Great business interviews do more than capture quotes—they surface proof. The right prompts unlock stories that buyers trust, employees rally around, and stakeholders remember. After decades producing interviews for organizations across industries, we’ve learned that outcomes hinge on three things: preparation, sequencing, and questions designed for use in edit.
Below is a practical, field-tested blueprint you can hand to your producer or internal team to create interviews that are candid, brand-safe, and commercially effective.
Start With Strategy (so your questions have a job)
Define the job of the interview before you write a single question.
- Audience: Who must be convinced (CFO, operator, buyer, recruit, regulator)?
- Objective: Move someone to do what next (schedule a demo, sign, adopt, renew, comply)?
- Channels: Where will it run (product page, sales deck, recruiting, training, social)?
- Claims to prove: What 2–3 points need evidence (time saved, risk reduced, quality improved)?
- Constraints: Legal/compliance, locations, who can be on camera, what can be shown.
Translate those answers into a story spine you’ll guide every interviewee through:
- Credibility → 2) Stakes → 3) Choice → 4) Execution → 5) Outcomes → 6) Advocacy
The 42-Question Bank (organized for business use)
Use these as modular prompts. Ask one idea per question. Leave a second of silence after good answers—people often add the best detail after the pause.
A) Establish Credibility (5)
- Please state your name, title, and what success looks like in your role.
- What does your organization do, and who benefits most from your work?
- Which metrics are you accountable for (revenue, cost, quality, safety, cycle time)?
- Where were you in your growth or change cycle when this became urgent?
- What made this initiative a now-not-later priority?
B) Make the “Before” Tangible (6)
- What did “a normal week” look like before we addressed this?
- What had you already tried, and why didn’t it stick?
- Who felt the pain most (customers, staff, leadership), and how did it show up?
- What risks were accumulating (brand, compliance, operational, financial)?
- What was the cost of doing nothing for another quarter?
- Summarize the old state in one sentence.
C) Why You Chose This Solution/Vendor (6)
- What criteria were on your shortlist when you evaluated options?
- Which alternatives did you compare, and how did you weigh trade-offs?
- What concerns or objections did you have, and how were they resolved?
- What did our discovery or proposal surface that others missed?
- How did our approach reduce risk or internal workload?
- In one line, the deciding factor was ___.
D) Execution & Change Management (7)
- What did kickoff look like—clarity of owners, timelines, approvals?
- Describe the production or implementation experience from your side.
- Tell me about a curveball and how the team handled it.
- Where did we save you time, budget, or coordination effort?
- How did we protect brand/compliance while moving fast?
- What did your people say after day one on set (or week one in rollout)?
- If you were advising a peer, how should they prepare to get the most value?
E) Outcomes & Evidence (7)
- What changed first—what early win told you this was working?
- Quantify results if you can (conversion, leads, cycle time, training completion, incident rate, NPS, brand lift).
- Which outcome mattered most to leadership—and why?
- What did end users or customers notice and repeat back to you?
- How does this compare to previous vendors or internal attempts?
- What single result would have justified the investment by itself?
- If this disappeared tomorrow, what would break?
F) Vertical/Use-Case Specifics (pick 3–5)
Manufacturing/Operations:
32. What defects, downtime, or rework did this help reduce?
Healthcare/Life Sciences:
33. How did we handle PHI, consent, or on-site clearance?
SaaS/Tech:
34. What adoption or time-to-value did you see across teams?
Construction/Field Services:
35. How did we capture sites safely and with minimal disruption? (We can fly specialized drones indoors when appropriate.)
Professional Services/Finance:
36. How did we navigate approvals and protect sensitive information?
G) Advocacy & Future (6)
- What would you tell a CFO who’s skeptical about ROI?
- What would you tell a compliance or legal lead about risk management?
- Would you recommend us—why, and to whom?
- What should a new client know on day one to accelerate success?
- Where will you expand this next (more teams, markets, use cases)?
- Finish this: “Working with St Louis Commercial Video is like ___.”
