Professional Services · free · about 4 minutes
Get the Proposal Out in Three Business Days: The 8-Check Intake Scorecard for Services Firms Nationwide
The inquiry came in on the 3rd. The proposal went out on the 17th. The client had already started with someone else on the 11th. That is a scoped project lost to a calendar. It happens in firms where the person who sells also delivers.
The Services Intake Scorecard is a free, self-scoring checklist of eight checks for professional services firms nationwide, run remotely across the United States by Rodgers Intelligence Group, based in Denver, Colorado. Mike Rodgers wrote the checks and answers every question himself. Each check is a written rule: it says what in place looks like and gives a stated fix when the check fails.
Your answers never leave this page. The scorecard runs in your browser. Nothing is stored, nothing is sent, and there is no email field. Demonstration, not a client result.
The 8-check scorecard
Answer each check. Your result updates as you go. If a check is missing or partial, its fix appears underneath. The result is a finished document you keep: a score, a verdict and a fix list, and the eight checks on this page are the written rulebook behind it.
-
Check 1
Inquiries get answered within one business day
In place One inbox owns new inquiries and every one gets a human answer before the next business day ends.
If it fails Name the inbox and the owner today. An inquiry that waits three days is a prospect who is already talking to someone else. (about 5 minutes)
-
Check 2
A fit screen runs before the call
In place Three questions - budget, scope, timeline - are asked and answered before a call is put on the calendar.
If it fails Write the three questions into your first reply template. It is polite, it is fast, and it filters the work you should not be quoting. (about 15 minutes)
-
Check 3
The discovery call is booked with an agenda sent ahead
In place The call has a time, an agenda and a named outcome, so both sides prepare.
If it fails Send a three-line agenda with every calendar invite. Same call, twice the information, half the follow-up. (about 10 minutes)
-
Check 4
Scope is written in the buyer's own words
In place The proposal describes the problem the way the buyer described it on the call, not in your internal service names.
If it fails Paste the buyer's phrasing from your call notes into the scope section before writing anything else. (about 20 minutes)
-
Check 5
Proposal goes out within three business days of the call
In place A stated turnaround, kept, with a heads-up if it slips.
If it fails Pick three business days, write it into the call close ('you will have this by Thursday'), and build the week around it. (about 5 minutes)
-
Check 6
The price is a ladder or one number, not a menu
In place One recommended price with an optional stretch, or a clean good/better/best - not nine line items to negotiate.
If it fails Cut your proposal to one recommended scope and one optional add-on. Buyers say yes to clarity faster than to choice. (about 30 minutes)
-
Check 7
Follow-up is scheduled at send
In place Day-2 and day-7 touches are on the calendar when the proposal leaves.
If it fails Two calendar holds at send. Silence after send is where most proposals die. (about 2 minutes)
-
Check 8
Win / loss reason is logged per proposal
In place One line per proposal: won, lost, or dead, and why. Patterns set next quarter's offer.
If it fails Add one line to your proposal tracker at decision. It takes 30 seconds and it is the only market research that never lies. (about 1 minutes)
Fix these, in this order:
What your score means
- 8 of 8: Your intake converts. The next gain is offer design: price the work you win deliberately before buying more leads.
- 6-7 of 8: You are losing work to timing and ambiguity. Fix the two failing checks; most are template and calendar edits.
- 5 or fewer: Proposals are dying in transit. Fix checks 1, 2 and 5 first: one-day answer, fit screen, three-day proposal.
What the current process costs
Nobody sends a bill for the current process, which is why it survives. The work lands on the consultant who sold the work and now has to deliver it, and the eight fixes above carry their own minutes. Add the minutes for the checks that failed on your scorecard and multiply by what an hour of that time costs you. The answer is your own number for one inquiry cycle, and you are the only person who can compute it.
Hold that number against the routes on this page. Fixing the checks yourself costs the minutes printed on each fix. The RIG One-Workflow Review is a $3,500 fixed fee, with a written readout within ten business days after required access, and the readout is yours to use with any vendor or internally. Fewer than three failing checks says the fix list is the right route; three or more says the workflow is worth a written look.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Services Intake Scorecard?
It is a free, self-scoring checklist of eight checks for professional services firms nationwide. Each check states what in place looks like and gives a plain-language fix with a minutes estimate when it fails. You finish with a score, a verdict and a fix list.
How long does it take?
About four minutes. You answer each check as in place, partial or missing, and the score and verdict update as you go.
Where do my answers go?
Nowhere. The scorecard runs in your browser: nothing is stored or sent and there is no email field. Your result appears on the page and stays with you.
What happens after the score, and what does the next step cost?
Fixing the checks yourself costs nothing beyond the minutes each fix carries, and the free 12-check Client Intake Test Kit needs no email. If three or more checks fail, the RIG One-Workflow Review is a $3,500 fixed fee with a written readout within ten business days after required access; it is not a retainer, and details are at rodgersintelligence.com/workflow-review.
More questions, answered directly
What does my score mean?
The score counts the checks that are in place. The verdict under it says whether the workflow or the effort is the problem, and the fix list names the failing checks in the order to take them.
Do I have to buy anything to use this scorecard?
No. The scorecard is free and the answers stay in your browser, and the free 12-check Client Intake Test Kit needs no email. The One-Workflow Review is a $3,500 fixed fee, with a written readout within ten business days after required access, for the case where the workflow is the problem rather than the effort.
We sell projects, not retainers. Does intake still matter?
The eight checks run from inquiry to proposal, the same surface whether the engagement is a project or a retainer. One check is your stated turnaround, so you set the promise the scorecard holds you to.
Who is behind this scorecard?
Rodgers Intelligence Group, based in Denver, Colorado. Mike Rodgers wrote the eight checks and answers every copied summary sent through rodgersintelligence.com/contact himself. The checks are written rules; nothing on this page is a client outcome.
The next step
1. Fix it yourself (right for most readers)
Every failing check above carries its own fix and a minutes estimate. Three of the eight checks are calendar or template edits you can make this week.
2. Free, ungated kit
The 12-check Client Intake Test Kit covers the whole intake surface, not just this one workflow: rodgersintelligence.com/client-intake-test-kit. No email required.
3. Priced next step, with its cost
If three or more checks fail, the honest read is that the workflow, not your effort, is the problem. The RIG One-Workflow Review is a $3,500 fixed fee, with a written readout within ten business days after required access. It is not a retainer, and you do not need an automation build for the review to be worth the fee. The readout is yours to use with any vendor or internally, and it is not credited against the build price. Details: rodgersintelligence.com/workflow-review.
When not to book it: fewer than three failing checks, no authority to change the workflow, or a project already covering this process. In those cases, fix the checks yourself and re-run this scorecard afterwards.
4. Talk to a human
Send your copied summary through rodgersintelligence.com/contact and you will get a reply from Mike Rodgers, not an autoresponder.