So you just signed on a new client. 

Your all ready to start creating the most amazing ad copy Google has ever seen. But then you stop and think about it. What do you really know about your client's business? What do they sell? Where are they advertising? 

You need to know all of this and more in order to tailor your ads and ad structure to fit them. 

Here is a list of 25 questions you ought to know by the end of your first call with your client. .

1. What makes the company different from its competitors?
2. Who is the competition?
3. Who is the target client?
   

Example: The client runs a store for unique and rare books. They are not going to want to target the regular everyday customer looking for Harry Potter ebooks. They are going to want someone more qualified Someone, who is interested in their products and is willing to spend more money on the exclusivity of the products the client offers.

4. Who advocates for the other companies?
5. Who has the final say on decision making in the company
6. What products or services do they offer?
7. What are the average profits per sale?
   

Example: Does the client have a wide range of profits per sale? Are clients selling one product or many products? You need to figure out what the range of profits are per customer sale and then get a good idea for the average. 

Let's use Amazon and Netflix in this example. Amazon sells a wide range of goods. They can have sales ranging from as low as $1 as high as let's say $10,000. Whereas Netflix only has 3 products and the customer only buys 1 at a time. It is easier to find the average profits per sale for Netflix than it is for Amazon due to there being less variation to account for.

8. What is the closing rate?

Example: For companies that focus on lead generation the closing rate is going to be how often can they close a sale from a lead. So if they close 1 sale for every ten leads generated they will have a 10% closing rate.

For eCommerce, the conversion rate will be how many people visited your site divided by how many people made a purchase. So if you had 100 visitors and 3 sales then that means your closing rate will be 3%. (Note- the average website conversion rate in 2018 was 3.42% worldwide)

9. What is the buying experience like?
   

Example: A potential customer sees a video on YouTube for an interesting looking watch. In the ad, the customer finds out that the watch is made of 100% wood. Now they are really interested, but not yet ready to buy. So next they go online and look more into the company making the watch. Maybe they go to the website and look at all of the different styles of watches that are available. They might decide to wait a few days before finally pulling the trigger and buying it. Then their paycheck comes in and Bam! They decide to buy that really nice watch they saw a couple of days ago.

This customer went through what we call the buyers to funnel. They went from having no knowledge that this product even existed(Attract), to knowing about it and wanting to learn more about it(Maintain Interest). Next, they went online to learn more about the product and found that there were a bunch of really nice options available(Create Desire). Last they decided to buy the product(Take Action). 

 Every company is a bit different in how their buyers funnel is structured and it's important to understand this and what's involved.

10. What type of digital infrastructure do they use internally? (SalesForce, Adwords, Azure, etc)
11. What common objections do prospects have during the buying process?
12. What is the budget and timescale for the current marketing strategy?
13. What metrics does the company use to measure success?
    

Do the clients need more qualified leads so they can increase their closing rate? Or do they need the cost per lead to be below a certain threshold to be profitable?

14. Where do customers go to find the company/products? (website, store)
15. Where is the company posting ads? (Google, YouTube,Facebook, Instagram, etc.)
16. Where do customers come from? (geographic)
17. Where do the clients want their business to be in 1/5/10 years?
18. When are the companies operating hours?
19. When is the busy season? (Is there a busy season?)
20. When was the company established?
    

This is a good question to ask as a gateway into the rest of the conversation.Remember the clients are proud of their company and will want to talk about themselves. So let them. 

21. Why should a prospective client choose you over the competitors?
22. Why are they seeking your help?
23. How can you help them to close more leads?
    

Examples:

• Provide the client with more qualified leads, instead of focusing on volume focusing on quality.
• Building a better landing page so potential customers are more likely to convert on their website.
• Help eliminate bad/useless traffic coming to their site.
  

24. How are leads generated? (service companies)
25. How long does it take to convert a prospect into a client?
    

In conclusion, these are just a few of the possible questions you can use to help show the client that you care about their business and that by better understanding them you will be better able to deliver on your promises. 

If you can think of any other questions that would be good for this list please email me at alex@advenureppc.com.