Sequencing That Keeps Energy High
- Start with easy credibility questions, then escalate to stakes.
- Move into choice once trust is built, then execution while memory is fresh.
- Save outcomes and soundbites for last; people get more confident as they talk.
- Capture b-roll immediately after the interview while access and momentum are intact.
On-Camera Coaching (protect authenticity without scripting)
- Answer with context: “Before we partnered with St Louis Commercial Video, we…”
- Plain language beats jargon; define acronyms once for captions.
- Present tense adds energy: “This reduces training time by…”
- Posture and pacing: shoulders relaxed, chin level, pause before key phrases.
- Wardrobe: avoid tight patterns and unapproved logos; bring one backup option.
Production Craft Notes (the details your audience actually sees)
- Audio: Dual-system sound (lav + boom). Check levels every setup and capture room tone.
- Lighting: Key/fill/rim for separation; add negative fill to sculpt; practicals for depth.
- Backgrounds: Choose environments that say something about the work; secure clearance for any third-party marks.
- Motion: Use controlled dolly moves or, where appropriate, fly specialized drones indoors for dynamic establishing shots—safely and legally.
- Continuity: Keep a quick log of strong quotes and matching b-roll needs for the edit.
AI-Accelerated Post (speed without spin)
Use AI to remove friction, not fabricate claims.
- Automated transcription for paper edits and fast selects.
- Smart cleanup (um removal, gentle noise reduction) to preserve natural voice.
- Brand-matched captions and color pipelines for consistency and accessibility.
- Cutdown automation to deliver 15/30/60/120-second versions in square/vertical for social and sales.
- Provenance and releases tracked; disclose any generative elements (e.g., background extensions) when used.
Distribution & Measurement (so the asset actually sells)
- Owned: Product/pricing pages, case studies, onboarding. Include transcripts for search.
- Sales enablement: Captioned versions plus a time-coded summary of claims for reps.
- Lifecycle: Insert 30–45 sec cuts into nurture streams and renewal plays.
- Paid & social: Hook in the first 2–3 seconds; strong thumbnail with a quote; single CTA end card.
- Events/PR: 10–15 sec punch quotes for booths, analyst briefings, award entries.
- Measure: Plays, completion, meeting-set rate, assisted conversions, influenced pipeline. Refresh annually or when metrics plateau.
Print-Ready Checklists
Pre-Production
- Audience, objective, claims defined and approved
- Interviewee brief sent; wardrobe/location confirmed
- Releases and permissions cleared; compliance path mapped
- Question set tailored to role and vertical
- Shot list for b-roll, including access and safety notes
Day-Of
- Redundant audio; lighting built for separation
- Quiet set; signage for privacy
- Continuity log started; note pull-quotes
- Layered b-roll: wide → medium → tight → reactions
Post
- Transcribe; paper edit against story spine
- AI-assisted cleanup, captions, color; QC pass
- Master + cutdowns + aspect ratio variants
- Distribution plan with KPIs; analytics tags applied
About St Louis Commercial Video
St Louis Commercial Video is a full-service professional commercial photography and video production company with the right equipment and creative crew service experience for successful image acquisition. We offer full-service studio and location video and photography, as well as editing, post-production and licensed drone pilots. St Louis Commercial Video can customize your productions for diverse types of media requirements. Repurposing your photography and video branding to gain more traction is another specialty. We are well-versed in all file types and styles of media and accompanying software. We use the latest in Artificial Intelligence for all our media services. Our private studio lighting and visual setup is perfect for small productions and interview scenes, and our studio is large enough to incorporate props to round out your set. We support every aspect of your production—from setting up a private, custom interview studio to supplying professional sound and camera operators, as well as providing the right equipment—ensuring your next video production is seamless and successful. We can fly our specialized drones indoors. As a full-service video and photography production corporation, since 1982, St Louis Commercial Video has worked with many businesses, marketing firms and creative agencies in the St. Louis area for their marketing photography and video. When you’re ready to turn interviews into measurable business outcomes, we’re ready to roll.
St Louis Commercial Video Production 