Is your Contact page on your website hurting your business rather than growing it? If there’s simply a Message box that potential clients can use to get in touch with you, then the short answer is “Yes!” If you want to book consistent premium clients and stop wasting your time talking to leads who aren’t a good fit, it all starts with asking the right questions! Let’s go through the best questions to add to your lead questionnaire to repel tire kickers and land more discovery calls with leads who are both ready to hire and pay your rates.

I know, I know, you might be hesitant to add more questions to your lead form. “What if ideal clients leave my site because they don’t want to fill out my form?!” 

Well, you’re not asking your leads to write a book, just to simply answer a two-minute questionnaire. If they don’t have the time or don’t want to put in the effort to do this small task, they’re likely not going to make a good client anyway.

You don’t want to go overboard, because you’ll likely still have a call where you’ll go further into detail about your lead’s needs before they book, but you still want to ask specific, qualifying questions. This will help you verify that you can actually help the person getting in touch with you. That means these questions not only serve you as the service provider, but the client as well! You can prepare better for the call, move more efficiently through your conversation (say goodbye to hour-long discovery calls!), and most importantly, you’ll be more likely to actually book the client.

Start with the Necessities

First, get their basic information: Name, Email, and Phone if that’s relevant for the call. If you work with business owners, I highly recommend asking for their website and their social media profiles.

Especially when it comes to working with online business owners, a quick look at their website and Instagram can tell you a lot about their brand, their business history, and more. This is all really useful information, especially if you’re goal is to work within a certain niche or with a certain level of business owners. 

For example, if you’re ideal client is an experienced course creator who’s already launched their course successfully and has built a strong student community, then seeing a website with no course available yet or no social media audience will tell you that the lead may not be at the level that you typically look for in a client. You may not be the ideal service provider for them.

Then, Ask Specific Qualifying Questions

One of the easily overlooked “automations” you can implement in your business is having the right questions on your lead form. Regardless of what kind of platform or tech you use to collect your leads, this can save you incredible amounts of time on the backend because you won’t end up on calls with people who are just not the right fit. 

Let’s dive into the questions! Whether you want to add them all or just a couple to your questionnaire, they’re sure to improve your lead intake process!

Question: When is your ideal project start date?

What Their Answer Tells You…

• On the Surface: How soon they want to get started and you can immediately judge whether you have availability for their preferred timeline.
• On a Deeper Level: If they’re thinking ahead – clients who want to get started right away may have higher (maybe even unrealistic) expectations, while people who don’t need to get started any time soon may be looking to simply gather information rather than hire soon. Neither of these things is necessarily bad, but this is still useful info to help you prep for the call! Ideally, you’ll catch someone in between those two stages.

Question: My services start at X. Is that within your budget? Yes or No

What Their Answer Tells You…

• On the Surface: They are aware of what they’ll have to pay to work with you
• On a Deeper Level: They understand this call is not a price negotiation. A question like this can also help to prevent “sticker shock” on the call where you have a great conversation, just to find out that the client can’t afford your services. Some people will say it’s better not to reveal prices right away so that you have time to “demonstrate your value” on the call. However, I truly believe that your website should do a lot of that for you so that the call can be focused on landing the client, not pitching your services.

Question: Have you hired someone for X services before and what were your results? 

What Their Answer Tells You…

• On the Surface: This is particularly useful for retainer services or results-focused services like ad management, funnel/launch strategy, and social media management to give you a sense of what you’d be stepping into. 
• On a Deeper Level: Some clients have had bad experiences with service providers in the past so it’s helpful for you to know their previous pain points. You can use that info to discuss the ways your services will give them a better experience. Their answer to this question can also sometimes raise red flags about the client’s expectations. Did they expect unrealistic results from their last provider? Just something to note and watch out for!

Question: How did you hear about me?

What Their Answer Tells You…

• On the Surface: Where your leads are coming from. 
• On a Deeper Level: This answer can better guide your marketing efforts. For example, if you’ve spent a ton of time over the last few months trying to reach new clients on social media but nobody has said on their form that they found you on Instagram, you may want to further evaluate your marketing strategy. Also, if you’d like to start offering commission incentives for referrals, this makes it super easy to know who sent the client your way.

Question: Is there anything else you’d like me to know to help me determine if we could be a good fit to work together?

What Their Answer Tells You…

• On the Surface: This is open-ended and gives your client a chance to provide extra context about their needs. Some lead will use it, others will leave it completely blank.
• On a Deeper Level: This question demonstrates that the purpose of your discovery call is really to explore the client’s needs and determine if you are a good fit to work together. This is not a job interview. This is not a price negotiation. This is about finding a win-win solution for both parties. The client gets the service they want and you get paid!

Automate Your Client Intake Process for Better Results

You can easily add these questions to any form you currently use for lead intake, but if you’re looking to step things up a notch, look for opportunities to automate! Consider using a customer management tool like Dubsado, for example. This software not only allows you to make lead questionnaires but also automates tons of other lead and client management tasks, like sending an automatic reply or call reminder emails, automated call scheduling, proposal templates and so much more. Their list of features goes on and on! Click here to try it out on three clients FREE (affiliate link). 

So which one of these questions will you be adding to your Contact Page? Is there just one you be implementing or will you be including all of them? If there are more questions you recommend for a lead form, be sure to drop them in the comment box below. I’d love to learn about other qualifying Q’s that have worked for you!