Definitive guide for clarification question

Hi! You touch on an important point here. Many candidates don't understand what distinguishes the clarifying questions at the start from later analysis-related questions (asking for market data. financials, etc.)

In general, asking such analysis-related questions at the start is bad! It comes across completely arbitrary, and the interviewer will ask himself why you are asking analysis-questions before even having layed out an analysis approach (the structure)! It just makes NO SENSE to ask for data before laying out your structure, because this information will have ZERO impact on this structure (--> the logic according to which you should address the question).

The clarifying questions you ask at the beginning have the following objectives:

• Completely understanding the context/situation (including, unclear terminology, but also, for example, the business model of the client if unclear!)
• Understanding/narrowing down the actual question(s) of the client (very often the question is poorly/vaguely stated in the prompt, and it is your duty as the candidate to make it precise!)
• Understanding (and quantifying if applicable) the underlying objective(s) of the client

These questions are aiming at understanding the initial setting, hence forming a precondition to outline your structure towards answering the core question (the issue tree)!

The later analysis-related questions that you ask while navigating through the case are then aiming to verify the actual relevance of each sub-branch in your tree. So if you have defined and disaggregated the criterion to answer the client's core question in a clean way, all these leater questions follow a this precise "roadmap" as layed out by your tree. These questions then oftentimes also comprise enquiries on current performance metrics (revenues, costs, growth rates etc.), which normally never make sense to be asked in the clarifying questions (before making explicit your structure).

Hope this helps!

Cheers, Sidi

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Dr. Sidi S. Koné

Former Senior Engagement Manager & Interviewer at McKinsey | Former Senior Consultant at BCG | Co-Founder of The MBB Offer Machine™

You need to understand:

• The context (what exactly is the problem, any technical terms, etc.) 
• The objective/scope (what, when, where, and which metric is relevant; sometimes you may want to know why they want to do something or how do they want to do it.

One thing is wanting to increase profit. Another is increasing profit by 10% in Germany business in 5 years focusing on organic growth opportunities.

Hello, Song!

I suggest using the following checklist:

1. Goals (quantitive / timely);
2. Constraints (financial / timely / operational / strategic);
3. Business model (product, distribution channels, client segment) - for strategic business cases and sometimes for operational cases;
4. Operating model (value / supply chain) - for operational cases and sometimes for strategic business cases;
5. Market structure (main competitors, their shares etc.) - only general information as of now, do not ask about changes here => you will request this data after you've drawn the structure, if needed.

P.S. Very important: you do not just blindly reiterate all those clarifying questions doing every case, but rather think about which of those are applicable in each particular situation (For example, for the majority of the situations, you won't ask about the business or the operating model doing a public sector case).

Hope this helps,
Nick

Cristian has made a very good point of not trying to treat the case interview like a mechanical process. 

And just like him, it was also very obvious to me when I was an interviewer whenever a candidate had asked a question but was really not thinking or processing the significance about it.

Instead, I would urge you to first understand the purpose and logic of clarifying questions - only then will it help you to understand what questions are relevant/significant or not. 

All the best!

Hi there,

There is no expectation from the interviewer's perspective. This is important to understand because it gives you the freedom to ask whatever you think is important, as opposed to having to ask certain things to score some points.

Don't be systematic about this, please. If you don't have a question at all, that's OK, too. Worst of all, don't start digging for specific numbers, facts, etc. That's very different from ‘clarifying questions’, which are more about getting the general situation right.

As opposed to going through a pre-set list of questions, focus on engaging with the prompt and entering into a conversation with the interviewer that is authentic and open-minded.

I know it's tough to get this right but I'm happy to help, if needed.

Best of luck!

Moritz

Careful!

At a real client site what would you do?

Would you rattle off a list of predetermined questions that are identical across every client? Of course not!

Same goes for a case. Think critically about the problem.

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There is not single question you "must" ask. Rather, every case is different. You need to ask questions that help you better understand the situation (objective, business model, etc). AND help you narrow your scope and focus your framework.

If there's no specific timeline there's no specific timeline.

Let me add to this - please don't ask timeline questions just for the sake of asking timeline questions. If, for example, the prompt is "We've seen an increase in demand and need to ramp up production", asking for timelines is silly...we know the answer to be ASAP. If you ask timelines, you both waste a question and show you don't think critically about problems!

I'll repeat: You need to ask questions that help you better understand the situation (objective, business model, etc). AND help you narrow your scope and focus your framework.

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General Rules for Clarifying Questions

1. They should help you define your box (context/scope)
2. They should help make your box smaller (narrow the scope)
3. They should help you develop your approach to solving the problem…not start solving the problem already

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I always write BOTMG at the bottom of my framework page to help myself think of things I'm missing in case I'm stuck.

This helps "trigger" you to consider questions around B = Business Model, O = Objective, T = Timing, M = Market, G = Geography.

However, you should never just say "so, what is their business model?" Obviously, ask questions that help you frame your hypothesis, understand the situation, and ultimately drive your case better.

Hi Song,

Q: Wondering if anyone has a summary/check list for clarification questions, other than the ones from case in point or Victor Chang?

In general, the goal of the clarifying questions should be to:

1. Clarify what is unclear in the prompt and
2. Get the relevant information needed to properly structure and communicate an answer for the question asked (e.g. clarifying the goal if that’s not clearly defined)

Based on that, I would recommend clarifying the following if not already presented in the prompt:

1. Objective and constraints of the client. E.g. Why does the client want to complete this acquisition? or How much does the client want to increase revenues, and in what timeline?
2. Operating model of the client - mainly what they sell, to whom and how. E.g. Could you please clarify what product the client is currently selling?
3. Any element mentioned by the interviewer that you don't understand. E.g. You mentioned that our client performs standard activities as an intermediary bank. Could you please clarify which activities this involves? I am not particularly familiar with that sector.

Hope this helps,

Francesco

Hi Song!

I would honestly recommend against this. 

Basically, any attempt at ‘systematising’ the case part of the interviewer is going against what the interviewers are actually trying to test i.e., how you approach a new problem that you are faced with. 

So if you remember the typical questions you should ask at the start of a case based on a list somebody provided, this is going to be very obvious during the actual interview. Believe me, I've heard questions like ‘does the client have specific target?’ hundreds of times. 

Instead, you need to develop the ability to think genuinely through the problem, put yourself in the shoes of the business owner and then in the shoes of the customer. If you know how to think from first principles and have a high-level hypothesis of what might be going on with the client, the questions will pop out on their own.

Best,
Cristian

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