This is a comprehensive summary of “They Ask You Answer” by Marcus Sheridan. The book explores a revolutionary approach to inbound sales, content marketing, and today's digital consumer.

what’s in it for me? learn about a transformative marketing method.#

Introduction

marcus sheridan, they ask, you answer.

a revolutionary approach to inbound sales, content marketing, and today's digital consumer.

narrated by stephen schiller and amanda marr.

when was the last time you bought something because it looked especially appealing in a tv commercial?

or paid close attention to a radio ad?

it's probably been a while, if it's ever happened at all.

most of the time, advertising is nothing more than an annoyance.

and increasingly, businesses are discovering that they're an ineffective annoyance.

this is because the way consumers behave is changing.

more and more, we use the internet to research products and services.

with so much information available, we're able to become truly informed buyers.

in the past, we weren't so allergic to being told what to buy, but that's no longer the case.

today, we don't want ads, we want quality educational content.

we also seek out convenience and ease of purchase.

anything that gets in the way of that is a major drag.

this is where marcus sheridan comes in.

he's developed a truly radical marketing approach that puts the consumer at the heart of everything.

this is called the they ask, you answer philosophy.

rather than simply pushing a product, it seeks to empower the consumer through education, transparency, and convenience.

as you'll discover in the chapters that follow, companies that adopt this method can earn their customers' respect and, hopefully, their business.

to connect with consumers, companies need to address their fears.#

there's one thing that unites all successful companies in the 21st century.

they understand their customers better than everyone else.

they also understand that technology has completely transformed the way those customers behave.

the lesson here is simple.

anyone attempting to do business today needs to dig into what motivates their customers to act as they do.

the key message here is, to connect with consumers, companies need to address their fears.

in the 21st century, purchasing habits have changed dramatically.

using the internet, customers are able to extensively research a potential purchase.

they can read countless reviews, browse company content, and watch how-to videos, considering the product or service from every possible angle, before making a purchase.

long before they're in contact with a company, they're already familiar with its products.

there's a striking statistic that clearly shows how much has changed.

around 10 years ago, 20 to 40 percent of purchasing decisions were made before a customer got in touch with a company.

today, that number has rocketed to 70 percent.

imagine you're trying to sell swimming pools, as the author used to do.

before prospective customers even contact your sales team, they'll generally have a good idea of whether or not they're going to have a pool installed.

they don't need to be sold on the idea.

so the best thing you can do is address any lingering fears and anxieties a customer might have.

fear, after all, is the central force in a buying decision.

customers fear losing their hard-earned cash by making a purchasing mistake or being ripped off.

what if that swimming pool is the wrong shape for their space?

what if it costs a fortune and then leaks?

what if a pool comes with hidden maintenance costs?

these are the kinds of questions that a company should address long before a customer makes contact, even if this kind of honesty seems to fly in the face of traditional marketing wisdom.

companies can do this by prioritizing content that informs and reassures the buyer before they make their purchase.

remember, customers have access to an unprecedented amount of information online.

if a company seems to be hiding something, customer fears will only increase.

as a result, sales will begin to suffer.

that's why openness is at the heart of the they-ask-you-answer philosophy.

in the following chapters, we'll look at how companies can apply this transparency, gaining customer trust and increasing sales in the long term.

chapter 2.

carmax exemplifies the they ask you answer philosophy.#

evade imagine you're a used car salesperson.

it's not always easy out there on the lot.

after all, people assume you're a walking stereotype, a cheap-suit-wearing, hair-grease-using, mustachioed con artist.

even though you wear casual clothes, avoid all hair products, and have never sported facial hair in your life.

on top of all that, you're a really and truly an honest person.

so what are you to do?

how can you dispel your customers' misgivings in an industry known for its underhandedness?

well, the they-ask-you-answer philosophy encourages companies to obsess over customer needs, doubts, and questions.

and for carmax, an american used car company, adopting this approach had some pretty fantastic results.

the key message here is, carmax, a used car company, exemplifies the they-ask-you-answer philosophy.

