The intake form that qualifies before anyone calls

The old contact form had four boxes and a submit button, and every lead that came through it looked exactly the same until someone picked up the phone.

The problem with one big form

A single form has to be short, or people abandon it. So it ends up asking for a name, an email, a phone number and a message box. The message box is where the useful information would go, and most people leave it nearly empty. The result is a list of names, and someone has to call every one of them to find out which are real.

That phone call is the most expensive step in the whole process, and it is being spent on sorting rather than selling.

What we build instead

A form that feels like a short conversation. One question per screen. Most questions are answered with a tap on a choice, not by typing. The whole thing takes less time than the old form did, because choosing is faster than writing.

1. What are you looking for. A handful of big buttons. For a builder: a new home, a renovation, an addition. For an advisor: retirement planning, a rollover, a second opinion on a plan. For a law firm: the handful of matters the firm actually takes.
2. Where and when. A town or neighborhood, and a rough timeline. Now, this year, just exploring. Nobody is penalized for exploring. The score simply reflects it.
3. Optional detail. Only shown when the earlier answers make it useful. A builder's form asks whether land is already owned if the answer was a new home. An advisor's form asks about an employer plan only if the answer was a rollover. A law firm's form asks whether there is a deadline only for matters where a deadline exists.
4. The confidentiality line. One sentence, in plain words, before the contact details are requested: what you share here is private and goes only to the people who will help you. For an advisor and a law firm this is not a nicety. People will not describe a financial or legal situation on a website without it.
5. How to reach you. Name, phone, email, and whether they prefer a call or a text. Asked last, after the person has invested in the answers, which is when they are most willing to give it.

The score

Each answer carries a weight the owner set with us. Timeline counts. Location inside the service area counts. Project type counts. Any answer that signals a mismatch (a project the business does not do, a town it does not serve) lowers the score rather than rejecting the person, because the owner may still want to refer them.

The score is calculated the instant the form is sent and written on the lead in the CRM. The alert that goes to the owner's phone includes it. A high score with a near timeline gets a call within the hour. A low score with an exploring timeline gets a warm email and a follow up in a few weeks. Nobody has to open the lead to decide that.

What changes per industry

• Custom home builder. Land ownership, budget range as a choice rather than a number, and whether plans already exist. The score leans heavily on timeline and location, because a builder can only take so many projects a year.
• Retirement advisor. The questions are gentler and fewer. Stage of life, whether there is an existing advisor, and what prompted the visit. The confidentiality line is prominent. The form for an advisor in Boca Raton deliberately avoids asking for any account figure, because asking too early loses the person.
• Law firm. Matter type first, then whether there is a deadline or a court date, then a plain statement that submitting the form does not create an attorney relationship. The score weighs urgency and whether the matter is one the firm handles. Everything else waits for the consultation.

What the owner notices

The first thing owners tell us is that the leads got better, when what actually happened is that the leads got sorted. The same people were always coming through. Now the ready ones are at the top with a reason attached, the exploring ones are nurtured instead of called, and the ones outside the service area get a polite answer without taking anyone's morning.

The second thing they notice is that completion went up, not down, even though the form asks more. People finish a short conversation. They abandon a long box.

The intake form, the score, and the alert are the front door of every CRM we build, whether the business pours foundations, manages retirements, or files motions.

Questions people ask