149 QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF AND YOUR

CLIENT BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Strategy is inconsequential if it fails to solve the client's problems. While most clients think
they've effectively identified the problem that needs to be solved, it's important to do a thorough
investigation before agreeing on what issues must be addressed and overcome.

Below is a list of questions to ask yourself (and at times, your client) to fully assess the state of
the business and the brand.

Not all questions will be relevant for all assignments. Use your experience and intuition to guide
you to what questions are most important and go from there. Circle or star the questions that
matter most and begin to formulate a plan for how to answer them.

Most can be answered by simply asking your client. Others may require some primary or
secondary research.

To make sure we're getting a full picture of the business situation, questions have been split into
five categories: Company Overview, Financial Performance, Customer Engagement,
Competitive Landscape, and Emerging Trends.

I. COMPANY OVERVIEW
The mission, vision, values, culture and business model

A. Company Background

1. Why was the company originally started? What problem or opportunity sparked its
creation? Does that problem or opportunity still exist today?

2. What is the company’s mission statement? When was the last time it was re-written
(and why)?
3. What is the company's 3-5 year vision?

4. Over the years, which successes are the company most proud of? What are the
failures it vows not to repeat?

5. What are the core competencies of the company?

6. What is the company’s biggest vulnerability?

B. Company Culture

7. How would you describe the company’s culture?

8. What are the core values that make the company different or unique?

9. How risk averse is the company?

10. What makes the company's history unique?

11. Is there any company folklore? Is it meaningful to customers?

C. Product Portfolio

12. What is the company’s product(s)?

13. Do their products command a premium price or are they commoditized?

14. Which of their products make the most money?

15. What products make up the highest volume of sales? What about revenue?

16. What is the company’s product development strategy?

17. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the product(s)?

18. What other products or services are in the company's pipeline?

19. What is the overall product portfolio strategy?

20. How and where are the products manufactured?

21. What is the cost of goods sold?

22. What is percentage of cost broken out in terms of manufacturing, packaging,

distribution, promotions, etc.?

23. How important is product design?

24. Which features tend to be most important to consumers?

25. How well do their products deliver against those features?

26. What would the company never offer?

27. What have been some of the company's most successful new product introductions?
What has made them successful?

28. What have been some of the company's biggest failures from a new product
introduction standpoint? Why?

D. Pricing Strategies

29. What is the company’s pricing strategy?

30. What kind of price range exists?

31. How does the company's pricing compare to key competitors?

32. How have prices changed for the company over the past 3-5 years? Dropping?
Increasing?

33. How have prices changed across the category over the past 3-5 years? Dropping?
Increasing?

34. Which brand equities help the company maintain its price point in the market?

35. How much control does the company have over pricing?
36. Does price vary by distribution channel?

37. What are the margins? Have those been going up or down?

E. Distribution Dynamics

38. How are the products or services brought to market?

39. What distribution strategies have been the most successful?

40. Which distribution strategies haven't worked as well?

41. What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of each distribution channel?

42. Are there alternative distribution channels the company is considering in the future?

43. Who are the key distributors? Which ones are responsible for the most volume and
revenue?

44. Which distributor can the company not afford to lose?

45. Who holds the most power in the distribution chain?

46. What would give the company more power to protect their position?

47. What is the role does the strength of the brand play in distribution? Does it vary by
channel?

48. What role does the internet currently play in terms of distribution?

49. Is there a unique technology or system in place that gives the company a competitive
advantage from a distribution standpoint?

50. Are there any dynamics at point-of-sale that are cause for concern?

51. What is the role of customer service in the overall customer experience?
II. FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
The health of their business

52. What are the company’s trends in revenues and profits over the past 3-5 years?

53. What is the relative performance of each product or business unit?

54. Is market share increasing or decreasing?

55. What is contributing to the increase or decrease in market share?

56. Is the category declining or growing?

57. What is driving the change in the category? Are new entrants driving interest in the
category? Technological advancements increasing opportunity in the space?

58. What is the business model? Has it changed over the years?

59. What do the financial analyst reports say about the company?

60. What is the media saying about the financials of the company?

61. What are the keys to future financial success?

62. What are the key drivers of profitability?

III. CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT

Their customers and what they think

A. Target Audience

63. Who is their current customer?

64. What is the demographic and psychographic profile of current customers? Are there
different sub-groups of customers that are important to make note of?
65. Which customers are their best customers and what makes them a best customer?

