They Ask You Answer

Have you ever hesitated to give a customer all the information they asked for—especially if that information might expose your weaknesses or make competitors look good? In They Ask, You Answer, Marcus Sheridan argues that this hesitation is exactly what kills trust, credibility, and sales in the digital age. He contends that the most successful businesses today don’t hide behind marketing jargon or guard their secrets; they thrive because they commit to radical honesty with their buyers.

Sheridan’s message is simple but revolutionary: if you want your company to grow, trust must come first—and transparency is how you build it. The philosophy boils down to four words that every organization can live by: They Ask, You Answer. Whenever a customer asks a question, no matter how tough, uncomfortable, or seemingly risky to answer, your job is to respond fully and truthfully. That’s how you become the most trusted voice in your industry instead of just another brand trying to sell something.

A Story Born from Desperation

Sheridan’s philosophy was forged in crisis. In 2008, the U.S. economy collapsed, and his small Virginia pool company—River Pools and Spas—was bleeding cash, facing bankruptcy, and unable to pay employees. With no marketing budget left, he turned to Google, reading everything he could about inbound marketing, blogging, and digital trust-building. What he discovered was that people wanted to be educated, not sold. They didn’t need slick ads; they needed honest answers.

By pivoting his business to teaching instead of selling—answering every question customers asked online—Sheridan rebuilt River Pools from the verge of failure into the most trafficked pool website in the world. His most famous blog post, “How Much Does a Fiberglass Pool Cost?”, broke every industry taboo about discussing price publicly yet generated over $3 million in sales. The business he almost lost became an international case study in digital trust-building, proving that teaching beats pitching every time.

Why Buyers Have Changed Forever

The book argues that the Internet has transformed how people buy—and therefore how companies must sell. Today’s consumers make about 70 percent of their buying decision before ever contacting a sales representative. They research online, read reviews, and compare options long before speaking to anyone. This means marketing and sales are now intertwined; marketing educates, sales supports, and both must collaborate on content that builds trust.

Sheridan sees this shift not as a threat but as an opportunity. If you can answer customers’ questions better than anyone else—on your website, through video, in guides, and social posts—you’ll naturally become their go-to source of information. When they’re ready to buy, they’ll choose you because they already trust you. (This thinking echoes Seth Godin’s Permission Marketing and Donald Miller’s StoryBrand, both of which also emphasize empathy and education over persuasion.)

The Five Questions Every Customer Asks

After years of experimentation, Sheridan discovered five topics—what he calls the Big 5—that move the needle in every industry. These are the questions every buyer research process revolves around:

• Pricing and costs
• Problems (the flaws and risks of your product or service)
• Comparisons (“this vs. that” questions)
• Reviews
• Best in class (who are the best companies in your space)

When you openly address these, you stop trying to manipulate customers and start empowering them. Sheridan calls avoiding these topics “ostrich marketing”—burying your head in the sand and pretending customers won’t find out the truth elsewhere. But they will—and if you let someone else be the one to educate them, you’ve already lost.

A Blueprint for Transformation

Throughout the book, Sheridan outlines a blueprint for transforming any company into a trusted educator. This means integrating content marketing with sales training, assigning ownership to a content manager, and creating alignment between leadership, sales, and marketing. He further emphasizes insourcing—empowering employees to create their own content and share their expertise instead of outsourcing storytelling to an agency that doesn’t live the company culture.

He also introduces assignment selling—a method where salespeople use educational content (articles, videos, guides) in the sales process to help prospects become more informed before meetings. Doing this filters out poor fits, saves time, and increases closing rates. In River Pools’ case, prospects who read 30 or more pages of content closed at 80%, compared to just 20% for those who hadn’t.

Why “Being Different” Isn’t Special

Finally, Sheridan warns against the “we’re different” mindset that keeps companies from changing. Every business believes it’s unique, but at the most fundamental level, every company is built on trust—and trust comes from communication, not secrets. Whether you sell swimming pools, software, or surgery tools, your buyers still crave the same things: transparency, education, and confidence in their decision.

Core Idea:

In a world overflowing with marketing noise, the most trusted brands win not because they shout louder but because they listen better. They Ask, You Answer teaches you how to turn consumer curiosity into sales—and skepticism into enduring trust.

Those who adopt this model don’t just sell more; they reshape their industries by setting a new standard for honesty, clarity, and education. This is the heart of Sheridan’s philosophy—and the reason his four-word answer has changed thousands of companies worldwide.

