Carter Rognes — Vakari Creative
Discovery Questionnaire · Phase 0

Project Discovery

Before I quote a number or pick a stack, I need to understand the business, the workflow, and what success looks like. The wrong assumption now becomes the wrong build later.

For
Abe + team
From
Carter Rognes
Sections
11

"I don't know yet" is a totally valid answer and useful information. You can fill this in directly, or we can walk through it together on a call.

Sections
  1. 01The business
  2. 02Customers + market
  3. 03Today's workflow
  4. 04The inventory site
  5. 05Lead capture
  6. 06Tracker / CRM
  7. 07Content + maintenance
  8. 08Brand + design
  9. 09Integrations + payments
  10. 10Budget
  11. 11What to avoid
Section 01

The business

1.1
What's the legal / operating name of the business?
1.2
Where do you operate out of (city, country)?
1.3
In one or two sentences — what makes you different from other JDM exporters?
Section 02

Customers + market

2.1
Where do your customers live? Check all that apply.
United States — 25-year rule buyers
Canada — 15-year rule buyers
Australia / New Zealand
UK / Europe
Other — describe below
2.2
Customer type?
Enthusiasts / private buyers
Other dealers
Both — what's the rough split?
2.3
Typical price range of a car you sell, in USD.
2.4
Roughly how many inquiries do you get in a normal month?
2.5
How long is a typical inquiry-to-sale timeline? Days, weeks, months?
Section 03

Today's workflow

3.1
Where do inventory and customer info live today?
Spreadsheet, Notion, in your head, photos in WhatsApp, Instagram DMs — all of the above?
3.2
Where do inquiries come in today? Check all that apply.
Email
Instagram DM
WhatsApp
Phone
Cars & Bids / Bring a Trailer
Existing website
Other
Section 04

The inventory site — the customer-facing part

4.1
How many cars are in your inventory at any given time, on average?
4.2
How often does inventory change? Daily, weekly, monthly?
4.3
What filters do customers actually ask about? Check all that apply.
Make
Model
Year
Mileage (km / mi)
Drivetrain (FWD / RWD / AWD)
Transmission (MT / AT)
Price
Color
Country eligibility
Other
4.4
Roughly how many photos per car? Any video?
4.5
Pricing display — pick one.
Show price for every car
"Inquire for price" on every car
Mix — show on some, hide on others
4.6
Should sold cars stay visible (as a portfolio) or get hidden?
4.7
Anything special each listing must show?
Auction sheet, accident history, video walkaround, mods list, import eligibility flag…
Section 05

Lead capture — the inquiry flow

5.1
When a customer hits "Inquire" on a car, walk me through what you want to happen, step by step.
5.2
What fields do you want on the inquiry form? Check all that apply.
Name
Email
Phone
Country
Message
Budget
Timeline
How they heard about you
5.3
Auto-reply email to the customer — yes or no?
5.4
If yes, what should the auto-reply contain? Check all that apply.
Confirmation that we got their inquiry
Full details of the car they inquired about (photos, specs, price)
Next steps / what to expect
Your contact info / a calendar link
Other
5.5
Where should new inquiries land for you?
Email, Slack, SMS, all of the above.
Section 06

Tracker — your internal CRM

6.1
What stages does a customer move through? Confirm or edit:
New inquiry
Qualified — real buyer, you've responded
Negotiating
Deposit received
Paid in full
Shipped
Delivered
Lost / cold
6.2
At a glance, what do you want to see for each customer?
Name, car they're interested in, last contact date, next step, notes…
Section 07

Content + maintenance

7.1
Do you have professional photos of every car, or do they vary?
7.2
Once the site is live, who is going to add new cars and mark cars as sold?
You, your boss, an admin, me on retainer?
Section 08

Brand + design

8.1
Do you have a logo, brand colors, fonts, and design assets ready to go?
Yes, I'll send them
Partially
No — I'd like you to build the visual identity
8.2
Any 2–3 sites or brands you'd point to and say "I want it to feel like that"?
8.3
Do you own a domain? If yes, what is it? If no, do you have one in mind?
8.4
Any existing social handles / Instagram presence we'll be linking to?
Section 09

Integrations + payments

9.1
Will payments happen on the new site (down payments, deposits), or stay offline (wire / ACH / Zelle)?
9.2
Any tools you already use that this should connect to?
HubSpot, Mailchimp, Shopify, QuickBooks, anything.
Section 10

Budget

10.1
Do you have a budget range in mind for this project?
Honest answer is fine — I'd rather know than guess. The range tells me the right size of build to scope, so neither of us wastes time on options that don't fit.
Yes — described below
No — send me options at different scopes
Section 11

What to avoid

11.1
What's the worst-case outcome we should avoid?
"Built a beautiful site but nobody fills out the form" / "Built a CRM I never log into" / etc.

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Once I have your answers, I'll send back a short scope document telling you what I think the right build looks like and how I can help.
— Carter
Carter Rognes · Vakari Creative