What should I ask a prospect before sending a quote for a video?

Ask five questions before any number: what do you need this video to do for the business, and what's prompting it now; if it doesn't get made or doesn't work, what does that cost you; who else has a say in the decision, and what matters to them; when does it need to be live, and what's driving that date; and what budget have you set aside for it. Then read the answers for fit, budget reality, the decision-maker and timing.

What should a get-a-quote form for a video business ask?

Name, email address and phone number, then seven questions: what type of video you're looking for, your time frame, the budget you have allocated, any example videos, the objective of the video campaign, the message you want to share, and anything else. Send people to a thank-you page with a short video and a calendar. The form does the first round of qualifying and filters out people who aren't serious.

Field Guides / Sales

How to qualify a video lead before you pitch

Don't send the showreel and wait. Before any number goes on the table, find out what the video needs to do for the business, what it costs them if it doesn't happen, who decides, when it's needed and what budget is set aside. A get-a-quote form does the first round of that for you, five questions on the first call do the rest, and then you quote the outcome instead of the footage.

Why does sending the showreel and waiting lose the job?

Sending the showreel and waiting loses because it leaves the prospect comparing reels and prices, with nothing to tell your work apart from the next reel in their inbox. You're quoting blind, so you compete on price and often pitch the wrong thing.

I see the same instinct in owners working very different markets: one approaching a single target company, one working warm leads, one going after jewellery wholesalers. Each time, the first move was to send the portfolio and wait. The coaching was the same in all three: break the frame, ask a diagnostic question first, and find out what they're actually trying to solve.

The prospect arrives asking for a video. What they need is an outcome: a product launch that lands, a complex technical idea explained, a message that reaches staff or customers. One good question about the outcome moves you from vendor to advisor, and it usually surfaces a bigger, clearer problem than the one they walked in with.

Anyone can send a showreel. Not everyone can identify what a business actually needs before they quote, and that's what separates a video business owner from a camera operator.

How to qualify a video lead: the method, step by step

Qualifying a video lead is five moves in order: let a form do the first round, answer price-first enquiries with questions, look before you talk, ask five diagnostic questions on the first call, then read the answers before any number goes down.

Put a get-a-quote form on your site. An offer is an invitation to take the next step, and the simplest one a video business can make is a get-a-quote page. The form collects the objective, time frame and budget before you've spent a minute on the enquiry, and it filters out people who aren't serious. The fields are further down.
Answer a price-first enquiry directly, then ask. When the enquiry arrives as "how much for a video?", with no project described, reply with one straight sentence on what the price hangs on, then two questions. The range itself comes once you know the project (the ballpark guide covers that conversation). Sending only a link or the showreel reads as dodging. Close on a question instead of asking for a call: their answer does the first round of qualifying for you.
Look before you talk. Before the first call, look at their website and any video they already have. One observation that shows you see something they don't earns the rest of the conversation.
Ask the five diagnostic questions on the first call. Ask all five before any number is mentioned. Done looks like this: you could write their brief back to them in their own words.
Read the answers, then decide the next step. Use the four reads in the next section. If the lead fits, give a range (What to say when a prospect asks for a ballpark price covers how to build one) and quote what the outcome needs. How to carry the call itself is in How to show real authority on a sales call.

Copy and paste: the reply to "how much for a video?"

Hi [Name],

Thanks for getting in touch. Straight answer: the price comes down mainly to how many finished videos you need and how many days of filming are involved, so I'll give you a range as soon as I know a bit more.

Two quick questions so I can point you at the right thing:

What are you looking to achieve with this video over the next twelve months?

When does it need to be working?

Once I know that, I'll come back to you with a range and what moves it, by [day].

[Your name]

If the enquiry already describes the project, skip this and use the ballpark reply in the ballpark guide.

Copy and paste: the five diagnostic questions for the first call

1. What do you need this video to do for the business, and what's prompting it now?

2. If it doesn't get made, or it doesn't work, what does that cost you?

3. Who else has a say in this decision, and what matters to them?

4. When does it need to be live, and what's driving that date?

5. What budget have you set aside for it?

How to read the answers: fit, budget reality, decision-maker and timing

Reading the answers means checking four things before you price: whether the job fits, whether the budget matches the outcome, whether you're talking to the person who decides, and whether the timing is real. A thin or blank answer is worth reading too.

