The Playbook · CHECKLIST
Eight questions to ask before you buy video
Eight questions, read straight off your phone, that expose a weak video quote in ten minutes. Each comes with the answer that should come back and the answer that means hang up. They are grouped by what they protect: the message, the money, and what you are left holding when the invoice is paid.
What should you ask about the message?
Who writes the script, and do I approve it first?
A name, and yes, before anything is shot or animated. Hang up if the answer is that the script comes together in the edit.
Can I watch something you made with the sound off and still get it?
Yes, with a link. Then do it. If you needed the voiceover, so will your customers, and most of them will not turn it on.
What is the one thing a stranger should believe after watching?
The company should answer with a sentence. If they answer with a list, the video will be a list, and nobody finishes a list.
What should you ask about money?
Which formats are in the price?
Vertical, square and horizontal, with captions. Hang up if the price buys one horizontal file; you will pay again to cut it.
How many revisions, and what counts as one?
A number and a definition. A quote with unlimited revisions has a schedule with no end, and a quote with none has a surprise invoice.
How does video move the price of the site it lives on?
This is the question owners skip. The six-tap estimator carries a video and animation add-on so you can see the answer before anyone talks, and the timelines play says what each kind of job takes.
What should you ask about what you are left holding?
Do I own the raw footage and the project files?
Yes, on payment. Hang up if the source files stay with the company; you are being kept as a customer by force.
Where does the video live, and what is the next tap?
On the page that sells what it explains, with the phone number one tap away. A video with no page behind it is a billboard in a field. The video service page makes the case for building the video and the page together.
What should you do with the answers?
Write them down during the call. A company that answers all eight plainly has shipped video for businesses your size and knows where it goes wrong. A company that answers three and shows you a reel has shipped reels. Then compare the quotes line by line, not by total: the cheaper one with a single format is the more expensive one by spring. Ask me the same eight; the answers are on this site, and the mistakes play is what I check my own work against.
What else do owners ask?
What answer means hang up?
Any version of we will figure out the message in the edit. The message is the product. Everything else is packaging.
Should I ask for a test before a full shoot?
Yes. One short vertical with captions, made from what you already have, tells you whether the company can make a point in thirty seconds before you pay for a day of cameras.
Do I need a video at all?
Not always. The alternatives play covers when photos, a written page or an interactive tool does the job better, and cheaper. For a lot of trades the honest answer is a weekly short from your own phone.
Your move. Call or text (847) 387-0244, or price your build in six taps and I call you with the exact number.
← All plays · Free tools: cost calculator, busywork calculator & site audit · Price my build
Your move