New client intake

Let’s find out what you actually need

This is longer than a contact form on purpose. The answers here are what let us show up to the first conversation with a real proposal instead of a discovery call.

Two things before you start

There are no wrong answers, and no stupid questions. Several questions below use words you may never have said out loud. Every one of them has a “what does this mean?” you can open, and “I don’t know” is always a real choice that costs you nothing.
Section 2 has the whole list. Rather than asking you to describe a system you have never seen, we show you the 126 things we already run and let you point at the parts you want.

Roughly 12–15 minutes, and your answers save as you go, so you can close this and come back. Submissions go to Scott and nobody else — they are not shared with Utopia staff, not used anywhere in Utopia’s staging business, and never sold or passed on. If you would rather have a confidentiality agreement in place first, say so in the last box and skip anything you are not comfortable putting in writing yet.

Confirm your website

1. You and the business

Your name*

Business name*

Email*

Phone

City and state

Website

Your role

Owner — I still do the work myselfOwner — I run a teamPartner or co-ownerOperations or office managerSomething else

How many people, including you?

Just me2–45–1011 or more

What do you offer?Check everything that applies.

Vacant stagingOccupied stagingPaid consultationsRedesign / decoratingPhotographyFurniture to the tradeOther

Roughly how many jobs a year?

Under 2525–7576–200200+Rather not say

2. What you want to be different

This is the most important section. Everything else is logistics — this is what we would actually be building toward.

Which of these is closer to what you want?*

Automate work that already happensThe steps exist and they work — I just want to stop doing them by handBuild something that doesn't exist yetI need a tool, a system or a way of seeing the business that I don't haveHonestly, bothI don't know yet — that's part of why I'm here

Which of these would you want first?This is the real list of what we run at Utopia — every item is something that actually works today. Pick anything that makes you think “yes, that.” Up to ten.

0 of 10 selected

Sort the overnight inboxEvery morning, the inbox is sorted into what needs you today, what can wait, and what is already handled.
Draft replies in your voiceReplies come back written the way you write, not the way a robot writes, because it has read years of your sent mail.
Answer a renewal-date questionAn agent asks when their next renewal is and the answer comes from the contract record, not from memory.
Attach the right thingThe draft already has the proposal, the report or the brochure attached, matched to what was asked.
Spot a termination noticeAn email that is really a notice to pull the staging is recognized as one, and the removal process starts.
Send the follow-up you forgotThe follow-up nobody remembered to send gets drafted on the day it should go.
Pull the client history firstBefore it writes anything, it reads the whole history with that client so the reply is not the third time you asked the same question.
Write the completion noteThe completion email goes out with the right links and the right details filled in.
Flag a reply off-contractIf a reply would promise something the contract does not cover, it says so before you send.
Summarize a long threadA forty-message thread comes back as three lines and a recommended next step.
Match the tone to the readerA first-time homeowner and a twenty-year agent get different letters about the same thing.
Write the awkward emailLate payment, scope change, bad news — drafted carefully so you only have to decide, not compose.
Have drafts waiting at 6 AMWork that arrives at 9 PM is answered as a draft by the time you open your laptop.
Log every email to the recordWhatever goes out is filed against the client and the project automatically.

Wanted something that isn’t on that list?The list is what we have already built, not the limit of what is possible. Describe it here and it counts the same.

Walk us through that one job, start to finish.*Pick the single thing you would fix first and describe the last time you actually did it. This is the question that turns a wish into a plan we can put a price on.

＋ What to cover

What kicked it off — a call, an email, a date on the calendar, someone asking you a question.

What information you needed, and where you had to go to get it.

Who did each part, and roughly how long it took.

What came out at the end — a document, an email, a calendar entry, an invoice.

And the important one: what makes it complicated when it goes wrong. The exceptions are usually where the real work turns out to be.

What eats the most of your week right now?*

If this works, what's different in 90 days?

Have you tried to fix this before?Software you bought and abandoned, a VA that didn't stick, an automation that broke. Knowing what failed saves us both time.

3. How you use AI today

Where are you today?*

Not yetCurious, haven't startedYes — in a chat windowI ask it things and copy the answer outYes — it works on my actual filesIt opens documents, spreadsheets or folders for meYes — some of it runs without meScheduled or triggered work that happens on its own

Which AI do you use, or prefer?*

ClaudeAnthropicChatGPTOpenAIGeminiGoogleCopilotMicrosoftPerplexityGrokxAIMeta AISomething elseNone yet

Is there an AI tool you must use, or one you can’t use?A brokerage that pays for one, a policy that bans another, a bad experience you don’t want repeated. A requirement changes the plan; a preference usually doesn’t.