the people in charge at carmax knew that their industry had a bad reputation.

rather than sticking their heads in the sand, though, they decided to be proactive.

they acknowledged the situation, drew up a list of consumer fears about buying used cars, and then addressed those fears one by one.

first, they got rid of the haggling process, which most buyers loathe, and introduced something called no-haggle pricing.

this meant that there was just one non-negotiable price, the price listed on carmax's website.

second, carmax introduced a flat-rate commission for sales.

this meant that salespeople got the exact same commission whenever they sold a car, regardless of how expensive or cheap it was.

this removed the incentive for salespeople to put their bonus before the needs of customers, and the whole issue of mistrust disappeared along with it.

third, carmax offered something truly original in the used car market, a five-day money-back guarantee.

this firmly dealt with customers' fear of being sold a faulty vehicle, since they now had a few days to really inspect their purchase.

carmax's principles perfectly mirrored the philosophy of they-ask-you-answer, and so did the way it applied those principles to its business model.

carmax considered all of the fears we have about used cars and dealt with them.

at the time, its competitors scoffed and said it would never work.

now, though, carmax is the largest retailer of used vehicles in the united states.

there are four important factors that companies should consider as they create online content.#

chapter 3.

evade uh-oh.

your computer's acting up.

the screen freezes, the keys stick, and the startup disk always seems to be full.

this laptop isn't long for the world.

luckily, like most consumers nowadays, you've done your research.

after browsing a few websites and comparing some product reviews, you've figured out precisely what you need in a new machine and made a decision.

but wait a second.

what exactly led to that decision?

well, consciously or not, you've been influenced by four important factors, factors that any company that wants your business will need to keep in mind.

the key message here is, there are four important factors that companies should consider as they create online content.

let's be honest.

the first thing any consumer considers is price.

searching for a new laptop, you probably wouldn't even consider buying from a website that didn't clearly list prices, especially when shopping elsewhere is as simple as clicking the back button.

so price is the first factor companies need to consider.

the second factor is whether or not they honestly address their product's pros and cons.

if they do, they'll foster that rarest of commodities in business, trust.

the author did this by writing an article for his company, river pools and spas, that addressed the drawbacks of fiberglass swimming pools.

inquisitive buyers landed on that page, learned all about the issues with fiberglass pools, and then bought one anyway.

in fact, that single article generated over three million dollars in sales.

this was because buyers could see that the company had nothing to hide and was interested in informing them as fully as possible.

comparison can be a helpful tool, too.

remember, customers like to compare different types of products.

it might seem counterintuitive, but if a company can offer a candid comparison between its product and those of its competitors, it'll earn goodwill from potential customers.

frank and humble statements, the truth is, our product might not be right for you, for example, will show customers that you're trustworthy.

the final factor is reviews.

again, honesty is crucial.

if a company website openly provides the information that customers would have found elsewhere, it'll engender goodwill.

another article the author wrote for his company's website objectively reviewed competitors' products.

he even acknowledged that some were superior.

by doing this, he directed a great deal of traffic to the website and again generated many sales from customers who were impressed with his company's frankness and integrity.

companies often have their priorities wrong when it comes to listening.#

chapter 4 of 8 remember the video rental chain blockbuster?

through the 1980s and 1990s, it dominated the movie rental business.

then things began to change.

people gradually stopped going to video stores and began mail-ordering dvds to watch at home.

one company was ahead of the curve, offering a convenient dvd mail-order rental service.

this, of course, was netflix.

blockbuster, on the other hand, continued with the business model that had served it well.

before long, the chain went out of business.

blockbuster's fatal error?

it stopped listening to customers.

the key message here is, companies often have their priorities wrong when it comes to listening.

who do failing companies listen to the most?

number one is the competition.

number two is people who are bad fits for the company.

finally, and last place, customers.

failing companies are first and foremost obsessed with the competition.

this leads the company down a path that has no relation at all to serving customers and everything to do with second-guessing the competition.

rather than prioritizing good service and transparency, such companies spend their time hiding things they think will give their competitors an edge.

