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1.      What initially got me started in business?

2.      When I first started, where did my clients or promotions progress come from?

3.      Why did clients originally buy from me?

4.      Why do clients buy from me now?

5.      What primary method of generating clients was used to build my business?

6.      Which of my marketing or sales efforts brought in the bulk of my sales or clients? What percentage of my business comes from this particular effort?

7.      Do I test the various aspects of marketing and selling activities to make sure they’re producing the best and most profitable results?

8.      How well connected or how involved am I with my clients at the sales/ networking or transaction level (do I still sometimes take orders or sell or follow up)?

9.      What ongoing sales/ networking efforts do I personally perform today? How do these functions differ from those I perform when I started my business?

10. Where do my clients come from specifically (demographics)?

11. Would you rather attract more new clients or garner more money from existing clients, and why?

12. Who else benefits from my success, excluding my clients, my employees, and my family members?

13. How many of my suppliers/ business colleagues would be motivated to help me grow my business more because it will directly benefit them at a very high level? Who are they?

14. When I create a new client for my business, whom else have I directly created a new client for?

15. Describe completely what your business does (What do you sell, how do you sell it, and who do you sell it to by industry, commercial category or specific niche).

16. What is my business philosophy as it relates to my clients?

17. How have my methods for doing business, or the product or service lines I market, changed since the inception of my business?

18. What are my sales per employee or departmental performance levels? Is that above, below, or equal to my industry average?

19. What is the lifetime value of my typical client?

20. What is the biggest client complaint about my company, and how does my company successfully address this problem?

21. What is my Unique Selling Proposition or USP?

22. Is my USP a consistent theme in all my marketing and sales efforts? If yes, how, and if not, why not?

23. Briefly describe my marketing program or marketing mix?

24. Who are my biggest competitors and what do they offer that I do not?

25. What steps do I take to offset their advantage? Are they working?

26. What are my competitors biggest failing, and how do I specifically fill hat void?

27. What do my clients really want (be specific, don’t just answer ‘a quality product or service)? How do I know?

28. Do clients buy from me exclusively or do they also patronise my competitors? What steps can I take to get the main portion of their business (pre-empt & dominate)?

29. What does it cost me to get new clients?

30. What are my market potential (universe) and my current share of the market?

31. What is my biggest and best source of new business and am I doing everything possible to secure this business?

32. What has been my biggest marketing success to date (define as a specific promotion, advertising campaign, sales letter etc)?

33. What is my biggest marketing problem or challenge today? Describe it in its entirely as candidly and directly as possible, including personal financial and transactional implications it may impose.

34. How many better ways could I reduce the risk of the transaction, lower, the barrier of entry, or reduce the hurdle for my clients to make it easier for that person to do business with me?

35. After the initial sales, are they systematic, formal methods I use to communicate and resell to my clients – strengthening the relationship and bonding them to me?

36. Do I have an adequate supply of client testimonials, and is there a system in place for their capture?

37. Do I actively solicit referral business?

38. Have I ever tried to reactivate my former clients and unconverted prospects? Do I maintain systematic contact?

39. Have I ever tried selling a list of my unconverted prospects to my competitors, or turning enemies into allies?

40. Do I make consistent efforts to communicate with my clients about what my company is doing to help them?

41. In what ways do I try to up-sell my clients?

42. Do I need to make money in first time buyers, or am I satisfied with only making it on the backend (reorders) short or long-term strategy.

43. Do I ever barter my products, services or assets with other companies in exchange for their products, services or assets

44. What kind of guarantee or warranty do I give my clients, to take away the risk of the transaction?

45. What is my client attrition rate?

46. How do I capture the names, addresses, and phone numbers of all my clients and prospects? DO I use them in my marketing programs?

47. What is my average order; transaction size, amount and what are the steps I can take to increase it?

48. How much is the initial sale to a new client worth?

49. Do I use a list broker or data experts? If not, where do I get my prime prospect names?

50. Do I joint venture my client names with other companies? If so, what where the results?