As a consultant, getting to the nitty-gritty and asking the right questions at the start of your working relationship with a prospective client is vital. In order to develop a strategy for them as soon as possible, you’ll need a lot of information from them to help guide you towards a solution.
In addition, based on the types of questions you’re asking as well as the timing of said questions, a client will be able to get a good understanding of whether or not you’re the real deal pretty quickly. They’re looking for true experts that can mentor them and help them figure out exactly where the weaknesses lay and how to root them out.
Whilst you may already be confident in your skills as a consultant, the best way to showcase them to prospects is by sending them a consulting questionnaire with all the detailed, thorough questions they want to see.
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What questions should I include in a Consulting Questionnaire?
The phrase quality over quantity really comes into play when creating your consulting questionnaire. A short, simplistic set of questions is much more effective and much easier for your client.
We’ve come up with 23 vital questions for you to include within your very own questionnaire.
Basic Company Information
This section will allow you to gather information regarding your client’s company and information.
- Company Name
- Company Address
- Company Contact Number
- Company Email Address
- VAT/GST Number
- What type of entity does your business categorise itself as?
Primary Client Contact Information
This brief set of questions will give you the means to be able to contact the primary representative of the company.
- Please provide your full name.
- Please provide your primary contact phone number.
- Please provide your primary contact email address.
- Please provide your full address and postal/zip code.
Consulting Questionnaire
Now for the main event! This portion will allow you to gather details about the client’s circumstances and probe deep into the business’ core issues and priorities.
- From your point of view, why do you feel we're talking?
- How do you stand out from your competitors?
- What are your company's biggest priorities?
- How would you quantify success for your company?
- Do all members of the senior leadership team feel as if there's a problem that needs solving?
- From your point of view, where did the problem come from?
- What is the root cause?
- How are you currently dealing with the issue?
- How ready is your company for change?
- Please name some of the biggest barriers or challenges that are stopping your company from achieving success.
- What do you feel we can do to provide you with solutions?
- If you had control of the situation, what would you do?
Extras
As the title suggests, this final question will give the client the opportunity to ask any follow up questions or add any additional information.
- Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Why create a consulting questionnaire?
As well as saving time and making things easier for yourself and your new client there are many reasons why creating a questionnaire can be beneficial to your consulting business.
Demonstrating your professionalism to your client
For potential clients, receiving a well thought out, comprehensive questionnaire with sound consulting questions is a clear sign that they’ve chosen the right consultant. Your knowledge and expertise will shine through and show them that you’re capable of helping them achieve their goals in the new fiscal year.
Discovering valuable information about your client
Developing a foolproof strategy is evidently going to be more difficult if you don’t have a record of all of the details you need. Collecting those in a questionnaire as a part of your client discovery process and being able to use them for reference can be a great help towards constructing the ideal plan of action.
Developing a stronger relationship with your client
When it comes to dealing with new or prospective clients, going into the initial meeting blind is never a good idea. Getting to know them at least a little bit first through the questions you ask is a better idea and will ensure that the first conversation is comfortable for both parties and that you’re on the same page.
How can Content Snare help me with my consulting questionnaire?
Content Snare is a smart, auto-saving forms tool that was designed with both you and the client in mind. The ease of use and versatility of the platform come together to give you the best experience when creating your questionnaires and forms.
There are many ways in which Content Snare can make the whole process a lot easier and we’ve gathered a few of those below.
Built-in templates
Starting from scratch isn’t always necessary with an entire template gallery to choose from to help you boost your productivity and efficiency even further. You can edit templates as much as you like to suit your needs, add and remove questions and customise the wording and writing style to your taste.
Templates give you a great head start and take a lot of the pressure off of your shoulders, especially if the client questionnaire you’re looking to create is quite long.
Easy sending
Sending a questionnaire manually as an attachment in an email is often awkward and quite inconvenient.
With Content Snare, your questionnaire is sent directly to the client in the form of a link as soon as you’ve clicked publish. There’s nothing left for you to do! You can also increase the security of your client’s questionnaire and provided data by requiring an access pin code or for the client to create an account and log in.
Either way, your clients will always receive their questionnaires quickly, easily and securely.
No delays
Ever had your consulting sessions delayed because a client hasn’t returned the questionnaire? We know exactly what it feels like to have a project put on hold for this reason and, quite frankly, it sucks.
Content Snare automatically sends your clients polite email reminders throughout the process, ensuring clients don’t miss any imminent deadlines and everything runs smoothly. These email reminders are also customizable and allow you to provide a personal touch without having to do the dirty work yourself.
Simple UI
Content Snare’s UI is accessible across the board and can be understood by anyone and their dog.
For you, the intuitive builder allows you to choose from an array of field types, specify what you’re looking for from your client and even provide instructions for further clarity.
For your client, it’s easy to differentiate between the items they’ve filled out and what’s still left to provide. They are also shown just one question at a time, which keeps everything structured and makes it a lot less daunting, as clients are often put off by lengthy, complicated-looking questionnaires.
Single location storage
You’ll never lose track of another piece of information or questionnaire again as, with Content Snare, everything is kept in one place and you can find what you’re looking for within seconds.
You can export information to your heart’s content and, at the same time, preserve it on the platform in case you need it later.
We hope you enjoyed this post and that you’re able to draw some inspiration from it for your next consulting questionnaire.
Are there any additional pearls of wisdom we could add? Let us know in the comments below!
