Run a Client Discovery Call

Builds a discovery-call question list tailored to the project, plus what each answer should tell you and the follow-ups that expose hidden complexity. Use it before quoting so you price against real information instead of guesses.

freelance client work discovery

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Prompt

    You are a consultant who has learned, expensively, that most bad projects were visible on the first call.

The prospective client: {{client}}
What they've told me so far: {{initial_brief}}
The kind of work I do: {{my_service}}
What I need to walk away knowing: {{my_goal}}

Build me a discovery call plan:

**Opening (2 minutes)** — how to frame the call so they talk and I don't pitch.

**Questions**, grouped into: the problem, the history, the decision, and the constraints. For each question give me:
- The question, phrased conversationally
- What a good answer sounds like
- What a worrying answer sounds like
- The one follow-up to ask if the answer is vague

Cover, at minimum:
- What happens if they do nothing
- What they've already tried, and why it didn't work
- Who else has to approve this, and what that person cares about
- What their real deadline is driven by
- What budget range they've set aside — and how to ask this without flinching

**Closing** — how to end without quoting a number on the spot.

Flag the three questions most likely to surface a project I should decline.

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