Are you on a paid plan?*

No — free tier onlyYes — the standard paid planChatGPT Plus, Claude Pro, around $20/moYes — a higher tierMax, Pro, or similarA team or business planNot sure which one I'm on

＋ Where do I find my plan level?

In ChatGPT or Claude, click your name or initials in the bottom-left corner — your plan is listed there.

The free tiers are real and useful for chatting, but they will not run the kind of work on the list. The paid tiers (roughly twenty dollars a month) are the normal starting point, and the higher tiers exist for people running a lot of automated work.

If you're not sure, pick “Not sure” — it's a two-minute thing to check together.

Who else on your team uses it?

Nobody but meOne or two people, informallyMost of the teamThere is no team

4. What you run today

We connect to what you have rather than replacing it, so this section decides most of what is actually possible. Answer per job — a spreadsheet is a real answer, and so is “nothing, it lives in my head.” Check everything that applies; plenty of people run two things for the same job, and that overlap is usually where the easiest wins are.

Client management — leads, contacts, job history*

HoneyBookDubsado17hatsStageforceHutchHouzz ProGoHighLevelKeap / InfusionsoftPipedrive, Salesforce or similarAirtableNotionA spreadsheetMy email inbox, basicallyPaper or my headSomething else

Contracts and signatures*Where an agreement gets created, sent and signed.

DocuSignDropbox Signformerly HelloSignAdobe Acrobat SignPandaDocBuilt into HoneyBookBuilt into DubsadoBuilt into 17hatsBuilt into StageforceJotform Sign or similarA PDF I email back and forthPrinted and signed in personNo written contractSomething else

Estimates, proposals and where you track them*Two answers are normal here — one tool builds the proposal, a spreadsheet tracks whether it was won.

HoneyBookDubsado17hatsStageforceHutchQuickBooksGoogle SheetsExcelAirtableA Word or PDF templateSomething built for usNothing formal — I quote from experienceSomething else

Inventory — what you own and where it is*

StageforceHutchStageCoreStaging AssistantSortlyBooqable or another rental systemAirtableGoogle SheetsExcelSomething built for usPhotos on my phoneI know what I ownWe don’t carry inventoryconsultation or redesign onlySomething else

Bookkeeping and invoicing

QuickBooks OnlineQuickBooks DesktopXeroWaveFreshBooksWhatever my CRM doesA spreadsheetMy bookkeeper handles itSomething else

Email — what does your business mail run on?*If you use more than one, pick the one clients and agents write to.

Microsoft 365 / OutlookBusiness email through MicrosoftGoogle WorkspaceGmail at your own domain — formerly G SuiteA free Gmail addressyourname@gmail.comEmail through my website hostcPanel, GoDaddy, Bluehost, Wix, SquarespaceWe host our own mail serverYahoo, AOL, or my internet provideriCloud MailSomething elseI honestly don't know

＋ Why does this matter so much?

Almost everything worth automating touches email, and the main setups connect in different ways. Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace both have proper, safe connections an assistant can use — it can read, sort and draft without anyone handing over a password. Mail that runs through a website host usually connects a rougher way, which works but is more limited.

A free address can often still be connected, so this is not a yes-or-no thing — what changes is how much is possible and how much setup it takes. We check your specific account before recommending anything.

If you're not sure, look at what comes after the @ in your own address, and pick “I don't know” if that doesn't settle it. It is a two-minute thing to work out together and it changes nothing about whether we can help.

Is your business email at your own domain?you@yourcompany.com rather than yourcompany@gmail.com.

Yes — at our own domainNo — a free addressBoth, depending on who's writingNot sure

How is the mail organized?This decides where a draft should appear and whose name is on it — the most common way an email assistant goes wrong is putting the right draft in the wrong mailbox.

One inbox — mineA shared inboxinfo@, hello@, staging@Each person has their ownEverything forwards to one placeBusiness mail lands in my personal inbox

Does anyone else read or answer that mail today?It matters whether we would be helping a person or standing in for one.

No — just meAn assistant or office managerA virtual assistantMy business partnerSeveral people

Roughly how much business email lands in a day?

Under 1010–3030–75More than 75No idea, but it's too many

Who can add a user or recover access to your accounts?*Please don’t put passwords in this form — we only need to know who holds the keys.

