Example Diagnostic Questions

All diagnostics should be different and should reflect prior conversations. These questions assume a pretty cold start. They are all things that should certainly be known by the time we exit a diagnostic.

Brand

  • Who is your customer?
  • What is the problem that you solve for them?
  • How do they feel before your work? How do they feel after?
  • What do people think of when they think of your company? What are you known for? What do you want to be known for?
  • How do your people describe the company? (It can be helpful to actually just walk around the office and talk to random people for a few minutes at a time to ascertain this yourself)

Product

  • How does your offering compare to the standard offering in your market? Is that likely to change any time soon?
  • How do you deliver value?
  • When people are happy with your product, why? When people are unhappy, why?

Competition

  • What is the history of your industry? How has it changed in the last 10 years?
  • Who are your primary competitors?
  • What do your competitors say about you?
  • Does staff frequently change between companies in your field? What draws staff to you or away from you when this happens?
  • When you lose business to your competitors, what kind of feedback do you hear from prospects?

Marketing

  • How do customers find you, generally?
  • What is the thing you do or say that prospects resonate with the most?
  • What is your current marketing mix? How do you expect it to change over the next year or so?

Website

  • What is the impetus for doing this project? What caused you to decide now was the right time?
  • What is your initial inclination for a smart budget for this project – immediately, over the next 6 months, over the next 2 years? (We often work with clients to understand what they could get for various levels of spending and construct a budget plan that helps them optimize their resources)
  • What are your hard legal requirements around the website (Accessibility, privacy, etc) (these are often based on their location and industry. They may not know and we help them figure it out)