5 Questions to Ask on a Client Intro Call

Throughout my years in PR, I’ve learned how important the initial kickoff call with a client is. We all know that first impressions count, and a kickoff call is a time to make the first good impression and start what is hopefully a long and fulfilling partnership!

Over the years at Choice, we’ve continued to tweak and perfect our client kickoff call agendas to ensure that we’re getting the information we need right off the bat and are having critical conversations that inform our strategy straight from the get-go. While discussions and agendas are always personalized and tweaked per campaign, we ask a few pertinent questions on every client call, regardless of the scope of work. 

I’m sharing with you the top 5 questions to ask on a client kickoff call:

1. Do you have any long-standing media relationships?

   • There is no right or wrong answer to this. We have some clients who kickoff with us and have many existing relationships and some who have none. That’s what we’re here for! But for those clients who have relationships with media, it’s essential to know who they are to create a strategy to leverage those relationships. 

2. What are your media goals?

   • As publicists, we have our own set of goals and top-tier targets for clients. However, this is one of my favorite questions because I love to know what outlets get a client excited – and it varies so much per client! Having a client think through their dream outlets and discuss with us allows the client service team to build off our top tier list and know what will excite the client.

3. Is there media you’d like us to avoid?

   • This question can sometimes throw people for a loop. Occasionally, we get the response of “is there any media I should be worried about?” We ask this question to know whether there are burned bridges in the past that we should know about, or any media outlets that a client doesn’t want to be associated with. Ultimately, this helps us be intentional with our outreach.

4. How do you like to be communicated with?

   • At Choice, one of our core values is that regular communication makes a difference. We’re committed to our clients knowing at every step our priorities and what we’re doing to execute results. As a result of that, we offer various forms of communication – status reports, monthly or bi-weekly check-in calls, and regular email communication, to name a few.

5. Is there anything else you think we need to know that would be helpful as we get started?

   • This seems like a very general question, but I like to ask it at the end after we’ve been able to get the creative juices and discussion flowing. It’s a time for the client to think through how we can serve them best and our team to be set up for success on the front end.