Business Coach Questionnaire (Free Template + Filled Example)

A business coach questionnaire is the intake form an owner fills in before your first session, so you start with their real numbers, offers, capacity and goals instead of spending the first hour collecting them. The free template below has ten sections: the business at a glance, revenue and margin, offers and pricing, where customers come from, the team and the owner's hours, goals, what has already been tried, constraints, how you will work together, and the three problems to tackle first. Copy it, replace the [bracketed] parts, and send it after the discovery call and before session one.

We make Coachful, so that is where our own version lives: the short screening questions sit on the booking page, the full questionnaire goes out as a form, the coaching agreement is signed before the first call, and every answer is stored on the client record next to sessions, goals and invoices. You can just as easily paste the template into a Word file or a Google Form. The wording matters more than the tool, and the comparison further down covers each option honestly.

Where does a business coach questionnaire sit in the client journey?

It sits between the discovery call and the first paid session. The discovery call tells you whether you can help; the questionnaire gives you the facts you need to help well from minute one.

A typical business coaching journey looks like this:

1. Enquiry. The owner finds you through a referral, a talk, LinkedIn or your website and books a call. Three or four screening questions on the booking page (business type, rough annual revenue, the main problem, how soon they want to start) are enough here. Anything longer cuts bookings.
2. Discovery call. You confirm fit, explain your offer and price, and agree to work together.
3. Agreement and payment. The owner signs your coaching agreement and pays the first invoice or retainer. If you have not written your agreement yet, our coaching contracts page explains what Coachful handles.
4. Full questionnaire. Sent the same day as the signed agreement, with a deadline two to three working days before session one. This is the template in this article.
5. Session one. You arrive having read the answers, with two or three hypotheses about where the business is stuck.
6. Between sessions. A short weekly check-in tracks the handful of numbers you agreed on in session one, so the questionnaire becomes the baseline rather than a file nobody opens again.
7. Review points. At 90 days and at the end of the engagement, you send a shorter version of sections 2, 4 and 5 again and compare.

Two timing rules make the difference. First, do not send the full questionnaire before the owner has said yes; it is too much work to ask of a prospect, and people who complete it before committing often feel they have already been coached for free. Second, do not let session one start without it. If the answers have not arrived 48 hours before, move the session. Owners who cannot find 40 minutes for the form will struggle to find time for the actions you agree on, and it is better to learn that early.

If you coach groups or masterminds rather than one owner at a time, the same sections work with a lighter numbers block; our group coaching intake questionnaire covers that version. For a general-purpose form that works across niches, see coaching intake questionnaires.

What is in the free business coach questionnaire template?

Ten sections and about 55 questions, written for owners of small and mid-sized businesses. Most owners finish it in 35 to 50 minutes if they have their accounting software open. Copy everything from the intro line down, replace the [bracketed] fill-ins, and delete any question that does not apply to the kind of owner you coach.

Intro to paste at the top of the form:

Hi [client first name], thank you for choosing to work with [your business name]. This questionnaire helps me prepare for our first session on [date]. It takes most owners 35 to 50 minutes. Rough figures are fine; please mark anything you are guessing with "est." Your answers are confidential and are used only for our coaching work, as described in our agreement. If a question does not apply, write "n/a" and move on. Please send it back by [deadline, two to three working days before session one].

Section 1: The business at a glance

1. Your name, role and the business's trading name.
2. Website and the main social or marketplace profile customers find you on.
3. What the business sells, in one sentence a customer would use.
4. Industry, and whether you sell mainly to consumers, to other businesses, or to both.
5. Year the business started, and the year you took it over if you bought it.
6. Legal structure (sole trader or sole proprietor, partnership, limited company, LLC, other) and any co-owners or shareholders with their percentage.
7. Where you operate: city, region and the time zone you work in.
8. Number of people working in the business: full-time, part-time, contractors, and you.

Section 2: The numbers

Please pull these from [your accounting software, your bookkeeper's last report or your year-end accounts]. A range is fine if you do not have exact figures.

