Client Intake
Form

Coaching Practice Tools

A structured pre-session questionnaire that helps both coach
and client arrive at the first conversation with shared context.

Before the First Session

The intake form is not a formality. It is the first piece of coaching work the client does, often before they have a clear sense of how coaching works or what they want from it. The act of writing down goals, challenges, and what has not worked before surfaces things that a conversation in the moment rarely would.

As a coach, the intake document tells you what your client thinks they need, which is different from—and often more useful than—what they say they need when they are sitting across from you for the first time. The gap between how they describe their goals and how they describe their roadblocks is almost always where the real work lives.

How to Use This Form

  1. Send it 3-5 days before the first session, not the day before. Clients who fill it out the morning of haven't had time to sit with their answers.
  2. Read it before the session, not during. Arriving with the form already in mind lets you ask second-level questions instead of first-level ones.
  3. Pay attention to what is absent. A client who writes three paragraphs about goals and one sentence about challenges has just told you something important.
  4. Keep the completed form on file. Returning to it at 3-month and 6-month marks shows both coach and client how much has shifted.
  5. Customize the form to your coaching focus. The sections below are a starting template. Add or remove questions that fit your specific practice area.
1

Client Intake Form

Contact Information
Coaching Goals

What do you most want to achieve through this coaching engagement?

Challenges & Roadblocks

What is currently in the way of achieving those goals?

2

Client Intake Form (continued)

Supportive Factors

What strengths, resources, or support systems do you have available?

Availability & Scheduling
Additional Information

Anything else you want your coach to know before your first session?

3

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to unlock sustainable growth.

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contact-us

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Phone

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