Getting your first life coaching client can make any coach feel like jumping for joy.
And the more clients you book, the more confident you become that you can grow your coaching business, become more profitable, and live the lifestyle you truly want.
But once the clients start piling up, things can start getting messy.
Did you remember to prep your questions for Sara’s kickoff call? Where did that email from Lucy go? Did Jonathan make his payment for his upcoming coaching session yet?
A life coach intake form is an amazing tool that can help you sort through the mess and facilitate your onboarding process, while staying organized.
Why You Need a Life Coach Intake Form
As a life coach, you’ll need to know a ton about your new clients. Life coaching is such a complex process and every person is unique, so even when you have a signature program and process, you’ll need to adapt your approach to fit every client.
Many coaches opt to gather this information on a kickoff call. Here’s the thing – kickoff calls are amazing, but going straight to a call without an intake form is a recipe for going way over your allotted time.
Why? If you’re only finding out key information about your clients during the call, you’ll have no time to prepare follow-up questions.
It will also be difficult for you to simultaneously use the kickoff call to gather information and provide a plan of action that actually ‘kicks off’ your relationship with this client.
On the other hand, a life coach intake form solves all these issues. Instead of asking every single question during your kickoff call, your client can take some time beforehand to fill out your form.
Adding an intake form to your client onboarding can help you build a repeatable, streamlined process that not only saves you time, but also standardizes the client experience. There’s no risk of forgetting to ask a question or losing your notes when all your client’s information is in the same place.
If your client struggles with any of the questions, they can discuss it during your kickoff call. But if they don’t, this is one more task you can wipe from your to-do list!
More time on your hands means you can serve your clients better and provide a higher level of service, which can, in turn, help you increase your profits.
Coaching Intake Questions to Include
The specific questions you should include in your life coach intake form will depend on the specifics of your program, but some questions will be relevant to any situation.
Use this list of questions to inspire your own intake form. In addition to these questions, remember to include the basics, such as:
- Your client’s complete name
- Billing information
- Email address/phone number they would like to be used for communication
- Any other administrative info you need from your clients for your process
Now onto the good stuff. Feel free to fill in the templated information to fit your process best.
- What are [number] changes you would like to make in your life over the next [number] years?
- What short-term goals would you like to accomplish over the next [number] months?
- Why do you want to achieve what you want to achieve?
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your current happiness level? What makes you the most happy in your life currently?
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your current stress level? What is causing you stress?
- What is the most challenging obstacle you have had to overcome in your life thus far? How did you overcome it?
- What has been your biggest success in your life thus far? How did you achieve it?
- What are [number] things that you feel are hindering you from [happiness, fulfillment, feeling motivated, etc]?
- What does success look like to you?
- What changes would you like to see in your life? What do you feel is hindering you the most from making those changes?
- Who are the most important people in your life, and what is your relationship to them?
- What do you value most in your life right now?
- What previous steps have you already taken to achieve your goals? What has been the result so far, and what have you learned?
- Where do you see yourself [amount of time] from now, when this program is over? What do you think it will take to get there?
There are more possible questions you can add, especially in relation to your life coaching niche.
When and Where to Share Your Coaching Intake Form
Depending on your specific onboarding process, you’ll want to share your coaching intake form at the right moment.
First, consider creating two separate intake forms:
One form designed to give you more information about potential clients who book a free call with you, and a second, more detailed form for confirmed clients.
Why is that? Filling in a coaching intake form can take a lot of time, especially when clients put in the effort needed to provide the thorough answers you need, to provide transformative coaching.
If they haven’t yet gotten to talk to you and get a feel for whether or not you would be a good fit for their needs, they may get discouraged by a form that is too long and detailed.
Instead of dumping everything into a single form, consider the following process:
- Require a basic form with contact information, some qualifying questions about their needs, and other necessary information you need before they can book a free call. Keep this form detailed enough to qualify potential clients and not waste your time (or their time), but brief enough to only get what you need for that initial discovery session.
- Go on the discovery call with the potential client and establish whether or not you are a good fit to work together.
- Close the client, either on the phone or via a proposal.
- Send your new client (yay!) a contract and payment link that takes care of the first deposit.
- Once the contract is signed and the first payment has been made, send a second, more thorough intake form. This form should be as detailed as it needs to be, to give you the information you need to plan the kickoff call – even if it takes time to fill in. (Optionally, you can allow clients to book their call first and pay/sign the contract afterwards).
- Allow your client to book their kickoff call once their intake form is complete.
That’s it! You should also create separate intake forms for different packages, since not all offers and packages will require the same information from your clients.
How to Create a Fillable Life Coaching Form
You can send a Google doc to your clients and run the risk of messing up your formatting when clients fill it in – without mentioning the hassle of making a new copy of the doc for every client! Google also has forms, but setting up your form to send once clients have booked a call will require you to hook up several different software together.
If you want an even easier way, you can create a fillable life coaching form in Paperbell and integrate it into one seamless process with your scheduling, checkout, and contracts!
Here’s how it works.
1. Create your free trial with Paperbell, or log in if you already have an existing account. (Hint: your account is free forever with your first client, and you don’t need to enter a credit card to create your account!)
2. Once you’re in your home menu, you’ll see your navigation options at the top. By default, you will be in the Appointments tab when you log in. Navigate to the Packages tab.
3. Choose the package for which you want to create an intake form. In Paperbell, the questions you ask your clients can be found in the Survey section, so navigate to that.
4. Once you are in the Survey tab in the correct package, find the Add Question button on the bottom right area.
5. Write down your question in the text box and hit save.
6. Your question will appear in the Survey menu. You can add as many questions as you like! If you’d like to edit your question, you can click Modify on the right side of the question.
8. Keep adding questions until you’re satisfied with your intake form.
It’s as simple as that! Now you have a working intake form that all your clients can fill in before they begin their coaching session with you. As soon as they book and pay for your package, they’ll receive the questionnaire automatically.
But what if you want to add an intake form for a free discovery session?
In this case, you can create a free package in Paperbell. Instead of paying to book a call with you, your prospective clients will be able to book directly without making a payment, then answer the required intake questions before their free call.
Streamline Your Onboarding Process With a Life Coach Intake Form
When you have a predetermined life coach intake form, you’ll save hours that you can then reinvest in working with more clients – or doing the other things you love in your life.
With Paperbell life coaching software, it’s so easy to create a reusable intake form that seamlessly integrates with your packages and booking calendar. Plus, the process is automated, which means you don’t even need to remember to send it over to new clients!
Get started with Paperbell for free today to try it for yourself.