1. Revenue for the last 12 months: [under 100k / 100k to 250k / 250k to 500k / 500k to 1m / 1m to 3m / over 3m] in [currency], or the exact figure if you know it.
2. Revenue for the 12 months before that, so we can see the direction.
3. Gross margin, or what is left after the direct cost of delivering what you sell. If you do not know it, write "don't know"; that is useful information too.
4. Net profit before your own pay, for the last full year.
5. What you paid yourself last year, in salary, drawings and dividends combined.
6. Monthly fixed costs (rent, salaries, software, loans) as a rough total.
7. Cash in the bank today, and how many months of fixed costs that covers.
8. Money owed to you right now (unpaid invoices), and the oldest one.
9. What share of revenue comes from your biggest three customers.
10. Which numbers you look at every week, if any, and where they come from.

Section 3: Offers and pricing

1. List each product, service or package you sell, with its price and roughly what share of revenue it brings in. Use this format: [offer name] / [price] / [share of revenue].
2. Which offer makes you the most profit per hour of your time?
3. Which offer would you stop selling tomorrow if you could, and why?
4. When did you last raise prices, by how much, and what happened to sales?
5. Do you offer discounts, payment plans or retainers? Who decides when they are given?
6. What do competitors charge for something similar, as far as you know?

Section 4: Customers, marketing and sales

1. Describe your best customer: who they are, what they buy, and why they chose you.
2. Where did your last ten new customers come from? (Referral, repeat, search, social, ads, partnerships, events, cold outreach, other.)
3. Roughly how many enquiries or leads do you get in a typical month?
4. Out of every ten enquiries, how many become paying customers?
5. How long is it from first contact to the first payment?
6. Who handles sales conversations, and is there a written process or script?
7. How many customers buy again or renew, and how many leave each year?
8. What do you spend each month on marketing, including agency or freelancer fees?

Section 5: Capacity, team and the owner's time

1. How many hours a week do you work, on average, including evenings and weekends?
2. Split those hours roughly: delivering the work / selling / managing people / admin and finance / other.
3. Which tasks could only you do today? Which could someone else do with training?
4. List your team by role, with what each person owns. Who would run the business if you were away for two weeks?
5. Where does work get stuck or wait for you? Name the last two examples.
6. Are you at, under or over capacity right now? Could you take 20% more customers next month without hiring?
7. When did you last take a week off without checking messages?

Section 6: Goals

1. What would make the next 12 months a success? Give one money figure and one non-money outcome.
2. Where do you want the business to be in three years: bigger, more profitable, less dependent on you, ready to sell, or something else?
3. What do you want your own working week to look like in 12 months, in hours and in the type of work you do?
4. What would make our coaching worth it to you by [end date of engagement]? Be as specific as you can.
5. What are you not willing to do to reach these goals (for example, work more hours, take on debt, let anyone go, move into a new market)?

Section 7: What has already been tried

1. Have you worked with a business coach, consultant, mentor or mastermind before? What helped and what did not?
2. Which courses, books or frameworks have shaped how you run the business?
3. What is one change you made in the last two years that worked, and one that did not?
4. Which other advisers do you have now (accountant, bookkeeper, lawyer, fractional finance lead, marketing agency), and how often do you speak to them?

Section 8: Constraints and context

1. Are there partners, investors, lenders or family members whose agreement you need for big decisions?
2. Is there anything time-sensitive coming up: a lease renewal, a loan repayment, a key hire leaving, a contract ending, a sale or succession plan?
3. Is any legal dispute, tax enquiry or regulatory issue ongoing? You do not need to share details; a yes or no helps me know when to suggest specialist advice.
4. Is there anything outside the business (health, family, caring responsibilities) that affects how much time or energy you have right now? Share only what you are comfortable sharing.

Section 9: How we will work together

1. Preferred way to reach you between sessions: [in-app messages / email / phone], and the best days and times.
2. Will anyone else join sessions (a co-owner, manager or partner)? If so, their name and role.
3. Which documents can you share before session one? Tick all that apply: [last 12 months profit and loss / balance sheet / sales pipeline export / org chart / price list / marketing report].
4. How do you prefer feedback: direct and blunt, or with more context first?
5. I confirm the figures above are my best estimate and that I have read the confidentiality and data section of the coaching agreement. [Yes / No]

Section 10: Before our first session

1. The three problems you most want to solve, in order of urgency.
2. If we fixed only one thing in the first 90 days, what should it be?
3. Anything else you want me to know before we start.

