---
title: They Ask, You Answer — the book | RGM® Glossary
url: https://realgrowthmatters.com/glossary/they-ask-you-answer/
updated: 2026-06-10
source_html: https://realgrowthmatters.com/glossary/they-ask-you-answer/
---

# They Ask, You Answer

/ðeɪ æsk, ju ˈænsəɹ/proper noun

Answer what buyers actually ask — especially the questions your industry is scared of.

Author
:   Marcus Sheridan

Published
:   2017, Wiley (rev. 2019)

Framework
:   The Big 5

Origin case
:   River Pools & Spas

## Forms & parts of speech

TAYA · acronym

The philosophy's shorthand.

"Run a **TAYA** audit — which of the Big 5 are we still hiding from?"

## What the book says

*They Ask, You Answer* systematizes what saved Sheridan's pool company in 2009: become the most trusted teacher in your market by answering, publicly and honestly, every question buyers ask. The Big 5 name the questions companies dodge — cost, problems, comparisons, reviews, and best-of — precisely because buyers search them most. Assignment selling closes the loop: prospects read or watch the honest answers BEFORE the sales call, which then starts at question forty instead of question one.

## The ideas people quote

The pricing article that wouldn't state a price is the book's defining sin; addressing your own product's drawbacks builds more trust than any claim; the buyer completes most of the decision before talking to sales, so content IS the first sales rep; insourcing — your team writes, because the expertise lives in-house; and video's escalation of all of it ('the selling 7' videos).

## How to read it now

It is the most operational of the content classics — less philosophy, more 'publish these exact pages.' In the AI-answer era its bet improves: engines reward the site that actually answers the question asked. The discipline still filters its readers, though — most companies that 'do TAYA' publish four of the Big 5 and quietly skip cost, which is the one that works.

**Worked example.** An ERP consultancy hides pricing like everyone in its category. The TAYA program publishes the honest cost guide (ranges, the factors that move them, why quotes vary), a candid 'problems with ERP implementations' piece naming its own past failures, and comparison pages that treat rivals fairly. Sales adopts assignment selling — the cost guide goes out before every first call. Within a year the guide is the top-converting page and close rates rise, because prospects arrive pre-trusted.

**Failure modes to watch.** Publishing a costs page that never states a cost; sanding the honesty out in legal review; and skipping assignment selling so sales never compounds the content.

## Synonyms & antonyms

### Synonyms

They Ask You AnswerTAYA

## Origin & history

Grew from the 2009 River Pools turnaround — the fiberglass-pool cost article Sheridan wrote when no competitor would state a price — and the speaking circuit that followed. Wiley published it January 2017, with a revised edition (adding video) in 2019.

Etymology: [source](https://marcussheridan.com/they-ask-you-answer/).

## Usage trends

Search interest for this term over the last five years:

[View interest-over-time on Google Trends →](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=they%20ask%20you%20answer%20book&date=today%205-y)

## Common questions

Who wrote They Ask, You Answer?
:   Marcus Sheridan, the River Pools owner whose honest-content turnaround became the method — published 2017, revised 2019.

What are the Big 5?
:   Cost, problems, comparisons, reviews, and best-of — the questions buyers search and companies avoid answering.

What is assignment selling?
:   Sending honest content answering a prospect's questions before the sales conversation, so calls start further down the funnel.

## Related tools & calculators

- tool[Experiment planner](/tools/experiment-planner/)
- tool[Funnel drop-off analyzer](/tools/funnel-drop-off-analyzer/)

## Resources & people to follow

- book*They Ask, You Answer* — Marcus Sheridan (the subject)
- referenceRiver Pools — the original cost article
- referenceIMPACT — the TAYA certification shop

Curated, non-competitor resources verified per term.

## Related training

- module[Content marketing](/training/content-marketing/)

## Disciplines

Areas of marketing where they ask, you answer is a core concern:

[Content strategy](/training/content-marketing/)[Brand strategy](/training/growth-marketing-foundations/)

## Read next

## Related terms

[Marcus Sheridan](/glossary/marcus-sheridan/)[Content marketing](/glossary/content-marketing/)[SEO](/glossary/seo/)[Conversion rate](/glossary/conversion-rate/)[Joe Pulizzi](/glossary/joe-pulizzi/)

## Sources

1. trends[Google Trends — "they ask you answer book"](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=they%20ask%20you%20answer%20book&date=today%205-y)