these companies also obsess over customers who are a bad fit.

the truth is, there will always be customers who simply aren't suited to a certain product.

but some companies will try to get them to buy it anyway.

this means that they'll disguise certain characteristics of their product, like the pricing or its downsides.

ultimately, such companies get bogged down by dealing with unhappy customers and unfruitful leads.

finally, these companies give only cursory thought to their faithful customers.

like blockbuster, they fail to discern changing customer habits and needs.

the consequence?

once faithful customers begin to move elsewhere, that's when these companies begin to flounder.

and if they're as unlucky as blockbuster, they'll go bankrupt.

in the end, the customer's voice is the only one that a successful company should really listen to.

think about it.

who purchases the products or services that keep businesses up and running?

who pays the bills and the salaries?

it certainly isn't the competition or customers who don't fit with the company.

keeping customers informed makes life easier for everyone.#

chapter 5 of 8 if a company can gain the trust of its customers, word of its quality and integrity will spread.

so rather than sneaky short-term profiteering, it's better for everyone if businesses make good service and transparency their core values.

one way to do this is to ensure that customers know clearly whether or not they're a good fit for the product or service.

so the key message here is, keeping customers informed makes life easier for everyone.

the authors' company, river pools and spas, did exactly this.

to distinguish good fits from bad ones, it began using a technique called assignment selling.

as part of river pools and spas' online content, it prepares extensive documents and videos that list all of the pros and cons of fiberglass swimming pools.

every possible question about pool installation is covered with simple, clear, educational content, collectively called assignment content.

when new customers request an appointment with the sales team, river pools and spas asks them to read and watch the explanatory content before the meeting.

this means that new customers are able to clarify whether or not a fiberglass swimming pool is right for them.

it also means that river pools and spas can quickly distinguish good fits from bad ones.

if a customer claims they don't have time to look at the explanatory content, the company politely refuses to arrange a meeting.

if a customer is really invested in spending thousands of dollars, the company believes, then surely she'll make time.

one story about river pools and spas' content stands out from the rest.

scanning their website statistics one night, the author noticed that one user, mr. g, had read 374 pages of content.

374 pages!

and this was before he'd even contacted the sales department.

the author phoned mr. g the next morning.

there was no need to steer him towards the official documentation, as he now understood everything about swimming pools.

that same day, the author drove to his house.

when he arrived, mr. g, a medical surgeon, was waiting with a spreadsheet that listed all of the pool features he wanted.

after just 45 minutes, the author had completed the sale, secured a $5,000 deposit, and was driving home.

the detailed educational content that river pools and spas had on its website had made it easy for both the customer and the business to identify each other as good fits.

link 6 of 8 often, when we're looking for a particular product or service, be it vitamins or roofing materials, we google something like, what's the best vitamin supplement for me?

education is key to they ask you answer.#

or, how do you fix a hole in the roof?

now, some companies have figured out that this presents an opportunity.

rather than letting random internet users or bloggers answer customer questions, these companies have begun to do it themselves.

there are two reasons this is good for business.

first, companies get to champion their own products.

second, though perhaps more importantly, customers prefer companies that teach them something.

the key message here is, education is key to they ask, you answer.

one company that has used education to great effect is analytics provider health catalyst, which helps healthcare organizations identify waste in their practices.

that's a relatively new field, so when the company started it found a huge deficit of information online.

effectively, it was operating in an informational void, where there wasn't even a single trusted source.

its solution to the problem?

becoming that trusted source.

health catalyst began to write compelling articles for healthcare companies who needed to eliminate waste in their practices.

quite quickly, it began to feature in all of the top google searches for questions in this field.

after a while, those educational articles began to convert into sales for health catalyst's services.

but health catalyst went even further.

given the void of information in the healthcare analytics field, the company decided it'd host free webinars and live industry events.

rather than covering these events with company branding, it decided to prioritize the educational aspect.

in fact, the only mention of health catalyst at its main industry summit was a tiny logo that said, powered by health catalyst.