Closing line: "Thank you. I will read this before our session on [date] and come back with the two or three areas I think we should start with. If you remember something later, reply to [your email or in-app messages] and I will add it to your file."

Why does each section matter, and what should you watch for?

Each section answers one question you will otherwise ask in session one. The table explains why it is there and the answers that should change how you plan the engagement.

A practical reading habit: read sections 2 and 5 first, then section 10. If the owner's top problem is "more leads" but section 2 shows a 15% gross margin and section 5 shows 65-hour weeks, more leads would make things worse. Bring that observation to the session as a question, not a verdict.

What must a business coach add to the template?

Four things: a clear scope line, a data and confidentiality statement, a rule for referrals to licensed professionals, and anything your local law or professional body requires. The template is deliberately general on these because they depend on where you and your clients are.

Scope of practice

Business coaching is not accounting, legal advice, financial advice or therapy. Add one sentence near the top, for example: "I coach you on decisions, priorities and execution. I do not give tax, legal, investment or accounting advice; where those questions come up, I will suggest you speak to a qualified professional." The ICF Code of Ethics asks coaches to be clear about the nature and limits of coaching and to refer clients to other professionals when needed, which is a sensible standard whether or not you hold a credential. If finance is the core issue, our comparison of a fractional CFO vs a business coach helps you explain the difference to the owner.

Sensitive data

Section 2 contains confidential commercial information, and section 8 may contain personal details about health or family. Collect only what you will use, say how long you keep it, and say who can see it. If you or your clients are in the EU or UK, the General Data Protection Regulation applies to personal data you collect, and the UK regulator's UK GDPR guidance is a readable starting point. Avoid asking for bank account numbers, tax IDs or passwords on an intake form. Ask for reports, not logins.

When to refer

Write down your own triggers. Common ones: the business cannot pay staff or tax on time; there is an active legal dispute or tax enquiry; the owner asks whether to sign a loan, lease or sale agreement; signs of serious distress, burnout or a crisis at home. In each case you can keep coaching on what is within scope while the owner gets the right specialist.

The US Small Business Administration's guide to managing business finances is a neutral resource you can point US owners to while they find an accountant.

Local and professional requirements

Some countries regulate who can give financial or investment advice, and some industries your clients work in (healthcare, finance, childcare) have their own confidentiality rules. If you coach regulated businesses, check with a lawyer in your country what you can ask and store.

How do you run the questionnaire in Coachful, step by step?

In Coachful the questionnaire is one step in a single client journey: screening questions on booking, an agreement signed before the first call, the full form, then check-ins, habits, programs and invoices on the same client record. Here is the setup, in order, and what the owner sees at each step.

Step 1: Add screening questions to your discovery call booking page

Booking pages support intake questions on booking, so put the short screening set here: business type, revenue range, main problem and start date. Availability rules, buffers, minimum notice and time-zone detection keep the call itself easy to book, and calendars sync two ways with Google, Apple/iCloud and Outlook. Every booked call then appears on the Intakes page with its answers, so you can read them before the call and track how many convert.

The walkthrough below shows the Intakes page and how calls and answers are listed.

Step 2: Send the coaching agreement before the first call

Coaching agreements with e-signature are sent before the first call and stored on the client record. Put the scope line and the confidentiality and data statement from the previous section in the agreement, then refer to it in question 57 of the questionnaire.

Step 3: Take the first payment

Payments run through your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account, with one-time payments, subscriptions for retainers and payment plans. Each transaction gets an invoice, and you can also send manual invoices. Coachful charges a 0% platform fee; only Stripe or Razorpay processing applies. Our guide to coaching payment software covers the options.

Step 4: Send the full questionnaire as a form

Build the ten sections as a form in your resources (Forms & Worksheets is one of the resource types) and share it with the owner in their branded home with a request to finish it before session one. Their responses stay in your Coachful account with the rest of their client data, next to the intake answers, notes, tags, goals, sessions and payments on the client record. If you would rather not build it yourself, the white-glove team can build the form for you (more on that below). The coaching forms and questionnaires page shows more examples.