66. Which customers are the most loyal?

67. How does the client define a loyal customer?

68. Which customers represent the most volume and revenue?

69. What is the lifetime value of their customer?

70. Is there anyone they don't want to buy their product?

71. Moving into the future, who is their ideal customer?

72. How do they describe their target audience?

73. Are there different/additional target audiences the company is considering?

74. How is the universe of prospective customers typically segmented in this category?

75. What are the most sought after segments in this category?

76. Which segments are most profitable?

77. What are the underdeveloped or emerging segments?

78. Which segment offers is the most strategically advantageous for the client in the short
and long-term?

79. What makes the client's brand compelling and relevant to this specific segment?

80. What is the primary reason the client's brand is different or better for this segment than
a competitor's brand?

81. What perceptions does this target audience have of the client's brand? How were
those perceptions formed?

82. What does this target audience ideally look for in a brand?
B. Communications Strategy

83. What is the typical customer acquisition cost?

84. How does the client promote themselves to customers?

85. What is the key message they are trying to deliver?

86. Is the client consistent in media and message?

87. What does the client do to invest in their brand? Are they aggressively building their
brand or doing the bare minimum to maintain it?

88. What is their “share of voice” in the marketplace?

89. How does “share of voice” compare to share of market?

90. How does the client engage influencers?

91. How does the client measure ROI on their marketing activities?

C. Role of the Product/Brand

92. What role does this product or service play in consumers’ lives?

93. How does this product or service make their lives easier or better?

94. What was life like before for consumers before this product existed?

95. What would their lives be like if it was no longer around?

96. What motivates people to purchase this product?

97. How have these motivations changed over the past 3-5 years?

98. How might the motivations to purchase this type of product change in the coming 3-5
years?
99. How does the consumer go about buying the product? What does the product
purchase process / consumer journey look like?

100. Where are prospective customers most likely to drop out of the purchase process /
consumer journey?

101. What typically causes customers to abandon a potential purchase?

102. Where does the consumer go to find information about this type of product?

103. Who influences the consumer to buy this type of product?

104. What are these influencers saying about these types of products in general?

105. What are these influencers saying about the client's products specifically?

D. Perceptions of the Product/Brand

106. Where is the brand in its life stage? Is it in the infant stage, adolescent stage, mature
stage, etc.?

107. How is the brand perceived in the marketplace?

108. What are the most prominent associations (words or mental images) that people have of
the brand?

109. Are perceptions different based on the type of customer – frequent users, occasional
users, non-users?

110. What is the brand's current level of awareness?

111. How familiar are people with the brand?

112. What are the biggest misperceptions people are having of the brand?

113. How would the client want their brand to be perceived in the future?
IV. COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
Category dynamics and competitive pressures

A. Competitive Set

114. What category is the client in? Who are the 2-3 primary competitors? Who else is
considered a competitor?

115. What are the alternatives outside of the category that consumers may buy/use in place
of a product within the category?

116. What are the keys to success within this category?

117. What sort of momentum does the category have? At what rate is it growing or shrinking?

118. Is there a seasonal or cyclical nature to the business?

119. What are the dynamics of brand loyalty and brand switching in this category?

120. What is the bargaining power of suppliers (e.g. pricing, quality)?

121. What is the bargaining power of buyers? What are the buyers demanding in terms of
quality? Pricing? Service?

122. What sort of regulatory environment does the client find itself in? How is it changing?
How might it impact the decisions the company makes moving forward?

123. Are there any barriers to entry that keep other companies out?

B. Competitive Positioning

124. How is the brand perceived relative to the competition? Is it seen as a category leader?
Challenger?

125. What’s the level of product parity in the category?

126. Do consumers see this as a high or low interest product?

127. What is the reputation of the industry with consumers at large?

128. Is there anything the company's competitors are known for that the client would want
their brand to get credit for as well?

129. What makes the product different from the competitive products?

130. Do consumers care about these differences? If so, which ones and why?

131. What are the competitive advantages of the client's product?

132. What are the disadvantages?

133. Who is succeeding in the category and why?

134. Who is failing in the category and why?

135. Which competitor has the most momentum? What is giving them so much momentum
right now?

136. How fierce is competition within the category right now?

137. What tactics are being used specifically to get a competitive edge?

138. What plans does the company have to better differentiate itself in the future?

V. EMERGING TRENDS
The impact of social, cultural, technological and political trends

A. Economic Conditions

139. What are the economic and marketplace trends that all businesses in the category are
currently facing?

140. How has the business had to change to marketplace conditions over the past 3-5 years?
141. What marketplace conditions does the client think will have the biggest impact on their
business in the coming 3-5 years?

142. How does the company typically respond to change? What helps them navigate these
changes? What tends to hold them back?

143. Which companies within the category are doing the best job addressing these changing
marketplace conditions? What can we attribute to their success?

B. Other Trends

144. What major societal, cultural or political trends affect this category?

145. Are shifting demographic changes affecting this category? If so, are those positive or
negative?

146. What shifts in social and personal values are affecting this company or category?

147. How are emerging technologies affecting this company? Which ones and why?

148. What other external factors might cause the company to grow?

149. What other external factors might cause the company to shrink?

___________

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