How to Structure & Streamline the Agency Client Intake Process

The difference between a thriving agency and one that struggles often comes down to how well it manages its first impression with potential clients.

A streamlined client intake process doesn't just help you win more business — it sets the foundation for profitable, long-term relationships.

Yet many agencies still rely on scattered spreadsheets, email chains, and manual handoffs that create friction at the worst possible moment: when prospects are deciding whether to trust you with their business.

A sound intake process — and the right software to support workflows — transforms these challenges into competitive advantages, leading to higher conversion rates, improved project success, and stronger client relationships from day one.

With over 30 years of experience working with agencies at all stages of growth, we’ve optimized Workamajig with modules to support all areas of operations, including native CRM and client management tools to structure and streamline intake processes.

We’ve compiled this guide to discuss:

• Our five-step client intake process
• Tips to improve & automate intake processes
• How agencies use Workamajig to turn prospects into profitable clients

For an in-depth walkthrough of Workamajig’s agency management system, request a free demo.

The Five-Step Client Intake Process

1. Initial Contact & Lead Qualification

This begins when a prospective client reaches out, whether through a website client intake form, a networking event, a referral, or cold outreach (such as an email or phone call).

The first step involves qualifying the lead to determine if there's a mutual fit. This pre-screening covers the basic information, assessing a potential new client’s needs, budget range, timeline, project scope, and decision-making authority.

Many agencies use brief qualification forms or initial consultation calls to filter out prospects who aren't ready to move forward.

2. Discovery & Needs Assessment

After qualification, agencies conduct deeper discovery sessions when a lead shows promise. These conversations delve into the client's:

• Business objectives
• Target audience
• Competitive landscape
• Specific challenges they aim to address
• Brand positioning and messaging preferences
• Success metrics

This phase often includes gathering information about the client's existing materials, understanding their industry context, and identifying potential obstacles or opportunities.

3. Proposal Development & Presentation

After discovery conversations, agencies develop customized proposals that outline recommended solutions, project phases, methodologies, deliverables, timelines, and investment levels.

Many agencies present proposals in person or via video call to explain all of the necessary information, answer questions, and establish rapport with key stakeholders.

4. Contract Negotiation & Client Onboarding

If clients show interest in moving forward, it’s time to talk contract terms.

This includes:

• Clarifying project scope details, project milestones, and approval processes
• Addressing intellectual property rights
• Discussing payment terms

Once agreements are signed, agencies initiate formal onboarding procedures. This typically includes setting up client portal access, configuring project management tools, and introducing core staff members.

5. Project Kickoff & Managing Client Relationships

The intake process concludes with a comprehensive project kickoff meeting where all stakeholders align on objectives, communication protocols, and next steps.

This meeting centers on setting expectations and laying the groundwork for a strong working relationship.

While this five-step framework provides a foundation for structuring intake processes, several strategies can significantly enhance your intake efficiency and conversion rates.

Workamajig Tips to Improve the Client Intake Process

We provide personalized onboarding (free of charge) for all new Workamajig users, allowing us to discuss current sales processes, walk them through our system’s features and functionality, and train users on our best practices.

Below, we outline some essential tips to enhance client intake processes.

• Standardize your intake process: Establish consistent intake forms and workflows to ensure you don’t overlook any prospects and everyone receives a uniform, professional experience.

• Qualify prospects early & thoroughly: Use robust qualification criteria to focus time and resources on prospects most likely to become profitable clients.
  
  

• Use automation to streamline time-consuming, manual tasks: Automate repetitive tasks, such as data entry, follow-up reminders, and project setup, to save time and reduce human error.

• Simplify handoffs: Ensure smooth transitions from sales to project delivery teams without losing critical information or momentum.
  
  

• Centralize all client information: Keep all prospect and client data in one accessible hub so team members can easily reference past conversations, project history, and client details.

• Enable client collaboration during onboarding: Involve clients in the onboarding process through client portals and collaborative tools to establish clear expectations and foster engagement from the outset.

• Maintain consistent communication: Establish clear communication protocols and regular touchpoints throughout the intake process to keep prospects engaged and informed.
  
  

• Integrate financial management early: Incorporate budget discussions, project profitability analysis, and financial planning into the intake process to set realistic expectations.
  
  

Last but not least, you should track and measure sales performance by monitoring key metrics — such as conversion rates, time-to-close, and lead sources — to continuously improve your intake process. Our system provides an array of sales reports to assist in that analysis.

Workamajig’s CRM & Client Intake Software

Workamajig's CRM is your single source of truth for managing client intake. Our web-to-lead feature enables you to capture new leads directly from your website’s contact form. We also provide customizable dashboards and sales reports to help you manage new leads and opportunities until close.

