A Simple Client Intake System for Service Businesses (That Your Team Will Actually Use)

For many service businesses—accountants, therapists, consultants, agencies—the bottleneck isn’t finding clients. It’s getting them properly “in the system.” Half‑filled forms, missing documents, and endless back‑and‑forth emails waste time and make you look disorganized. A good intake system fixes that without turning your business into a call centre.\

Common intake problems we see:

• Clients send partial information and your team has to chase the rest.

• Staff use different versions of forms, or no form at all.

• Important details live in individual inboxes instead of a shared system.

• Nobody is quite sure who owns a new client at each stage.

What a clean intake system includes:

1. One intake form per service type

   • Short, mobile‑friendly forms tailored to each main service.

   • Smart questions: only show what’s relevant based on previous answers.

   • Clear expectations: what happens next and when they’ll hear from you.

   
   

2. Automatic creation of records and tasks

   • New submissions create or update records in your CRM, practice‑management, or project tool.

   • Tasks or checklists are assigned to the right team member automatically.

   • Internal notifications go to a shared channel, not just one person’s inbox.

   
   

3. Client communication baked in

   • Automatic confirmation email with next steps.

   • Optional follow‑up reminders if clients haven’t booked, signed, or uploaded documents.

   • Simple status labels so your team knows who’s “new,” “in onboarding,” or “active.”

Tools we work with:

We typically connect forms to tools like Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Notion, ClickUp, Monday, or industry‑specific platforms. The exact stack doesn’t matter as much as having a clear, consistent flow.

Results you can expect:

• Less time chasing missing info.

• Fewer clients “ghosting” after first contact.

• A calmer team that knows exactly what to do with each new client.

If your team is drowning in messy intake, Umbrella AI can design and implement a simple intake system tailored to how you already work.

Email giovanni@yycompany.ca with “Intake System” in the subject and a quick description of your current process, and we’ll outline a first version together.