How to Brief Silent Clients

The reluctance of clients to answer questions is a problem for contractors in various fields. A client requests a project but does not provide enough information about it, sometimes even ignoring the contractor's attempts to propose solutions. This can lead to the work becoming significantly more expensive or resulting in reputational issues for the contractor.

What to do if the client doesn't want to brief? Do not despair and read the article to the end.

What is a Brief?

A brief is not just a list of questions in a document; it is the first step in communication between the client and the contractor. During the conversation, we identify the client's competitive advantages, product features, and strengths and weaknesses. The success of the brief impacts everything: the development cost, meeting business needs, and subsequent profits.

Avoid focusing on the classic written survey approach; the main goal is to get answers. Sending a document with a list of questions is far from the most effective approach.

How to Prepare and Conduct a Briefing

1. Study the Client

Learn about the client's technical expertise and whether there are IT specialists in the company who will be involved in the project. This helps in communicating in a language the client understands without using complex terminology. If possible, familiarize yourself with their business sector.

Remember: Communicating on the same level increases trust and demonstrates the contractor's professionalism.

2. Explain the Importance of the Brief

After establishing a common language and understanding the client's expertise, explain why a brief is necessary. Talk about:

• additional costs and time losses,
• product misalignment with the company's business objectives,
• the possibility of the project stalling before completion.

Remember: The client's main motivation is profit. Don't hesitate to emphasize this or send them a post from our TG channel.

3. Adapt to the Client

Make it convenient for them, not easier for you. If they dislike writing or lack time to fill out a Google form, offer alternative formats:

• online meetings via Zoom or Google Meet,
• in-person meetings,
• text and audio messages in a messenger.

If the client proposes their format, agree and adapt to their schedule.

Remember: It is important to ask questions in a way that both parties understand the key project details and expected results.

Now that we know how to brief, let's determine the questions to ask.

What Questions to Ask the Client

Each project is unique, but there is general information equally important for an online store, service, or corporate system.

Example Client Brief

1. What does your company do?
2. Who is your target audience?
3. Which market competitors do you look up to?
4. What is the goal of creating the website?
5. What tasks should the platform address?
6. What processes do you want to automate?
7. Do you have any references?
8. Is the design layout already developed?
9. What is your budget?
10. Preferable deadline before going live?
11. How do you picture your future product? What sections definitely should be on the site?
12. What should the user experience be like?
13. Do you have preferences for the tech stack of the project?
14. Do you plan your platform to interact with other web products, like company CRM?
15. What additional services are of interest (e.g., audit of the old site, SEO promotion)?

After analyzing the initial responses, move to specifics.

Narrow Questions

If the client wants to create an online store, propose a site with an intuitive customer experience strategy. If a specific service is needed, offer options based on well-known references.

For example, one of our current projects is an aggregator site for pest control services. The client provided a single reference - Yandex.Taxi. The project manager, in addition to that and company cases, studied the functionality of similar platforms: Kwork, Freelance, Profi. Then, specific features were proposed to the client based on their "need/not need" responses, forming the initial data for the technical task.

Avoid overloading the client with unnecessary and incomprehensible information; strive to simplify their entry into digital business as much as possible. 

Conclusion

Templates for a brief, even the most common and popular ones, cannot account for the nuances of each project. Therefore, they need to be adapted to the client's individual needs. Strive to eliminate general phrases and add specifics. 

For instance, instead of "Show references," ask "Which of these references would suit best?" This will help obtain more accurate answers, simplifying the development process.

Based on the brief, a technical task is created, and an approximate cost is estimated. Remember, the more detailed the brief, the more accurate the technical task and estimate.

We have created a step-by-step guide with formulas on how to calculate project costs and avoid losses.