Part 2:  The Client Discovery Process

In last week’s post, I talked about how important it is for you to accurately estimate the number of hours a project will take so that you can come up with an accurate quote. I also talked about some of the “client factors” that can lead to projects taking longer than you had anticipated. Those factors were:

• Connecting (meetings, phone calls, emails)
• Preparedness (Client not doing what they need to so that you can do your work)
• Knowledge (Clients are not experts in your field, so may have many questions)
• Revisions (Client wanting changes, changes, changes)
• Timelines (Client not respecting your time)

This week I’ll go into how you can prevent those “surprises” and thereby come up with an accurate picture of how much to charge.

The Client Discovery Process

We can address most, if not all, of the “client factors” by engaging in what I call a client discovery process. It is a process in which you discover everything you need to know about your client and their project so that you can come up with an accurate estimate.

That means you need to not only find out about the project itself, but about how the client will handle each of the factors listed above. If a client is going to take twice as much time in meetings as you would normally expect, knowing that will help you build extra meeting hours into your quote. Similarly, if a client is going to expect five rounds of revisions, you want to build that into your billable hours as well.

The key is to ask the right questions so you can address each of the factors. I ask those questions in the first meetings I have with clients. In addition to them asking about me and what I can do for them, I ask them a lot of questions. Of course, I want to know a bit about them or their company, and about the project they have in mind. But I also want to know a bit about how they think, work, and operate, so that I can determine how many meetings we might need or how often I might need to contact them.

I also want to find out how much they know about my area of expertise. If they know a lot, that will probably help speed things along. If they know little, I know that we will have to have more conversations about what I all need to do, why, how, etc. And all that will take extra time, time that I will build into my quote.

Now let’s go into how to run a discovery meeting.

Take the Lead

The biggest part of my discovery is in the first main meeting, and I make sure I take the lead. Some people think that the purpose of such a meeting is for the client to interview you so they can decide if they want to hire you. This is backwards. It is YOU who should be doing the interviewing. You are the one who knows your field, knows what needs to get done, knows what the possible problems might be. The client is looking for a guide, and you have to play that role. You need to ask the right questions to get the information you need. Your client doesn’t know what these questions should be. You can’t offer your best service if you don’t have all the information you need about the project.

But you also want to make sure you find out enough about the client to determine if you want to take them on and, if so, how easy or difficult they may be to work with. That will have an impact on how long your project will take, so you need to keep that in mind when you come up with pricing.

I try to find out how many of my client’s people will be on the project (I find the higher the number of people, the higher the number of meeting hours the project will have). I also try to find out who makes the decisions, and how long it will take for them to get back to me if I have a question. I try to get a sense of potential pitfalls. Then I factor all of that all into my time estimate.

I go into a first meeting with a 6-page list of questions. Anything from “What is your goal?” to “Who exactly will I be working with in your company?”. And from “What is their job/role on the project?” to “How many hours per week are you able to work with me?” and “How long would it typically take for you to get back to me on an issue?”.

Educate your client

This is something I do in the first meeting. I want the potential client to understand all of the things I need to take care of in order to complete the project. I also want them to know what I need from them. This helps them see how much work is involved, the types of problems that may occur, or why something might take as long as it does. It also helps them see why I charge what I do.

Educating them at the beginning also helps smooth the project along. It helps them give you all the information you really need up front, instead of coming up with it later when it’s too late.

I find that the more the client understands about what I do, how I do it, the various steps involved, and the things I all take care of, the more they trust me and the easier it is to get what I need from them, when I need it.  

Set Expectations

I start setting expectations at the first meeting. I’m kind, and friendly, but I do make it clear that I expect them to take timelines and deadlines as seriously as I do. I do this partly by educating the client on things such as the processes the project will go through, my limitations, or possible problems. But I also educate them on their responsibilities (such as making it to meetings prepared). I do it in a nice way. I might say something like, “I will make up a plan for the timeline of the project, including when sub-steps will be completed. In order to make sure that plan is accurate and doable, I just want to go over the deadlines again, to make sure we are all in agreement and that we can keep the project on track”. I explain that the more we get accurately resolved at the beginning of the process, the smoother the whole project will go. I make it clear that the timeline and quote I give them will be made based on the information they give me.

Another way I set expectations is to not move meeting times. I have learned the hard way that if you move a meeting once, that client is likely to keep moving it (and other meetings), which will totally throw the project off track. So if a client says they have to move a meeting, say to the next day, I will often counter with something such as, “I can’t do tomorrow, the first opening I have is next week, on Thursday. But if we put it off until then, that will put the project 2 weeks behind schedule.”

I do this for two reasons. First, I want to set expectations that meetings (and my time) are important and that the client does have some responsibility to hold up their end of the bargain. Secondly, I want to be very transparent and up front that by delaying our meeting the timeline for finishing the project will be delayed. If the client still wants to delay the meeting, they are also clear about the ramifications of doing that. This isn’t an all-or-nothing rule, I will sometimes move meetings. But I especially won’t if I feel the client is just not taking our meeting commitment seriously.

*     *     *

Net week I’ll talk more in detail about what goes into a discovery process, and how you can use it to come up with accurate quotes.