What the owner sees: one login, in an app with your branding inside the Coachful app, with their next session, the items due before it, and tabs for Programs, Sessions, Progress and Documents.

Step 5: Read the answers and prepare session one

Open the client record to see the answers next to everything else you know about the owner. Michelle, the built-in AI assistant, works from live practice data and can brief you before sessions, and each client record has an AI briefing. Use it to spot the gaps between section 2 and section 10, then decide for yourself which two or three areas to raise.

Step 6: Turn the baseline into weekly check-ins

Pick three to five numbers from section 2 and section 4 (weekly revenue, enquiries, close rate, cash, owner hours) and ask for them in a weekly check-in flow. Coaching flows include welcome, daily and weekly check-ins, so the owner reports the same figures each week and you can see the trend between sessions instead of hearing about it a month later.

Step 7: Attach goals and habits to section 6

Goals with progress bars, weekly goals, daily tasks and habits with streaks turn "work 45 hours a week by June" into something visible. A habit like "review the cash dashboard every Monday" or "one hour of sales outreach before email" sits right under the goal it serves.

Step 8: Deliver the engagement as a program

If your offer is a structured 90-day or 12-month engagement, build it as a multi-week program with weekly goals and check-ins, and add courses, downloads or events for the material you would otherwise send as attachments. For cohorts, groups are created automatically on program enrollment. The client status (thriving, active, quiet or at risk) tells you who has gone silent, and the client record keeps it all in one place. Business coaches who also track ICF hours get credential tracking against ACC, PCC and MCC thresholds; see ICF hour tracking.

What Coachful is, and what it is not

Coachful is a coaching platform: one subscription covers booking, payments, contracts, program delivery with habits and check-ins, courses, a community, a website with funnels and email, and an AI assistant, with one login for the coach and one branded app for the client. It is built for coaches who deliver programs rather than single sessions, solo coaches growing into a small team, and coaches replacing four to six tools. It is not HIPAA-certified, has no PayPal, has no permanent free plan, has no multi-stage sales deal board for large teams and no Salesforce or HubSpot integration. Pricing is a flat monthly plan, with lower plans capping the number of clients and Pro unlimited (current plans: Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients; Solo: $49/month for up to 20 clients; Pro: $99/month with unlimited clients; Studio: $199/month with unlimited clients). To start, take a free trial and ask the team to set things up through the free white-glove build. More on the business coaching setup is on the Coachful for business coaches page.

Why Coachful stands out: a free white-glove service. From Create, choose "We'll build it for you · FREE" and describe what you need: this questionnaire as a form, an onboarding journey, a discovery call funnel, a website, a program or an email sequence. You can attach up to 8 reference links and up to 10 files, such as your current Word version of the questionnaire and your agreement. The Coachful team builds it inside your own account, usually within about 24 hours, and leaves gaps for you rather than inventing credentials, testimonials or prices. A business mentor for beauty professionals, for example, had a 12-week mentorship sales page, a free start-up-guide funnel and rewritten follow-up emails built this way. It does not cover recording videos, logo design, ad management or ongoing marketing. Details are in our white-glove service guide.

What are the ways to send and store a business coaching questionnaire?

You have four broad options: a document file, a free form tool, an e-signature tool, or practice software that keeps the answers with the client record. The right one depends on whether you want the answers to feed the rest of the engagement or just sit in a folder.

A few notes on the other tools, based on what each vendor documents. HoneyBook and Dubsado are client-workflow CRMs for service businesses in general: good at proposals, contracts, forms and invoices, with no coaching delivery such as programs, habits or check-ins. HoneyBook's scheduler and automations start on Essentials, and payments run through HoneyBook's own processing; Dubsado's Starter plan has no scheduler or automations and Dubsado says it does not build websites. Paperbell is an all-in-one admin tool for solo coaches at one price per coach, without courses, community, or goal and habit tracking according to our older profile. Practice Better is built for wellness and nutrition practitioners, with charting and telehealth that a business coach is unlikely to need.

If you choose a file or a free form, keep one rule: copy the key answers into wherever you keep session notes, so you are not opening three tools before every call. That copying step is the main reason coaches move the questionnaire into their practice software. The Coachful vs HoneyBook and Coachful vs Dubsado comparisons go further if you are deciding between them.

