Client Intake to Proposal (Professional Services)

When to use

Triggers:

• "Client intake for [prospect]" / "Draft a proposal for [prospect]"
• "Discovery call notes to proposal"
• "Turn this intake form into a brief"
• "New lead — what should our proposal look like?"
• Any AU professional services business converting discovery into a first-draft commercial doc

Don't fire for:

• Partner Tier proposals specifically for THL clients (use thl-partner-tier-proposal-generator — internal)
• RFP responses to formal tenders (different beast — structured RFP response workflow)
• Renewals (existing clients renewing — different conversation, different doc)

The intake-to-proposal journey

Pro services sales typically goes:

Lead / referral / inbound → Discovery call → Intake form (sometimes) → Proposal → Sign → Onboard

This skill handles the Discovery-to-Proposal step. Do it well and proposals close faster; do it poorly and you spend hours redrafting after the prospect says "that's not quite right".

Input types the skill handles

1. Intake form / questionnaire response

Structured inputs — name, company, size, industry, pain points, budget range, timeline, decision criteria. Most productised services use one.

2. Discovery call transcript or notes

Unstructured — meeting notes (Gemini, Otter, handwritten). Skill extracts the structured signals.

3. Initial email / inbound enquiry

"Hi, I'm interested in your services. Can you help with X?" Minimal structure; skill generates clarifying questions AND a first-draft proposal based on reasonable assumptions.

Step 1 — Build the client brief

Regardless of input type, produce this brief first. It's the single-source-of-truth for the proposal and everything downstream.

Client Brief — [Prospect] — [Date]

Decision maker: [name, role]
Champion (if different): [name, role]

Business context:
- Industry, size, location
- Their customers / what they sell
- Key numbers (revenue, staff, growth rate) — with "unverified" flag where the operator said it

Situation:
- What's driving them to ask now? (the catalyst)
- What have they tried before?
- Who else are they evaluating? (if known)

Need:
- The problem they described, in their words
- The problem behind the problem (1 layer deeper if you can see it)
- The outcome they want

Constraints:
- Budget range (if stated or implied)
- Timeline (when does this need to happen by?)
- Non-negotiables ("must be a local provider", "must have insurance accreditation", "must not use offshore team")
- Internal politics (nervous stakeholder, procurement step, board sign-off required)

Success criteria:
- How will they know it worked?
- What's the observable outcome in 30/60/90 days?

Risk flags:
- Any reason to say no? (wrong fit, bad-history signals, budget misalignment)

Fields that aren't in the input get flagged as "to confirm". Don't fabricate.

Step 2 — Generate the first-draft proposal

Structure (adjust length per the brief complexity):

Cover

• Your business name + logo + client name
• Proposal title (plain English, not salesy: "Setting up your bookkeeping operations" not "Transforming Your Financial Future")
• Date + version + your contact

Executive summary (1 paragraph)

The client's situation in one sentence, the proposed approach in one sentence, the outcome in one sentence. Prospects read this and decide whether to read the rest.

Situation (from the brief)

Their own words reflected back. Shows you listened. 3–4 sentences max.

Proposed approach

Named phases / workstreams — concrete, not abstract. Each with:

• What you'll do
• What you'll deliver
• Rough timeline
• Who's involved (theirs + yours)

For a 3-month engagement, 3–4 named phases. For a longer retainer, a monthly rhythm.

Scope + exclusions

Explicit on both sides. Scope creep originates in ambiguous scope; exclusions prevent 80% of it.

Common exclusions for pro services:

• Third-party software subscriptions (client pays direct)
• Legal / compliance sign-off (client's own advisers)
• Experimental approaches / new methodologies (unless explicitly in-scope)
• Travel beyond a defined radius
• After-hours / weekend work without prior agreement

Investment

Three-tier or single price, depending on the engagement type. If packaged, use the pricing-packaging-professional-services skill's structure. If bespoke project, itemise honestly:

• Phase 1: $X
• Phase 2: $Y
• Phase 3: $Z
• Total: $X+Y+Z (ex-GST)

For retainers: "$X/month for [scope]" with a defined term.