Fit. Can they tell you what the video has to achieve, and what happens if it doesn't? A specific outcome with something at stake is a lead worth quoting. If neither answer comes back, ask questions one and two again before you price.
Budget reality. Put the budget they've set aside next to what the outcome needs. If it's lower, adjust what gets delivered and keep your rate (Drop the scope, not the price has the wording). If the budget field came back blank, ask question five before you build anything.
Decision-maker. Work out who actually makes the call. Then ask what's important to that person, what they want to avoid and what they want to achieve. If they aren't in the conversation, get them in before the quote goes out, or write the quote for them.
Timing. A date with a reason behind it, such as a product launch, is a deadline you can plan the job around. If the time frame comes back vague, question four is the one to press on.

What should a get-a-quote page ask?

A get-a-quote page should ask for contact details plus seven questions about the project, then send people to a thank-you page with a short video and a calendar. The form does the first round of qualifying before you've spent any time on the enquiry.

Keep the page around it simple: the problem they're trying to solve, what's at risk if it stays unsolved, how you solve it, then a button that says Get a quote. The objective, time frame and budget fields map onto three of the five call questions, so the first call starts from their answers.

Copy and paste: the get-a-quote form

Tell us about your project so we can give you a cost estimate.

Name

Email address

Phone number

What type of video are you looking for?

What's your time frame to produce this video?

What budget do you have allocated for this project?

Do you have any example videos you'd like to share?

What's the objective of the video campaign?

What's the message you want to share?

Anything else you want to share?

Copy and paste: the thank-you page

Thanks, [Name]. Your project details are with us.

Here's what happens next. I'll read through what you've sent and come back to you by [day or time frame].

In the meantime, here's a short video from me on how we work and what to expect. [Video]

If you'd rather talk it through now, pick a time that suits you below. [Calendar]

A worked example

Here's the method on one enquiry. It's an illustration, not a client story, and the numbers are round.

The form comes in. Type of video: product video. Time frame: six weeks. Budget: $5,000. Example videos: a link to a competitor's launch film. Objective: "launch our new product". Message and anything else: left blank.

The old move. Send the showreel and a number for something like the competitor's film, then wait.

The read.

Fit: the objective names a category. Nobody has said what the launch needs the video to do.
Budget reality: $5,000 is a real number, so whatever gets quoted is built to it or shows clearly what more money buys.
Decision-maker: unknown. Nothing on the form says who signs off.
Timing: six weeks with a launch behind it is a real date.

The reply. It asks question one and question three: what does the launch need this video to do, and who else has a say. The first call covers the rest.

The call. Suppose it shows the video has one job, giving the sales team something to send to stockists, and that the managing director signs off. The quote is written for the managing director, built for that one job at $5,000, with the range for the fuller version.

The mistakes that undo it

Qualifying goes wrong in four familiar ways.

Sending the showreel and waiting. You've spent your first move and learned nothing about the job.
Quoting the video they asked for. The request is their guess at a solution, and you haven't checked it yet.
Pitching to someone who can't sign. A partner or a coordinator who loves your work still has to sell it to whoever decides. Find out who that is on the first call.
Mistaking a friendly first call for a sale. Rapport isn't qualification. You still need the budget, the date and the person who signs.

The rule of thumb for qualifying a video lead

No number goes on the table until you know the outcome, what missing it costs them, who decides, when it's needed and what budget is set aside.

Hold yourself accountable

Which of these have you taken on or put in place recently?

Your website has a get-a-quote form that asks for the objective, the time frame and the budget.
The form ends on a thank-you page with a short video and a calendar.
You answered the last "how much for a video?" enquiry with one straight sentence on what the price hangs on and two questions.
On your last first call, you asked all five questions before any number.
You know who signs off on every quote you currently have out.

Your one move this week

What's the one thing you can commit to implementing this week? If you're not sure, start here.

Take the last three enquiries you quoted. For each one, write down the outcome they needed, what missing it cost them, who decided, the deadline and the budget, and mark any line you can't fill in. Add the questions behind those blank lines to your get-a-quote form.

One thing executed every week creates 50 strategic moves a year.

Questions like these come up regularly on our weekly Elite Boardroom calls. If you'd like someone to hold you to account each week, and to learn from a group of peers who run video businesses too, the Boardroom is for you.