In the sections below, we’ll discuss Workamajig’s client intake system in more detail and provide a sneak peek at what these dashboards and tools look like. At the end, we provide a brief demo of our sales module for a closer look.

Note: You can also connect your existing CRM to pull qualified opportunities into Workamajig and use the systems in tandem. After passing opportunities to Workamajig, you can manage contract discussions, create project plans, access sales performance reports, and complete onboarding in our system.

Sales Dashboard

The Sales Dashboard gives you a bird’s-eye view of all your current sales activities so you can quickly see what’s happening with your most valuable opportunities, if you’re neglecting any opportunities, and forecasted revenue by opportunity stage.

From here, you can navigate to: Client Contact lists, Company Contact lists, Active Conversations, Leads Dashboard, and Opportunities Dashboard.

Leads Dashboard

The Workamajig Leads Dashboard displays all your most recent leads — unqualified contacts or companies — allowing you to review details, determine if leads are legitimate and if they’d be a good fit, and initiate qualification and discovery conversations. Our system also provides several filtering options to focus on the types of leads that have historically been the most valuable to your agency.

Workamajig allows you to initiate these conversations directly through our platform, ensuring that all communications are stored securely within our system.

We also provide a notes feature for sales teams to jot down essential takeaways from sales calls or other discussions. You can also set reminders or follow-ups to circle back on leads so nothing slips through the cracks.

After qualifying leads, you save the contact information of new clients and/or companies and convert them into new opportunities.

These then move to your Opportunities dashboard, where you can nurture opportunities as they progress through the sales funnel.

Opportunities Dashboard

The Opportunities Dashboard features customizable Kanban boards, enabling you to manage opportunities throughout each stage of your sales funnel easily. You can name columns to align with each funnel stage and then drag and drop leads through to close.

As you can see from the screenshot above, Workamajig displays key details about each opportunity — such as the project type and expected profitability — so sales managers can prioritize opportunities and strategically assign them to the most suitable team members.

After you close and win opportunities, you can convert them into new projects.

Onboarding & Initiating New Projects

When you convert an opportunity into a new project, the system displays the project in the Projects Dashboard. It saves all details and attachments from sales conversations, allowing project managers to pick up where sales teams leave off and build out project plans.

You can begin onboarding by creating client portals and granting access to the project management system. Client portals are convenient because they provide 24/7 access to Workamajig, allowing clients to check project status, participate in feedback discussions, access deliverables, view and pay invoices, and track their entire work history.

That said, we provide flexible permissions, allowing you to control precisely what clients can see and do within the system. If you only want clients to have access to collaboration tools and nothing else, that’s totally fine.

In addition to these portals, our system sends email alerts to clients when they’re tagged into reviews or comments, deliverables are awaiting approval, or they have new invoices to pay, so clients know when their involvement is needed and can jump in promptly.

Sales Performance Reports

Workamajig features a comprehensive sales reporting suite that enables agencies to measure and optimize their client intake performance.

The platform offers key sales reports, including Win/Loss Analysis, Pipeline Velocity Tracking, and Lead Source Performance dashboards. Additionally, you can create custom reports using the intuitive drag-and-drop builder, analyzing specific information from any combination of client, prospect, opportunity, and sales activity data.

These reporting tools help you learn more about the types of leads you attract and understand which lead sources generate the highest-quality clients. You can:

• Analyze why deals are won or lost across different time periods and client types
• Pinpoint exactly where your intake process loses potential clients
• Discover patterns in successful deals to replicate winning strategies

The dashboard delivers real-time snapshot views for immediate insight into your sales health.

• Live count of prospects at every pipeline stage
• Revenue forecasts based on current opportunities
• Sales team productivity metrics and follow-up tracking
• Capacity planning insights from pipeline volume
• Performance trends compared to historical data and goals

Workamajig Sales Overview with Penny

Check out a quick demo of our CRM module and sales tools below:

All-in-One Agency Management Tools

Beyond intake, agencies using Workamajig also benefit from the built-in project management, resource planning, and financial tools — ensuring the relationships they win through better intake processes become profitable long-term partnerships.

Our all-in-one agency management system includes:

• A complete project management suite with real-time project monitoring and risk alerts to keep all active projects on course

• Resource management and staff scheduling dashboards

• Time tracking

• Time productivity reports

• Full GL accounting software

• Financial management tools at both project and portfolio levels, including budget trackers, revenue forecasting, and a customizable financial reporting dashboard

• Connections with email and calendar systems to sync client and project-related conversations and details between software

• Integrations with media planning software, file storage solutions, and business intelligence tools to easily send data back and forth

Below, we’ve included a quick demo of our full system:

Improve Your Client Intake Process with Workamajig

Ready to see how Workamajig can transform your intake processes and help you provide the best client experience from the get-go? Request a free demo with our team here.

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Originally published June 26, 2025.