospect who's "tried everything" needs a different conversation than someone who's never invested in coaching.
What's the biggest barrier stopping you from solving this on your own right now? Why it's here: This question separates tire-kickers from serious prospects. Someone who answers "I don't have accountability" or "I've tried and can't stay consistent" is signaling genuine need. Someone who struggles to answer it may not be ready.
Are you in a position to invest in support if we find the right fit on our call? Why it's here: Blunt, but respectful. Coaches who skip this question waste hours on discovery calls with prospects who can't afford their program. Framing it as "if we find the right fit" keeps it collaborative, not transactional.

For a full intake workflow built for coaches, see AI Intake for Coaches: Screen & Book New Clients.

Delivering the questions fast enough to matter

The best intake questions fail if they arrive three hours after the lead submitted the form. By then, a competitor has already replied. The intake sequence needs to fire in under five minutes — ideally under 60 seconds — while the prospect is still at their desk thinking about the problem.

That's the gap LeadsApp's AI lead worker fills: it picks up every inbound email or web form submission, sends a first reply in under 60 seconds with one or two qualifying questions (customized per vertical), scores the lead 0-100 based on the response, and books them directly into your calendar — all before you've finished your current client call.

For a look at how the owner-approval workflow keeps you in control of every outbound message, see AI Lead Replies: Why Owner Approval Matters.

Intake question comparison by vertical

Vertical	Priority #1	Priority #2	Urgency Signal
Law	Matter type + jurisdiction	Prior attorney / conflict check	Court date / statute deadline
Real Estate	Buy / sell / both	Timeline (90 days vs. 6+ months)	Lease end date / pre-approval status
Accounting	Service type + entity	Books current?	Tax deadline / audit / transaction
Coaching	90-day outcome goal	Prior coaching experience	Investment readiness

Frequently Asked Questions

How many intake questions should I ask before the first call?

Two is the sweet spot. One question is often not enough to qualify the lead; three or more feels like a form, and completion rates drop. Pick your single highest-value qualifying question plus one urgency or budget signal. If you need more, save it for a short pre-call questionnaire you send after they book.

Should I put these questions on my contact form or send them in the first reply?

Put the most critical one on the form itself — "What type of matter?" for law firms, or "Buy/sell/both?" for real estate. Follow up immediately with a second qualifying question in the first-reply email. This splits the cognitive load and gets you richer answers than dumping five fields on a contact form.

What if a lead doesn't answer the intake questions?

Send one follow-up asking just the single most important question. If they still don't respond, score them lower and move them to a longer-cadence nurture. A prospect who won't engage with one question before a free discovery call will likely be difficult to close. For a full view of how follow-up cadences work for service businesses, see Lead Follow-Up Cadence for Service Businesses.

Can I use the same intake questions for referrals?

Referrals usually come with more context — the referrer has already done some qualifying. You can shorten the intake, but don't skip urgency and scope questions entirely. A referral who has a deadline next week still needs to be flagged before the call.

How do I use intake answers to prepare for the discovery call?

Pull up the intake answers two minutes before the call and write one sentence that acknowledges their specific situation at the start: "Based on what you shared, it sounds like you're dealing with X and need Y by Z date — is that right?" It takes 20 seconds and immediately shows you listened. Most prospects have never had that experience with a professional-service firm.