TAYA workshop vs. TAYA Mastery: which fits your business best?

You're excited about They Ask, You Answer and are eager to invest in a next step.

You've seen that we offer both a TAYA workshop and a TAYA Mastery track and are wondering what's best for you: doing a one-time TAYA workshop (first) or going straight for the comprehensive TAYA Mastery program?

As a They Ask, You Answer coach at Buzzlytics, I conduct TAYA workshops and guide companies through the TAYA Mastery process. In my experience, the choice between a workshop and a long-term track depends mainly on the extent to which you and your team are already convinced They Ask, You Answer and the extent to which you are able and willing to invest in an intensive track.

In this article, I discuss the main differences between the TAYA workshop and TAYA Mastery. I explain what each option entails and help you determine which variant is the best next step for your business. This will allow you to make an informed decision by the end of this article.

A TAYA workshop is a one-time investment, with a facilitator from Buzzlytics coming to your company for a half-day session (usually three to four hours).

This workshop is specific to your company and aims to align your team around the They Ask, You Answer method. It is an intensive workshop, laying a solid foundation for implementing the TAYA principles within your company.

A TAYA workshop is not a standard talk. The content is partly determined by the interaction with your employees and we always address the specific situation of your company and the specific questions, comments, challenges and resistance of your employees.

The TAYA workshop aims to align your team around They Ask, You Answer.

You may be thinking now: if I've read the book, surely I can tell my team about the method myself? Why do I need a workshop for that?

In our experience, the message comes across better when someone from the outside brings it. My fellow coaches and I did our training at IMPACT, the company of the author and founder of They Ask, You Answer. We know exactly how to bring your team into the TAYA story, what resistance to expect and how best to respond.

TAYA Mastery, on the other hand, is a comprehensive coaching and training program in which you learn to do your marketing and sales yourself in (at least) 18 months according to the They Ask, You Answer method.

This process begins with a kick-off session, where we make sure your entire team knows what we're going to do and has access to all the necessary resources such as the e-learning platform IMPACT+.

In addition, you'll have quarterly planning sessions to set appropriate goals and priorities and bi-weekly training sessions. The training sessions help your employees improve their knowledge and skills in areas such as written content, video content and HubSpot.

A TAYA workshop is also a regular part of TAYA Mastery. If you do the workshop first and then decide you want to continue with TAYA Mastery, you do not need to attend the workshop again and you will receive a discount on your TAYA Mastery course.

Some companies ask us if a TAYA workshop is enough if they want to get started with They Ask, You Answer.

Above I explained that TAYA Mastery consists of three parts:

• The kick-off session where we get all the noses in the same direction.
• A quarterly planning session, in which we set goals and priorities for the coming quarter.
• Training and coaching sessions completed based on the goals and priorities determined in the quarterly planning sessions.

We repeat this cycle every quarter until the eighteen months are over.

If you only do the workshop, you will have aligned your team in terms of They Ask, You Answer but have not set goals and priorities that you will work on for the next quarter.

So you have to facilitate quarterly planning sessions yourself and ensure yourself that the action items from those planning sessions are followed up.

In TAYA Mastery, we facilitate the planning sessions for you, set priorities together and help you avoid falling into the pitfalls we see in many companies implementing They Ask, You Answer without a coach.

In addition, there are coaching and training sessions.

During the coaching we pay particular attention to the team dynamics, whether you are all still on the same page and whether you are still on track with your priorities.

In the trainings, we go deeper into content and address questions such as: how do you recruit a content manager? How do you write a good They Ask, You Answer article? How do you apply assignment selling within your company? And so on.

All of these topics will be touched on in the workshop, but we won't get into them.

At Buzzlytics, we see time and again that it turns out to be much more difficult to implement They Ask, You Answer without a coach than many companies think. A coach plays a crucial role in a successful implementation. He ensures that you remain continuously focused on what you want to achieve and what it takes to get there.

In our experience, companies that do TAYA Mastery achieve their goals faster and more effectively than companies that try to implement They Ask, You Answer themselves.

Also read: Is a coach necessary to implement They Ask, You Answer?

Tip: Is the investment of TAYA Mastery too high for you? Then you can also consider TAYA Group Mastery. This is a six-month group coaching program specifically designed for smaller SMEs that would like to get started with TAYA, but are not looking forward to the high investment. Read more about the differences between TAYA Mastery and TAYA Group Mastery.

Implementing They Ask, You Answer without a coach turns out to be much more difficult than many companies think.

So how do you decide whether it's best to start TAYA Mastery right away or better to do a workshop first?

The answer is everyone's favorite answer: it depends.

The financial investment required for it can be a major reason not to start TAYA Mastery (yet). After all, for best results, you need to invest not only in the coaching process itself, but also in staff (at least the content manager), video equipment, IMPACT+ and software like HubSpot.

If you're serious about getting started They Ask, You Answer and want to see results quickly, TAYA Mastery is worthwhile, but all in all it's quite a big investment that you should be able to make.

Are you still unsure whether They Ask, You Answer suits your company or do you want to introduce your team to the method before you decide? Then it's best to do a workshop first. After the workshop you can still choose to continue with TAYA Mastery. As mentioned, you get a discount on TAYA Mastery if you have already done the workshop.

Also read: What is the right time to get started They Ask, You Answer?

Whether you choose a TAYA workshop or TAYA Mastery: At Buzzlytics, we have experience with both TAYA workshops and TAYA Mastery, and we can help your company successfully implement They Ask, You Answer as well.

Interested in sparring with one of our advisors about the best move for your business? Then schedule an appointment. We would love to think with you!