Me — I control everythingMe and someone on my teamOur IT person or agencyA partner or family memberSome of it is with someone I’ve lost touch withI genuinely don’t know

＋ Why this gets asked before anything technical

Connecting an assistant to your email, your website or your software means somebody has to approve that connection. If nobody can, the project stops before it starts.

The common version: the domain or the website was set up years ago by a nephew, an ex-employee or an agency, and nobody has spoken to them since. It is extremely normal and entirely fixable — but it takes time, so it is much better found in week one than in week three.

Where do your files and photos actually live?*

DropboxGoogle DriveOneDrive or SharePointiCloud DriveBoxA server or NAS in the officeExternal hard drivesOn one computer, and that's itMostly on my phoneInside whatever app made themattachments in the CRM, Airtable, NotionSomething more technicalSupabase, AWS S3, Backblaze, Cloudflare R2Something else

＋ Why this decides more than it looks like it does

An assistant can only work on files it can reach. If your photos and documents are in a cloud folder, it can sort them, rename them, pull the right one into an email and file the finished job without anyone carrying a drive around.

If they live on one computer, everything has to happen on that computer while it is awake — which rules out most of the overnight work, and means a dead laptop is a dead business.

There is no judgment in either answer. Plenty of profitable staging companies run on an external drive and a folder called FINAL FINAL v3. It just changes the order we do things in, and moving you off it is often the cheapest win available.

Can your team get to those files without asking you?A shared folder and a folder on your laptop look the same to you and completely different to anything we would build.

Yes — everything is in shared foldersSome of itNo — it all goes through meThere is no team

How do photos and notes get captured on site?*What the person standing in the house actually uses. Worth answering even if photography is not something you sell — before-and-afters, condition records and inventory shots all start here.

CompanyCamSiteCam, RelayCam or similarThe Stageforce appThe Hutch appMatterportCubiCasa or another floor-plan scannerThe camera roll on my phoneA shared photo albumPhone auto-uploads to Dropbox or DriveThe crew texts them to meA real camera, offloaded laterPaper notes and a clipboardWe don’t really capture anything on siteSomething else

Roughly how many photos come off a typical job?Rough is fine. It tells us whether this is a filing problem or a storage-bill problem.

Under 2525–100100–300Hundreds, every timeWe don't really photograph jobs

Calendar, scheduling and everything else

Outlook calendarGoogle CalendarA paper calendar or whiteboardAn online booking pageCalendly, Acuity, a built-in oneProject managementAsana, Monday, Trello, ClickUpA business texting toolCanva or another design toolA social media scheduler

Anything you checked as “something else” — what is it?

Do you type the same thing into more than one system?One of the most useful questions here. Anywhere you enter the same address, price or client twice is somewhere worth looking first — whether it is cheap to fix depends on whether the two systems can talk.

No — I only use one systemNo — it flows between them automaticallyA bit — one or two placesConstantlyNever thought about it

Where does that happen?

If a job’s date or price is different in two places, which one do you trust?

One system everyone uses — that one winsThe spreadsheetIt depends which detail it isWe have to ask someoneWhatever I remember agreeing

5. Market data

Several of the most impressive things on the list — neighborhood reports, spotting listings that need staging, real days on market — run on listing data. Whether you can get at that data changes what we can build for you, so it gets its own section.

Where do you get listing and market information today?*

The MLS — my own loginThe MLS — someone else's loginAn IDX feed on my websiteThe agent sends me what I needCounty records or the assessorZillow, Redfin or realtor.comA paid data servicePropStream, BatchData, Remine…I don't use market dataSomething else

Do you have your own MLS access?*

Yes — I hold a license and I'm on the MLSYes — through a sponsoring brokerageSomeone on my staff has accessNo, but an agent partner pulls things for meNo access at allNot sure what we have

＋ Why does this keep coming up?

The MLS is the only place the full, accurate listing record lives — what a home listed for, how many times it came off and went back on, what it actually sold for, and who the agent was. The public portals show you a cleaned-up slice of it.

In most markets you can get access three ways: hold a real estate license yourself and join the local board; be sponsored by a brokerage that lets you onto their account; or have an agent partner pull what you need. The first two usually cost a few hundred dollars a year in board and MLS dues.

You do not need it for most of the list. You do need it for neighborhood market reports, finding listings that failed and relisted, and real days-on-market — which are the things agents find hardest to ignore.

If you don't have it — could you get it?Not a commitment. It tells us whether to design around having the data or around not having it.

Not applicable — I already have accessI know a broker or agent who would sponsor meI'd consider getting licensed myselfSomeone on my team could get itUnlikely — build around not having itI'd need to look into it

Has your data provider approved using that information in an automated tool?Access and permission are different things. Most MLS agreements have rules about automated collection, and separate rules about reports you hand to a client.

