Does They Ask, You Answer also work for B2B?

If you are familiar with They Ask, You Answer, you may have heard its "origin story" before.

Here's the story again in brief: during the 2008 recession, River Pools and Spas, the pool company of They Ask, You Answer founder Marcus Sheridan, was heading for bankruptcy.

In an effort to turn the tide, Marcus decided to answer every question customers had ever asked him piece by piece on his website. He did this as honestly, transparently and completely as possible.

The result: traffic to his website increased, the content generated millions of dollars in sales, and River Pools became the most visited pool website in the world.

Since then, They Ask, You Answer has become a business philosophy that has transformed companies around the world.

However, there is one "problem": this is about a B2C company.

So we sometimes get asked by B2B companies whether They Ask, You Answer can work for them as well.

The short answer is: yes indeed.

In fact, whether you are B2B or B2C and whether you sell products or services, They Ask, You Answer works for almost any business.

The only conditions are that your buyer needs more than 5 minutes to make a purchase decision and that you are a sales-driven company.

So unless you're a supermarket, a nonprofit or a (semi-)government organization, They Ask, You Answer works for you, too.

(Tip: In our article Do They Ask, You Answer also work for my company? We go into detail about companies and industries for which They Ask, You Answer works, and which companies would be better off looking for another method).

At Buzzlytics, we help both B2C and B2B companies implement They Ask, You Answer and we see time and again that both types of companies are successful with it.

In this article, we discuss why They Ask, You Answer works not only for B2C, but also for B2B. By the end, you'll know how this approach can also help your B2B business get more website traffic, leads and sales.

According to a study by Gartner Research, 80% of B2B sales interactions between suppliers and buyers will take place online by 2025.

The same study also shows something else: B2B buyers considering a purchase spend only 17% of their time talking to potential suppliers.

These are figures from 2020, so chances are these percentages are even higher and lower now, respectively.

But whatever the exact percentages, it is clear that B2B companies also need to embrace a digital-first approach, if they haven't already.

Indeed, trends such as these show that an increasing portion of the decision-making process takes place before a potential customer contacts a company.

The modern customer - B2C or B2B - wants to be able to find the answers to their questions themselves at any time.

An increasing part of the decision-making process takes place before a potential customer contacts a company.

So buyers prefer self-education to a conversation with your sales team. This means you have to produce the content they are looking for. If you want to stay in the game, at least.

To gain a competitive advantage, you must provide your potential buyers with the most helpful, unbiased and complete information available in your market.

This means you need to be obsessed with the questions your potential customers are asking, long before you even know this particular buyer exists.

We call these questions the Big 5 and they form one of the core principles of They Ask, You Answer.

They are:

• Prices/Costs
• Disadvantages/Problems
• Differences
• Reviews
• Best in class

They are an excellent starting point for any B2B company looking to get started They Ask, You Answer.

You must provide your potential buyers with the most helpful, unbiased and complete information available in your market.

Getting a single person through the sales process is already challenging. But guiding a group through that same process is even more challenging.

This is all the more true when sales teams have few opportunities to engage with decision makers.

In a onderzoek uitgevoerd door Forrester, more than 300 B2B decision-makers reported that only 20% of the salespeople they talked to met their expectations and created value. And only one in four salespeople got a second call done.

This is one of the reasons that decision-makers send a procurement colleague by to talk to salespeople, rather than engaging them themselves.

This can make it much more difficult to close a deal. It can even cause problems after the deal is closed if the decision-maker does not fully "believe in it."

This course of action impacts closing rates and extends the length of the sales cycle.

If you recognize this, you can do two things:

• Or you trust your contact to convey the right message to the decision makers in his company
• Or you provide your contact with the content that decision makers can use to inform themselves

They Ask, You Answer provides a framework for the second option.

If your sales colleagues have the right articles, videos and tools, they can ensure that all decision makers are getting the same information.

In doing so, it is important that all decision makers receive the exact same information as your contact person. Otherwise, there remains room for noise on the line.

In the past 10 years, the number of review platforms such as Trustpilot, Tripadvisor and Google My Business has exploded.

These sites contain reviews posted by users themselves and are an important tool for many people when comparing suppliers.

These types of sites may not be relevant to your industry, but reviews are in the Big 5 for a reason.

After all, your buyers also want to compare things and avoid making the wrong decision. They want to know more about your competitors and look for unbiased information.

For many companies, the idea of candid, unbiased content is far too radical to even consider. So here are opportunities for a company that gets started They Ask, You Answer.

Your buyers also want to compare things and avoid making the wrong decision.

You have to deal with reviews and competitors in a proactive way.

In addition, it is important to think about exactly what things your customers are comparing.

Consider:

• Different suppliers
• Different products and services from one supplier
• Different strategies and solutions to his challenges

Therefore, you need to create content in which you explore and answer these types of questions.

They Ask, You Answer is a powerful approach for both B2B and B2C companies.

B2B buyers, like B2C buyers, want to find the answers to their questions at any time. When you answer their questions transparently and completely on your website, you build trust and set yourself apart from the competition.

Whether you sell products or services, operate locally or internationally, or have a large or small business - at the end of the day, every business is all about gaining the trust of their customers.

As Marcus Sheridan says, "We're all in the business of trust."

Wondering how we can help your B2B company generate more website traffic, leads and sales with They Ask, You Answer? Then schedule a consultation with one of our certified They Ask, You Answer consultants.