Check a client brief before you quote. What is there. What to ask.

Client brief intake check is a DFIRST skill that reads a client's email and attachments and shows what the brief covers, what is missing and what to ask. Firsty, the DFIRST agent, sorts the brief into goal, scope, deadline, budget and audience, quotes the client for each with the file it came from, and writes each gap as a question you can send.

Every field quotes the client and says where it came from
Nothing is added on the client's behalf
Conflicting dates or budgets are shown side by side

Works with

Examples. What you ask, what you get back.

KINETRA sent their autumn trail brief: an email and a 14-page deck. What's missing before we quote?

Four of the five fields were filled with KINETRA's own words and page numbers. The budget was nowhere, so it became the first question, written ready to paste into a reply.

DocumentBrief intake: KINETRA autumn trail

Goal

“Make our new trail shoe the one first-time trail runners in Spain ask for.”
kinetra-autumn-brief.pdf, p. 3

Scope

“Social, paid video and two race-day stands.”
Email from Pablo, 2 Sep

Deadline

“Live by 1 October for Madrid trail week.”
kinetra-autumn-brief.pdf, p. 11

Audience

“Road runners trying trail for the first time.”
kinetra-autumn-brief.pdf, p. 5

Missing Budget

Not in the email or anywhere in the deck.

Questions for KINETRA

Ask What budget should we plan to, and does it include production?
Ask Which two races are the stands for, and are the dates fixed?

Suggested next

Product launch plan, once you approve.

kinetra-autumn-brief.pdfEmail from Pablo

SOL CLUB sent three PDFs and a spreadsheet for summer. Check it before we send a quote.

The brief and the spreadsheet gave two budgets, and Ines's email moved the start date. Both versions of each are shown with their files, and neither was picked for the client.

DocumentBrief intake: SOL CLUB summer

Goal

“Make SOL CLUB the sunscreen people carry, not just buy once.”
sol-club-summer-brief.pdf, p. 1

Conflict Budget

sol-club-summer-brief.pdf, p. 4: $80,000 in total
media-split.xlsx, Total row: $60,000 in total

Conflict Start date

sol-club-summer-brief.pdf, p. 2: Live on 15 May
Email from Ines, 3 Mar: First posts in the week of 1 June

Questions for SOL CLUB

Ask Which budget is current, $80,000 or $60,000?
Ask Should we plan for 15 May or the week of 1 June?
Ask Who signs off the final work on your side?

Suggested next

Creative direction for the summer banners, once the dates are settled.

sol-club-summer-brief.pdfaudience.pdfretail-plan.pdfmedia-split.xlsx

MAREA only sent a two-line email about an autumn film. What else do we need to ask them?

A two-line email filled two fields. The other three became questions, and last spring's MAREA campaign was linked as earlier work, so the team starts from what was made then.

DocumentBrief intake: MAREA autumn film

The five fields

Goal: Have Introduce the polarised range
Scope: Have One short film for social
Deadline: Missing
Budget: Missing
Audience: Missing

“We'd love a short film for the polarised range, something calm like last spring.”
Email from Sara, 12 Sep

Questions for MAREA

Ask When should the film be live?
Ask What budget is set aside, with or without media?
Ask Is the audience the same as in spring, or new?

Earlier work

MAREA spring campaign, Made for the light (April session)

Suggested next

Creative direction for a short film, once you approve.

Email from Sara

How it goes. The same steps every time.

Firsty follows the skill’s steps in order and stops where the choice is yours. Nothing paid starts without your yes.

1
Firsty reads the brief and every file, keeping the originals as is
2
Firsty fills goal, scope, deadline and budget in the client's words
3
Firsty turns every gap into a question ready to send to the client
4
Firsty links earlier work for this client and suggests a next step
You approve the next step before anything starts

Done when

Every field quotes the client and says where it came from
Nothing is added on the client's behalf
Conflicting dates or budgets are shown side by side
Your client's files stay untouched

At a glance.

What Client brief intake check needs from you and what it hands back.

You bring: The client's email or message and every file that came with it: decks, PDFs, spreadsheets.
Before it starts: No questions first. Whatever the brief leaves out becomes the list of gaps.
You get: One Document with the brief in five fields and their sources, the gaps as questions for the client, any conflicts, earlier work for this client and a suggested next skill.
The originals: Read and kept exactly as they arrived. Nothing in the client's files is changed.
Where it is saved: A Document card in your session, also kept as intake.md in a folder named after the client and the date.
Next step: Suggested only. Nothing starts until you approve it.

Part of this skill. Each task also has its own page.

When you ask for one of these on its own, Firsty runs it with this skill.

Campaign brief Give the whole team a clear starting point.

Questions people ask.

About Client brief intake check and how it fits the rest of DFIRST.

How do I check a client brief for missing information?

Drop the client's email and attachments into a session and ask what is missing. Firsty sorts the brief into goal, scope, deadline, budget and audience, quotes the client for each with the file and page, and turns every empty field into a question you can paste into your reply.

What should a client brief include before we quote?

At the least: what the work should achieve, what is in and out of scope, the deadline, the budget and who the work is for. If one of these is unclear, the quote is a guess. The intake check shows which of the five you have and which you still need to ask for.

Will it fill the gaps with its own guesses?

No. Nothing is written on the client's behalf. If the budget is not in the brief, the field stays empty and becomes a question. If two files disagree, both versions are shown side by side with their sources, and the choice is left to you and the client.

Does it send the questions to the client?

No. The questions are written ready to send, in plain words, but you send them from your own email. Firsty also suggests one next skill, such as a creative direction or a launch plan, and starts it only after you say yes.

Can it link the brief to past work for the same client?

Yes, when that work is in your workspace. Earlier sessions and files for the client are listed as related work, so the team sees what was made last time before quoting again. A client who is new to your Data Room simply has no related work yet.

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