Hurt.
Asking your new client questions
Only to have those questions go unanswered
Devalues your relationship
Before it ever gets started
Getting answers
However
Does the opposite
By a phenomenally disproportionate amount
If you can swing it
If you possess some magical power*
That somehow hypnotizes your client
To reply to your queries
By all means
Go for it
I can tell you it takes equal parts
Persistence & Repetition
Kindness & Humor
Simplicity & Ease
All of which speak volumes about your sincerity
And willingness to put yourself out there
As the one who doesn’t know
If you’re unsure where the line is
Between persistence
And pestering
Send your questions in a series of emails
Individually
To only one person at a time
And here’s why:
An email to many
Is crowd control
An email to one
Personalized to that individual
Along with a 1-sentence summary of why you need the answers
Is the start of an intimate
Conversation
And here’s why I go on and on about this:
Whatever time you put into getting your questions answered
You can reduce by a factor of 10
The number of hours it will take
To deliver.
I’m here,
Kevin
P.S. To catch up on the Questionable Questionnaires series, here’s One , Two , and Three