The first meeting: what we ask and why
The first conversation with a web partner should be mostly questions, aimed at you. The twelve we ask and what a good meeting produces.
The short answer
The first meeting with a web partner should be mostly questions, and they should be about you. A partner who spends the hour presenting their work is selling; a partner who spends it understanding your business is starting a project properly. We ask twelve questions, listed below with what each one tells us. The meeting ends with a written summary of what we heard, which you correct, and never with a price, because a price at that point is a guess.
The twelve questions
| Question | Why we ask |
|---|---|
| 1. What does the business do, for whom, and how do customers find you today? | The website’s job follows from the business’s job |
| 2. Who are the customers, and what device are they on when they need you? | Design and priority decisions follow from this |
| 3. What is not working, or what is missing, in business terms? | The problem to solve, before any solution |
| 4. What would success look like in six months? A number if possible | Gives the project a measurable target |
| 5. What exists today: site, systems, content, brand assets? | Sizes the work and reveals what to keep |
| 6. Who holds the domain, hosting, website and analytics accounts right now? | The most revealing answer; often nobody knows |
| 7. Who will write and supply the content, and when? | The most common cause of delay |
| 8. Who decides, and who else needs to approve? | Prevents a project designed for one person and blocked by another |
| 9. What budget range do you have in mind? | Sizes the answer; not a negotiation |
| 10. When does it need to exist, and why that date? | Reveals real deadlines versus wishes |
| 11. Constraints: languages, accessibility, legal, sector rules, brand? | Shapes the build from day one |
| 12. What worries you about this project, or about working with a partner? | Surfaces the past experience that shapes the relationship |
What the answers usually reveal
- Ownership gaps. The domain is with a former employee’s personal account; the hosting is in the old agency’s name. Found early, fixed as part of the project. Found late, a crisis.
- Content reality. The photos are stock, the text is from 2018, nobody has time to write. The plan must include how content gets made.
- A real problem behind the stated one. “We need a new website” often turns out to be “we lose leads because the form goes to a mailbox nobody checks.”
- A deadline with a reason, or without one. A trade show date is a constraint; “as soon as possible” is a preference.
- The last experience. Most worries in question twelve are about a previous supplier. They tell us what to do differently and put in writing.
What a good first meeting produces
Within a day or two: a one-page summary of what was heard, in your language, with open questions marked. You correct it. From that, a proposal follows, structured so you can compare it with others. If the summary is wrong in important ways, better to learn it now, in a document, than in month two of a build.
What this means for you
Judge a first meeting by the questions you were asked, not the slides you were shown. Expect the twelve above, or their equivalents, and expect a written summary rather than a price. Bring the answers on ownership and content if you can. A partner who starts by understanding your business will build for it. One who starts by presenting will build what they always build.
Frequently asked questions
Should we prepare anything for a first meeting?
A one-page brief if you can, and otherwise the answers to three things: what is not working, what success would look like, and who currently holds your domain, hosting and website accounts. The last one is the one that surprises, and finding out early prevents a bad surprise later.
Why do you ask about budget in the first meeting?
Because the right answer to a problem depends on the size of the investment you have in mind. A range lets us propose something that fits rather than something impressive and unaffordable, or something cheap and inadequate. We do not need a number; we need the order of magnitude.
What should we get after the first meeting?
A short written summary of what we heard: the problem, the users, success, what exists, constraints, open questions. You correct it, and it becomes the basis for a proposal. A price at the end of a first meeting is a guess dressed as an answer.