Time to talk
All of this, of course, is a prelude to the interview itself. When meeting with a client, try starting with a series of questions some might consider being unnecessary such as, “How long have you lived here?” or, as a follow up, “Where did you come from?” to help the client feel relaxed, comfortable and ready to open up to you. There are often strong narratives at the heart of every great design. These stories support the concepts that make it onto the page and, eventually, into the project itself. Your goal should be to encourage your clients to share them with you.
Once everyone is at ease, get down to business by asking them what motivated them to seek you services—simply put, ‘Why are we here?’ At this stage, you can determine primary motivations and, in cases where the clients are a couple or a group of people, you can find out which individual is truly driving the process.
You might learn, for example, that a client’s doctor has recommended swimming as therapy for a bad back, or that the client has always dreamed of entertaining by a beautiful swimming pool because of childhood experiences or a recent vacation. This single line of inquiry provides absolutely critical information that shapes everything that follows.
At this point, you can change things up by asking how the client found you and your company. On one level, this should help you determine if your marketing efforts are effective. More importantly, however, it can reveal much about the clients themselves.
If, for example, they say they found you in the Yellow Pages even though you’ve never placed a listing there, you can uncover a client’s interesting relationship with the truth. If they reached you by referral, you can make an entirely different set of assumptions. After all, birds of a feather do tend to flock together. If they’ve seen your work, liked it and contacted you because of a positive recommendation from a friend or business associate, it can tell you a great deal about the scope of the project (and sometimes even the budget).
Finding out who referred the new client can also be useful, as it allows you to call up the past client to express your appreciation, which often leads to a discussion about the new client. Sometimes, past clients will even share what they know about the new clients’ characters, giving you an idea about who you’ll be dealing with (e.g. someone who’s extremely picky or, conversely, quite easygoing).
