15 Questions To Ask Clients Before Signing a Contract

15 Questions To Ask Clients Before Signing a Contract

Marlon Misra Feb 15, 2023

You’ve heard that “nothing is real until the contract is signed.” You might be eager to put pen to paper with your new client and kick off your new project fast.

But you might be making the wrong move.

No matter how enticing it looks, client relationships can quickly go south if you set things off without fully understanding your client's needs. Asking the right questions before signing a contract will help you better understand your client’s business priorities, experiences, and project expectations, which are crucial factors for deciding whether a client fits you. This article discusses some of the best questions you should ask prospective clients and decision-makers.

Ask key questions to strengthen your business relationships

There are a few different categories of questions you should ask a potential client before you sign a contract with them.

Things like better understanding your prospective client’s business model, current challenges, pain points, past agency experience, how your services will benefit them, and project scope are crucial — especially the last one.

15 Questions You Should Ask Every Client

Here is a list of questions to ask clients before signing a contract:

  1. Do you have DEI and value statements?
  2. What are your top pain points?
  3. What problems does your product solve?
  4. Who are your top 3 competitors?
  5. Who is your target audience?
  6. What is your 5-year plan?
  7. Have you worked with an agency or freelancer in the past?
  8. Why do you want to work for us?
  9. How do you work with third parties?
  10. What is your budget for this project?
  11. What is your big-picture end goal for this project?
  12. What would a roaring success for this project look like?
  13. How will you measure the success of this project?
  14. What internal resources do you have that overlap with our services?
  15. Who is going to be the primary contact and approver on this contract?

1. Do you have a DEI and values statement/pledge?

This is an opportunity to learn if your values align with the client’s values. Misaligned values can lead to a string of ethical and PR issues for you and the client — like guilt by trade association.

2. What are your top pain points and biggest challenges?

This question is critical so you can ensure the client’s goals are realistically attainable and make sure that you have the expertise to help them.

3. What problem does your product solve for customers?

Client messaging can often get bogged down in the specific feature set of a product. If they have not gone through an in-depth messaging exercise, you may need to guide them toward the “Why,” not just the “What.”

4. Who are your top 3 competitors?

It’s always good to research similar or competitive companies upfront to gain a broader perspective of the client’s industry.

5. Who is your target audience?

Understanding your client’s target customer is the first step in executing a project that impacts them positively.

6. What is your 5-year plan?

Before committing to a new client, it is essential to understand where the client’s business is and where they want to be.

7. Have you worked with an agency/freelancer in the past?

If they’ve worked with an agency or freelancer previously, ask them how those relationships turned out.

8. Why do you want to work with us?

The answer to this question always indicates what your potential client might value, what their personality might be like, and how you could deliver a positive client experience.

9. How do you work with third parties?

You need to know how the prospective client collaborates with external service providers and if their workflow fits into your existing work structure.

10. What is your budget for this project?

The exact framing of this question will vary depending on the prospect, but the goal is to confirm that the client has the resources to engage with your services properly.

11. What’s your big-picture end goal for this project?

This question gets to the heart of clients’ goals, shows whether they have realistic expectations, and reveals how diligent they are about progress-tracking.

12. What would a roaring success for this project look like to you?

You can spot red flags like if the client has unreasonable expectations — e.g., ‘We want a million new leads by next week!’

13. How will you measure the project’s success?

You need to know what metrics the client will measure the project’s success with.

14. What internal resources do you have that overlap with our services?

Some clients already have internal team members handling some aspects of your services.

15. Who is going to be the primary contact/approver on this contract?

This is important to know, so you can be sure there is one single person who you can count on to help you make sure work is delivered to the right people.

How to send questions to prospective clients

Once your questions are set, the next step is collecting responses from clients. Ideally, you’d want a method that allows you to gather responses fast to make a business decision on time. In that case, you should use Assembly — an all-in-one software for client collaboration.

Conclusion

Learn more about how Assembly works for questionnaires.