Payment terms

• Deposit (usually 20–50% depending on engagement size)
• Progress payments or milestone payments
• Final payment on completion
• Payment terms in days (14 days is common for pro services; 7 is aggressive; 30 is lenient)

What happens next

• How they say yes (sign, reply, docusign link)
• First session / kickoff date
• Onboarding steps

Single call-to-action. Not a list of CTAs.

Your commitments

Short section — 3–4 bullet points on how you work:

• How quickly you'll respond
• Weekly/monthly rhythm
• How you'll report progress
• What happens if things go wrong

About us (brief)

If it's a new prospect: a short paragraph on who you are + 2–3 specific credentials. If they already know you, skip.

Appendix (optional)

• Sample deliverables
• Case studies from similar engagements
• Team bios

Most proposals don't need these; don't pad.

Step 3 — Clarifying questions BEFORE sending

For every first-draft proposal, the skill surfaces 3–5 clarifying questions the operator should ask the prospect before sending. Common patterns:

If the input was a brief email:

• "Before I send a full proposal, can I confirm [specific detail] and [budget range]?"
• Send the clarifying questions as a short email first; send the proposal once you have the answers

If the input was a good discovery call:

• Usually no clarifying questions needed. Send the proposal.
• 1–2 "confirmation questions" to reduce chance of a later pushback ("I assumed you want this starting in April — is that right?")

If the input was an intake form with gaps:

• Fill what you can; flag the gaps in the proposal itself ("We've assumed X; if that changes we'll revise")

Step 4 — Red flags before you send

The skill flags these back to you to consider:

• Budget mismatch. If the rough cost is materially above or below what the prospect implied, pause — either negotiate, or don't waste the proposal.
• Multiple decision makers. If the brief says "my board has to approve" and you don't have access to the board, the proposal needs a different structure (executive summary optimised for their board).
• Scope that reads "and whatever else comes up". Push back before sending; vague scope = unpaid work.
• Timeline that's unrealistic. If they want "done in 2 weeks" and your honest estimate is 6 weeks, say so in the proposal, not after signing.
• No named champion + procurement-heavy organisation. Long-cycle sale; adjust your follow-up cadence expectation.

Output format

Per request:

1. Client brief — structured per Step 1
2. Proposal draft — Word / PDF-ready Markdown, structured per Step 2
3. Clarifying questions — 3–5, ready-to-send email
4. Red flags — 0–3, for internal consideration
5. Next-steps checklist — who does what before send

Voice notes

Direct, not salesy. Use specific language and numbers from the client's own world. Avoid:

• "We will partner with you on this transformative journey"
• "Leveraging our unique methodology"
• "Best-in-class expertise"
• Any phrase you wouldn't say in an in-person conversation

Prefer:

• "We'll set up your books in Xero and hand them over cleanly after 3 months"
• "Here's what we'll do in the first 30 days"
• "Your first invoice comes with a 20% deposit; the remainder is paid on completion of each phase"

Sign off with a first name. Don't sign off as "The [Company] Team".

What this skill does NOT do

• Send the proposal. You / your sales ops send via DocuSign, PandaDoc, email, or PDF.
• Track proposal status. Your CRM does.
• Negotiate. Once they reply with "can we change X?", that's a different workflow — human judgment.
• Generate marketing content / landing pages. Different skill.

Tier access

Base. Every professional services business does this. Pro-tier members get voice customisation (upload 3–5 past winning proposals, skill matches voice) + CRM integration.

Related skills

• pricing-packaging-professional-services — when you're moving to packaged offers
• customer-retention-churn-signals — the converse skill for existing clients
• thl-partner-tier-proposal-generator (internal) — THL-specific version of this pattern

References

• Blair Enns — The Win Without Pitching Manifesto
• Ron Baker — The Firm of the Future