If you only ask four, ask these
Four questions is the sweet spot: enough to build a full case study, short enough that a busy client finishes it in a minute.
- What was going on before we worked together?
- What changed, and what made the difference?
- Is there a number or a timeframe that captures it? (a rough one is fine)
- What would you say to someone hesitating?
Everything below is the longer bank to pull from when you want a deeper interview or a written long-form case study.
Before — the situation you were hired into
Without a before, every result is unreadable. These are the questions almost everyone skips.
- What was going on before we started working together?
- What made you start looking for help in the first place?
- What had you already tried that did not work?
- What was that problem actually costing you — time, money, or something else?
- What were you worried might happen if nothing changed?
- Who else was affected by it besides you?
The decision — why you, and what nearly stopped them
These answers become your best sales copy, because they name the objection a prospect is holding right now.
- What made you choose to work with me over the alternatives?
- Was there anything that made you hesitate before saying yes?
- What convinced you in the end?
- What did you expect going in?
- Was there anything you were quietly sceptical about?
After — what actually changed
Ask for the change, not for praise. Praise is what you get by accident.
- What is different now compared to before?
- What can you do now that you could not do before?
- What surprised you about how it went?
- What was the moment you realised it was working?
- What does a normal week look like now?
- What would have happened if you had not done it?
The number — a fact you can publish
Offer an escape hatch. 'A rough estimate is fine' triples the number of usable answers.
- Is there a number, percentage or timeframe that captures the difference?
- How long did it take before you noticed a change?
- Roughly how much time does this save you each week?
- Did it pay for itself? Roughly how quickly?
- Even a rough estimate is fine — what feels closest to the truth?
The recommendation — the part people quote
This is where the publishable sentence usually comes from.
- What would you say to someone who is hesitating?
- Who would you recommend this to — and who would you not?
- How would you describe this to a colleague in one sentence?
- Is there anything I could have done better?
- Anything else you would want someone in your position to know?
Three rules that decide the quality of the answers
- Never ask "how was it?" It produces "great to work with", which proves nothing and cannot be used.
- One idea per question. Two questions in one sentence get one answer, usually to the easier half.
- Give permission to be approximate. People withhold numbers because they are afraid of being wrong, not because they want to hide them.
The four questions, ready to send
Paste into an email, or put them on a page your client fills in.
1. What was going on before we worked together? 2. What changed, and what made the difference? 3. Is there a number or timeframe that captures it? A rough estimate is completely fine. 4. What would you say to someone who is hesitating?