Marcus Sheridan presents They Ask, You Answer as more than just a marketing tactic—it’s a complete business philosophy. The idea is simple: every question your customers have represents an opportunity to build trust. Every ignored question represents a broken link in that trust. If you’re willing to become the ultimate teacher in your space, you not only sell more—you redefine what it means to do honest business.

From Product Pitch to Teaching Platform

Sheridan argues that companies must stop acting like vendors and start acting like educators. This shift means replacing secrecy with clarity and marketing spin with authenticity. For example, River Pools once produced advertising filled with feel-good slogans. None of it worked. But once they began publishing in-depth answers to tough questions—like “What are the problems with fiberglass pools?”—customers finally trusted them enough to buy.

Being a teacher means seeing your content as a product of service: something customers can use to make better decisions. Sheridan insists that the moment a buyer senses you’re holding something back—pricing, problems, or competitor comparisons—trust collapses. Transparency builds authority faster than perfection ever could.

Why Businesses Resist Transparency

Most businesses resist publishing this type of content out of fear. They worry about giving away too much to competitors, scaring away buyers, or admitting flaws. Sheridan calls this “ostrich marketing.” He points out that consumer ignorance is not a viable sales strategy anymore; people can learn everything online in seconds. Refusing to answer their questions merely drives them elsewhere.

Key Insight:

Your customers will find the truth—with or without you. The smartest companies make sure they find it through you.

Thinking Like a Teacher

Sheridan encourages leaders to view communication as a moral obligation. Teaching doesn’t weaken your brand—it strengthens it by aligning your business with your customers’ best interests. Every team member should see himself as a teacher. Marketing should empower others to share their expertise. Sales teams should view their content as educational tools, not persuasive scripts. This mindset transforms how employees treat customers, how departments collaborate, and even how products are developed.

They Ask, You Answer therefore becomes both a principle and a lens. It’s not just about getting found on Google—it’s about earning trust face-to-face, in emails, and in company culture. Once you adopt it fully, your business moves from competing for attention to being the undeniable source of truth in your field.

Sheridan identifies five types of questions that buyers ask across every industry. He calls them the Big 5: Pricing and Costs, Problems, Versus and Comparisons, Reviews, and Best in Class. When companies speak openly about these subjects, they earn trust. When they avoid them, they lose relevance.

1. Pricing and Costs

The most common question buyers have is, “How much does it cost?” Yet fewer than 10% of businesses discuss pricing online. Sheridan’s example—the River Pools blog explaining the cost of fiberglass pools—shows how powerful being upfront can be. That single post generated millions in sales and became Google’s top result for dozens of cost-related phrases. Transparency doesn’t “scare customers away”; it filters out bad fits and attracts buyers who already trust your honesty.

2. Problems

People worry more about what might go wrong than what could go right. When River Pools published “Top 5 Fiberglass Pool Problems and Solutions,” it addressed customer fears directly. Instead of losing credibility, they earned respect for their honesty. That one article generated over $500,000 in sales—and dramatically cut time wasted on poor-fit prospects.

3. Versus and Comparisons

Consumers constantly compare options. By writing “Fiberglass vs. Concrete vs. Vinyl Pools: An Honest Comparison,” River Pools outranked all competitors and attracted high-quality leads. Sheridan emphasizes disarmament—admitting that each choice has pros and cons and that yours may not be best for everyone. This honesty turns skepticism into trust.

4. Reviews

Buyers crave credible reviews. When companies openly review products—not just their own but competitors’—they establish authority. Sheridan cites Yale Appliance, a Boston-based retailer that publishes data-based reviews from their repair department. Their post “Most Serviced Appliance Brands” outranked manufacturers and helped customers make informed decisions. Yale’s transparency earned millions in revenue.

5. Best in Class

Instead of pretending competitors don’t exist, Sheridan urges businesses to celebrate the best in their industry honestly. His article, “Best Pool Builders in Richmond, Virginia,” listed competitors—but not his own company. The result? River Pools ranked first for “best pool builders” searches and gained more sales. Customers trusted them more for their openness.

When you address all five of these topics truthfully, search engines reward you, prospects stay longer, and competitors start thanking you for raising standards. These five subjects are universal triggers of trust.

Every company can apply the Big 5. They’re not marketing tricks—they’re reflections of how real people make decisions online and offline. If you’re willing to give people all the information they seek, you’ll become their trusted guide—and the sale becomes a natural consequence of that trust.

One of Sheridan’s most practical innovations is assignment selling—using content not just for marketing but as an active part of the sales process. The principle is simple: educate prospects before you meet them so every conversation starts from trust, not ignorance.