as it genuinely seemed to care about educating its audience rather than simply advertising its brand, health catalyst earned a great deal of trust from those attending these events.

in the end, health catalyst not only put itself firmly on the map, it became the industry thought leader.

video is an increasingly vital marketing tool.#

chapter 7 of 8 the key message here is, video is an increasingly vital marketing tool.

according to the american technology conglomerate, cisco, video will account for 22% of all customer internet traffic by the year 2022.

this means that companies of the future will have to adopt video content as the core medium for their marketing strategies.

this is because one of the 21st century buyer's key demands is transparency.

through video, a company can demonstrate a product's features and teach buyers how to use it, just as unboxing videos or consumer reviews on youtube do.

also, it's important that companies make their video content in-house rather than employing a special marketing team.

that way, a company can show how it functions as an organization and allow its philosophy to run naturally through all of its output.

individual staff members can appear in video content and speak directly to prospective buyers, putting a face to the brand.

in fact, making video content should become second nature for staff, as commonplace as writing company email.

video can also make the sales process more effective.

better-informed customers can clearly see whether or not they're a good fit for products, making them more confident in the purchases they do make.

with this in mind, video is a great medium for clarifying product details and reassuring customers about their decisions.

it can also be used to save a company a great deal of valuable time and energy.

for instance, nearly 80% of customer calls or emails contain the same few questions.

only around 20% have unusual or original queries.

for those staffing the phones or answering emails, it can get pretty repetitive.

a video clearly dealing with the most frequent queries helps the sales process along and saves time for staff.

with all of that time and energy saved, they can be more productive elsewhere.

conversational marketing is crucial to the successful businesses of the future.#

think about the way you communicate most of the time.

if you're like the majority of people in the 21st century, it isn't through long-form methods such as letter writing or even email.

instead, you probably send a lot of information through instant messaging apps, whatsapp for example, or facebook messenger.

this has implications for the way we communicate with companies, too.

businesses that don't understand these changes will struggle in the near future.

the key message here is conversational marketing is crucial to the successful businesses of the future.

the truth is we want to communicate with companies in real time.

we want to have our queries, complaints, and compliments acknowledged as quickly as possible.

to that end, we tweet at companies or speak to customer service via online chat.

this is all about making the buyer experience as effortless as possible, getting answers to questions, and ultimately making purchasing frictionless.

as customers have all the power in the buying process, companies that make it easier to buy will succeed.

there's no better tool for doing this than conversational marketing.

this means having a presence online that is always available.

whether that's a chatbot or a real person, the most important thing is that buyers can contact the company and have their queries dealt with, not the next day or even later that afternoon, but immediately.

this involves a change in the way most companies do business.

for example, rather than composing perfect emails, companies need to be able to respond in a way that's similar to how we speak through instant messaging apps.

that means quickly and in a more human way.

most customers don't care about receiving a perfectly composed email.

what they care about is an immediate response, even if that means your message is fragmented or slightly informal.

what's most important is that customers feel that you're listening to them and that responding to them is a top priority.

after all, customers are the people who will make the business a huge success or a crashing failure.

final summary#

Conclusion

the key message in these chapters is that customer behavior is changing dramatically.

the average person is able to educate themselves about products like never before, and they demand quicker and more convenient solutions.

in response, companies need to adopt a customer-centered philosophy.

they ask, you answer as a way of thinking that prioritizes educating buyers about their purchasing decisions, earning their trust through transparency, and making every interaction as accessible and convenient as possible.

now, just in case you haven't absorbed all the advice available in these chapters, there's a bit more and of a more tactical variety to implement right now.

the internet remembers, so prioritize quality over quantity.

if you're a business looking to build readership for your online content, remember that a good post can continue to inform and inspire for a long time.

good content is read over and over again, while throwaway posts sink to the bottom of the digital pile or even return as an embarrassment.

so take your time.

get it right.

got feedback?

we would love to hear what you think about our content.

just drop an email to remember at summarybook.org with they ask, you answer as the subject line and share your thoughts.

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