What does a completed business coach questionnaire look like?

Here is a filled example for a fictional client. The person, business and every figure are invented for illustration only; they show the level of detail that makes a questionnaire useful.

Example only: Dana Okafor, owner of Okafor Bookkeeping Ltd

• Business at a glance: "We do monthly bookkeeping and payroll for trades businesses and small cafes." B2B. Started 2017. Limited company, Dana owns 100%. Manchester, UK time zone. Team: Dana, two full-time bookkeepers, one part-time payroll assistant, one freelance admin.
• The numbers (est. where marked): Revenue last 12 months £410,000; previous 12 months £365,000. Gross margin "don't know, maybe 55% (est.)". Net profit before owner pay £96,000. Owner pay £48,000. Fixed costs about £24,000 a month. Cash £31,000, a bit over one month of fixed costs. Unpaid invoices £18,500, oldest 74 days. Top three clients 22% of revenue. Weekly numbers checked: "Bank balance, when I remember."
• Offers and pricing: Monthly bookkeeping / £250 to £900 a month by client size / 70%. Payroll add-on / £60 a month plus £4 per employee / 18%. Year-end catch-up projects / quoted per job / 12%. Most profitable per hour: payroll add-on. Would stop: catch-up projects, "they always overrun and clients argue the invoice". Last price rise: January 2023, 5%, lost one client. Discounts: "I give them when people push back."
• Customers and sales: Best customer: a 10 to 30 person trades business with a busy owner who hates admin. Last ten new clients: seven referrals from two accountants, two from search, one from a local business group. About 12 enquiries a month; 4 become clients. First call to first payment about three weeks. Dana handles all sales, no written process. Around 8% of clients leave each year. Marketing spend £300 a month on a website retainer.
• Capacity and time: 58 hours a week. Split: delivery 25, sales 8, managing people 10, admin and finance 12, other 3. Only Dana can do: "client onboarding, chasing late payers, quality checks on every month-end." Nobody could run it for two weeks. Work waits for Dana on onboarding new clients and on review of month-end files. At capacity. Last week off without messages: 2022.
• Goals: 12 months: £500,000 revenue and Dana working 45 hours. Three years: a business that runs without Dana for a month, possibly sellable. Success for the coaching by end of the 6-month engagement: "a pricing structure I don't apologise for, and one senior person doing reviews." Not willing to: take on a loan or open a second office.
• Already tried: One business course in 2021, "useful on marketing, ignored the people side." Change that worked: moving to fixed monthly fees in 2020. Change that failed: hiring a junior who left after four months. Advisers: an external accountant at year-end only.
• Constraints: No partners or investors. Office lease renews in March. No legal or tax issues. Caring for a parent two evenings a week.
• Working together: In-app messages, weekday mornings. Nobody else joins. Will share profit and loss, client list with fees, org chart. Prefers direct feedback.
• First session: 1) Get out of reviewing every month-end. 2) Stop losing money on catch-up projects. 3) Raise prices without losing the good clients. One thing in 90 days: "someone else doing reviews."

What a coach would take from this example. The owner's top priority (delegating reviews) and the numbers point the same way, which is a good sign. The gaps are the gross margin, which needs a proper figure before any pricing conversation; cash cover of just over a month, alongside overdue invoices, which makes a collections process an early win; and discounts handed out on request. Revenue growth to £500,000 looks unrealistic at 45 hours a week unless reviews move to a senior hire and prices go up, so session one would probably start with role design and pricing rather than marketing. The coach would also note the lease renewal in March as a deadline and suggest Dana review the lease terms with a solicitor.

For more question ideas you can mix into your own version, our coaching questions tool groups prompts by topic, and the intake form generator turns your chosen sections into a form you can copy.

What are the most common mistakes with business coaching questionnaires?

The common mistakes are about timing, length and what happens to the answers afterwards, rather than the questions themselves.