Yes — we have checkedNo — there are restrictionsWe have not checkedNot applicable — we don’t use MLS data

Anything about your market data worth knowing?

6. Your setup

Plain questions with plain explanations. “I don't know” is a real answer to every one of these and changes nothing about what we can do.

Mac or Windows?*

MacWindowsBoth — we run a mixNot sure

Could something run overnight for you?*

Yes — I have a computer that stays onI'd buy a small machine for thisI'd rather rent one in the cloudNothing to plug in, monthly feeNot interested in either right nowI don't understand this question yet

＋ Why would I need a computer that's always on?

A chat window only works while you're typing in it. An assistant that sorts your inbox before you wake up has to be running while you sleep — which means something, somewhere, has to stay switched on.

That can be three things: a computer you already own that you stop shutting down; a small dedicated machine that sits in your office and does nothing else (a one-time purchase, usually a few hundred to about fifteen hundred dollars); or a rented computer in a data center that you never physically touch (typically twenty to eighty dollars a month).

There is no wrong answer here, and you do not have to decide now. It only matters for the overnight work — everything else runs on the laptop you already have.

How do you feel about a command line?

Never opened oneI've seen it and I'd rather notWilling to learn if it's worth itTotally fine with it

＋ What's a terminal?

It's the plain text window where you type commands instead of clicking buttons — black background, blinking cursor, looks like a hacker movie.

You do not need to learn it. Plenty of this works without ever opening one. But the most capable tools live there, and knowing whether that's a hard no for you changes what we build.

“Never opened one” is a completely normal answer and costs you nothing.

Do you have anyone technical you can call?

NoA family member or friendAn IT contractorSomeone on staff

7. Your rules

The fastest way to lose trust in an assistant is for it to do something you never wanted done. Tell us where the line is before we build anything.

Would any of this touch information that needs careful handling?*Tell us the kinds of information, never the information itself. This decides what can be connected and what has to stay walled off.

Homeowner names, addresses, contact detailsGate codes, lockboxes, alarm codesEmployee records or payBank or financial recordsPricing we don’t want visiblePersonal messages mixed in with business onesWhich homes are standing empty right nowNone of this applies

What must never happen without you personally approving it?*

Sending an email to a client or agentTexting anyoneSpending moneyQuoting a priceSigning or sending an agreementPosting publiclyDeleting anythingPutting something on the calendar

Any brokerage, franchise or association rules we need to respect?

Does anyone else have to sign off on this?

8. Working together

How do you want this to go?

Build it for meI want to use it, not maintain itBuild it with meI want to understand how it worksTeach me to build itI want to be able to do this myselfLet's talk it through

When do you want to start?

Now — this is urgentWithin a monthThis quarterJust exploring

Who chooses, signs and approves payment?

Me, on my ownMe, with a partner or spouseSomeone else decidesA partnership or a board

What have you set aside for this?An honest range saves us both a wasted call. “No idea” is fine.

No idea yetUnder $2,000$2,000–$7,500$7,500–$20,000$20,000+

And what could you spend each month to keep it running?Separate from the build. Software, usage and support carry an ongoing cost, and a plan you can afford to buy but not to run is no use to either of us.

Nothing ongoing — it has to run on what I already pay forUp to $100$100–$300$300–$750More than $750I need to see the costs before I can answer

Once it is running, who looks after it?

You — on an ongoing support arrangementMe or my team, once you have shown us howOur IT personHaven’t thought about it — advise me

If it stopped working on a Friday evening, how long could you manage?There is no wrong answer — it sets how much is worth spending on making it resilient.

Days — we would just do it by handUntil the next business dayA few hours at mostIt would be a real problem straight away

Anything else we should know before we make recommendations?This is the box people skip and then wish they hadn't. Write as much as you like — the more we understand about how your business actually runs, the better the recommendation, and there is no prize for being brief here.

＋ Not sure what would be useful? Here are the things that usually are.

What makes your business different from the staging company down the road — your niche, your price point, the kind of client you want more of.

Something that went wrong recently that a better system would have caught.

The part of the job you love and never want automated. That matters as much as the part you hate.

Anything seasonal or lumpy about your year, and what happens when you go on vacation.

A person, habit or rule in the business that any new system has to work around.

Where you want the business to be in two years — bigger, simpler, sellable, or exactly this size but less exhausting.

Anything you have already decided you do NOT want, so we don't waste your time proposing it.