Questions to Ask a New Client
Questions for a first call or kickoff with a new client, covering what prompted them to look now, who has to approve the work, budget and decision process, what went wrong with the last supplier, and what would count as done. Written for consultants, agencies and freelancers scoping a project.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What made you start looking for help now rather than six months ago?
Why ask it
The trigger event explains the urgency and often the real brief. A board deadline, a departure or a failed launch behind the request tells you what will actually be judged, which is rarely the same as the stated scope.
If this goes well, what changes for you personally?
Why ask it
Separates the organisation's goal from your contact's. Someone whose promotion or credibility rests on this will behave very differently from someone executing a mandate they did not choose, and you need to know which you have.
Who has to say yes before work can start, and who can stop it later?
Why ask it
These are often different people, and the second is the one who derails projects at week six. Ask for names and roles rather than a description of the process.
Who will be unhappy if this succeeds?
Why ask it
Almost every project takes budget, headcount or territory from someone. Asking directly gets you the internal resistance early, and a client who says nobody either has not looked or is managing you.
What have you already tried, and what happened?
Why ask it
Prevents you proposing something that failed here last year for reasons that still apply. Listen for whether the failure is attributed to the approach or to a person, because that shapes how your work will be received.
Have you worked with someone external on this before? How did it end?
Why ask it
The way a previous supplier relationship ended predicts a great deal about how yours will run. A client who blames everything on the last agency without naming their own part is describing a pattern you are about to join.
What is the budget range, and where is it coming from?
Why ask it
The source matters as much as the amount: an approved line item behaves differently from money that still needs a business case. Asking about the source gets a more honest answer than asking only for a number.
What is the deadline, and what is driving it?
Why ask it
Dates tied to a launch, a regulatory filing or a board meeting are immovable; dates that came from a plan can flex. Knowing which one you have determines whether the scope or the schedule gives when something slips.
How will you know this worked? What are you going to look at?
Why ask it
Push for the actual measure and where it is reported. A client who cannot name one will judge the work on impression, which means the project ends whenever their attention moves.
What does done look like, concretely?
Why ask it
Ask them to describe the final artefact: the document, the working system, the trained team. This is the single best defence against scope creep, and disagreements here surface within minutes when you ask plainly.
What will you need from me, and what will you be doing yourselves?
Why ask it
Most projects fail on the client's side of the line rather than the supplier's. Naming their tasks in the first conversation makes it far easier to raise later when their part is late.
Who on your side will I be working with day to day, and how much of their time do I have?
Why ask it
A named contact with two hours a week and no authority is the commonest hidden risk in a project. Ask what else that person is responsible for during the same period.
How do decisions normally get made here: one person, or a group?
Why ask it
Committee decisions take three times as long and produce compromised work, and you need to price and schedule accordingly. Ask how the last comparable decision was made rather than how they are supposed to be made.
What would make you want to end this early?
Why ask it
An uncomfortable question that pays for itself. Answers tend to be specific and actionable: missed check-ins, surprises in invoices, being handed junior staff, and they tell you exactly where to be careful.
How do you prefer to be kept up to date, and how often?
Why ask it
Ask specifically about the channel as well as the frequency, since a client who lives in email will not read updates in a shared tool. Also agree who else gets copied, which is where politics usually shows up.
What does your approval process look like, and how long does it usually take?
Why ask it
Review time is the part of a schedule most often underestimated, and legal or brand sign-off can add weeks. Ask for the real duration of the last one rather than the official target.
If we hit a problem halfway through, how would you want me to raise it?
Why ask it
Some clients want a call the same day; others want it framed with options at the next meeting. Establishing this while things are calm makes the difficult conversation survivable.
What is out of scope for you? Anything I should not touch?
Why ask it
Surfaces political no-go areas, a system nobody is allowed to change, a team not to interview, that would otherwise cost you a month. Clients rarely mention these unless asked directly.
What happens after this project ends?
Why ask it
Tells you whether you are building something that needs to be maintained by people who do not yet exist. It also distinguishes a one-off from the start of a longer relationship, which changes how you scope this piece.
What have I not asked that I should have?
Why ask it
Closing with an open door regularly produces the most important detail of the call, usually a constraint the client assumed you knew. It also signals that you would rather find problems now than discover them later.
Scoping a first client conversation
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Running the call
Spend the first call listening, not pitching
Clients decide on whether you understood the problem, not on your credentials. Save the description of your approach for a second conversation where you can tie it to something they said.
Ask about the trigger before the requirements
The written brief is a summary of a decision already made. Understanding what prompted it usually reveals a different, more useful problem underneath, and clients rarely object to being asked.
Get the money conversation done early
Asking about budget range and its source in the first call is normal and saves both sides weeks. Framing it as which scale of solution makes sense makes it easier for a client who is reluctant to name a figure.
Write the scope back to them in their words
Send a short summary using their phrasing for the goal, the deadline and what done means. Corrections you get on that note are the cheapest ones you will ever receive.
What to listen out for
Signals worth slowing down for
- Everything wrong is attributed to the previous supplier, with no account of their own role.
- The person you are speaking to cannot name who approves the budget.
- The deadline has no reason behind it, or the reason changes when you ask twice.
- Success is described only in adjectives, with no measure and no artefact.
- You are asked to start before terms are agreed, because the timeline is tight.
- Nobody on their side has time allocated to the project.
Signals that the work is likely to go well
- They can describe what happens to the output after you leave.
- They name the internal resistance without being pushed.
- They have a specific number they are trying to move.
- They ask you what you will need from them.
Common mistakes
Answering the brief as written
Clients write briefs describing the solution they have already imagined. Delivering exactly that, when the underlying problem was different, is the most common way competent work still disappoints.
Avoiding the awkward questions to keep the mood good
Budget, approvals and what would make them fire you all feel risky to raise in a first call. Every one of them is cheaper to ask now than to discover in month two.
Leaving the client's obligations vague
Data access, interviews, reviews and sign-off all sit on their side. If those are not written down with owners and dates, delays caused by them will still be recorded as your delays.
Treating enthusiasm as commitment
A warm first call with someone who cannot authorise spend often goes nowhere. Ask who else needs to be in the next conversation and insist on it.