1. Sending the full form to prospects. A 55-question form before a discovery call cuts bookings. Keep the booking page to three or four questions and send the full version after the owner signs.
2. Asking for figures without saying where to find them. "What is your gross margin?" gets blanks. "From your last profit and loss report, or write don't know" gets answers, and "don't know" is a finding in itself.
3. Asking for exact numbers when ranges will do. Revenue bands get the form finished; you can refine figures in session one.
4. Generic life-coaching questions. "What does success mean to you?" is fine, but on its own it gives you nothing about offers, margin or capacity. Business owners respect questions that show you understand a business.
5. Collecting sensitive data you do not need. Bank details, tax IDs, staff salaries by name and logins do not belong on an intake form.
6. No scope or referral line. Without one, owners will ask you tax and legal questions, and you will be tempted to answer.
7. Reading it once and filing it. The questionnaire is your baseline. If its numbers do not reappear in weekly check-ins and at the 90-day review, you lose the clearest evidence of what the coaching achieved, which you need for renewals and testimonials.
8. Answers scattered across tools. A PDF in email, notes in a doc and invoices elsewhere means you prepare for every session by searching. Keep it on one client record.

If you are still shaping the practice around the questionnaire, our guides on starting a business coaching business and getting clients as a business coach cover the steps before and after this one.

Is this questionnaire legal, financial or tax advice?

No. This template and the example are general information for business coaches, not legal, financial, tax or medical advice. Laws on data protection, confidentiality and financial advice vary by country and state, so have a local lawyer review your questionnaire and agreement before you use them, especially if you coach regulated businesses or store client data across borders. When an owner's answers show tax problems, legal disputes, solvency concerns or decisions about loans, leases or a sale, point them to an accountant, lawyer or financial adviser. If an answer suggests serious distress or a health crisis, encourage them to speak to a doctor or a licensed mental health professional, and keep your coaching within its scope.

Frequently asked questions

How long should a business coach questionnaire be?

For the full intake after an owner signs, 40 to 60 questions taking 35 to 50 minutes is reasonable, because owners expect to share numbers. Before a discovery call, keep it to three or four questions. If your clients are very early-stage, cut section 2 down to revenue range, owner pay and cash.

When should I send the questionnaire?

Send it the same day the coaching agreement is signed, with a deadline two to three working days before session one. That gives you time to read it properly. If it is not back 48 hours before the session, move the session rather than running it blind.

Should I ask for exact revenue figures?

Offer ranges and invite exact figures. Ranges get the form finished; exact numbers can come from the profit and loss report the owner shares in section 9. Asking them to mark estimates with "est." tells you which figures to check.

Can I use the same questionnaire for startups and established businesses?

Yes, with edits. For pre-revenue founders, replace section 2 with runway, savings and target first-year revenue, and replace section 4 with how they plan to find the first ten customers. For established firms with managers, add questions about leadership team roles and reporting.

Is it safe to collect financial information on an intake form?

Collect summary figures and reports, never bank account numbers, card details, tax IDs or logins. Say in your agreement how you store the data, who can see it and how long you keep it. If you or your clients are in the EU or UK, GDPR applies; check with a lawyer if you are unsure.

What is the free white-glove build service?

It is a free service on every Coachful plan: you describe what you want built, such as this questionnaire as a form, an onboarding journey or a discovery call funnel, and attach up to 8 links and 10 files. The Coachful team builds it inside your own account, usually within about 24 hours, without inventing credentials, testimonials or prices. It does not include videos, logo design, ads or ongoing marketing.

Where are intake answers stored in Coachful?

On the client record, next to goals, check-ins, habits, notes, tags, payments, sessions and the signed agreement. You can export the full client data, including form responses, as a ZIP at any time.

Is Coachful suitable for storing health information from section 8?

Coachful is GDPR-ready but not HIPAA-certified and is not for clinical records. For a business coach, section 8 should only ask for what affects capacity, in the owner's own words. If you need clinical detail, that belongs with a clinician, not in your coaching file.

How often should I repeat the questionnaire?

Send a short version of sections 2, 4 and 5 at 90 days and at the end of the engagement. Comparing the answers with the baseline shows what changed, and it gives the owner concrete evidence for a renewal decision.

What should I ask on the discovery call booking page?

Ask for the type of business, a revenue range, the main problem in one sentence and when they want to start. That is enough to prepare for the call and to screen out poor fits. Our list of questions owners ask a business coach helps you prepare for the other side of that call.