Seven questions worth asking in a discovery call: How do you start a project — what does the first two weeks look like specifically? Who writes the copy, and at what stage does that happen? Can you walk me through how a typical content update works in the CMS after launch? What happens if we need revisions after launch — what is the support model? What is the most common reason your projects run over timeline, and how do you handle it? Can you share a client reference from a project in our specific sector? And: what would you push back on in our brief, and why?
The quality of answers to these questions is more predictive of project success than portfolio aesthetics. An agency that has clear, specific answers to all seven has mature project processes. An agency that gets vague on questions four through seven is telling you something about how the project will go after the kickoff call excitement fades.