Using Homework to Build Confidence

River Pools used this method to qualify leads. Before a home visit, Sheridan emailed prospects an e-book on pool buying and a video of the installation process. He’d say, “Review these before our meeting so you can make the most informed decision.” Those who read more than 30 pages of content closed at 80%. Those who didn’t averaged 20%. By turning education into homework, the sales team attracted serious buyers and filtered out poor fits.

The Rights of a Teacher

Sheridan argues that educators have earned the right to ask for commitment. If you’ve already given a prospect valuable learning materials, it’s fair to expect engagement in return. When prospects say they don’t have time, he recommends politely declining to meet—they’re usually price-shopping and not ready for a real conversation.

Expanding the Method to B2B

At his consulting firm, The Sales Lion, Sheridan uses assignment selling with corporate clients. Before a call, he sends a 200-page e-book outlining his philosophy and expectations. Only those who read it proceed with him. This filters out incompatible clients and builds faster, higher-quality relationships. In practice, assignment selling saves time and raises closing rates by educating before persuading.

Applied well, this approach makes sales feel effortless—because by the time prospects talk to you, they already trust you as a teacher. That’s Sheridan’s ultimate goal: turning selling into learning so customers feel enlightened, not pressured.

Sheridan cautions against outsourcing all marketing and content creation to agencies. External writers can’t fully reflect the soul of a company or the nuance of its expertise. The best stories come from within—from employees who live and breathe the brand. This practice, called insourcing, turns your entire team into content creators and thought leaders.

Why Insourcing Works

When employees help create content, authenticity skyrockets. Customers recognize familiar faces, hear real voices, and trust insights from practitioners over marketers. Sheridan’s client Block Imaging achieved extraordinary success this way: after his workshop, 50 employees contributed hundreds of articles and videos, creating a human-centered brand and $20 million in additional sales revenue.

The Content Manager as Culture Builder

For insourcing to work, someone must own it—a content manager. Sheridan lists ten qualities of great content managers: love of writing, editing skill, interviewing ability, social media fluency, video competence, likeability, psychology savvy, organization, analytics orientation, and creativity. They’re the bridge between marketing, sales, and leadership, ensuring consistency and enthusiasm across departments. Many great CMs are former journalists—trained storytellers who know how to ask questions and write clearly.

Without a dedicated content manager, every initiative Sheridan audited eventually fails. “Either you do this right, or don’t do it at all,” he warns. Marketing without ownership leads to excuses like ‘We tried, but it didn’t work.’

Turning Ownership into Culture

When someone owns content and trains others to contribute, marketing transforms from a program into a culture. Collaboration replaces silos. Employees begin saying, “We are all teachers,” echoing Block Imaging’s mantra. The result isn’t just better marketing—it’s higher morale, teamwork, and pride. As Sheridan puts it, “Everyone’s voice matters.”

Insourcing takes time to build, but it pays exponential dividends. When your internal experts become educators, your company transforms from a vendor into a trusted authority. And once teaching becomes cultural, growth becomes inevitable.

Sheridan emphasizes that transparency must still connect to profit. Companies need tools to track the financial return on their content efforts. His preferred platform, HubSpot, allows precise measurement of leads, sales, and behavior analytics—turning storytelling into quantifiable business results.

Four Metrics That Matter

• ROI tracking: Identify which content pieces generate actual revenue.
• Lead intelligence: Know what pages, videos, and products each lead viewed before contacting you.
• SEO performance: Track which keywords drive traffic and improve rankings.
• Website testing: Continually experiment with page design and calls-to-action to boost conversions.

At River Pools, data showed that visitors who first landed on cost-related content and later purchased were directly tied to millions in sales. HubSpot’s tracking revealed PPC campaigns yielding $357,000 in revenue on $12,000 spent—a clear ROI that enabled smarter decisions.

Using Analytics to Focus Efforts

Sheridan teaches that data should drive focus. Don’t “do everything”—measure what brings the biggest returns and double down. If social media yields little but your blog converts high, prioritize blog content. Transparency in measurement reinforces accountability across teams and ensures energy goes into the highest-impact activities.

Ultimately, while They Ask, You Answer is philosophical, it’s also scientific. If honesty and education are the cause, data must confirm the effect. The best companies marry empathy with analytics—winning hearts and proving results at the same time.

Sheridan insists that success with his philosophy requires full cultural adoption. It can’t remain confined to marketing—it must permeate every level of the company. He demonstrates this through workshops designed to get leadership, sales, marketing, and customer service aligned under one clear mission: “We are teachers.”

The Anatomy of a Cultural Workshop

During company workshops, Sheridan covers eight principles: understanding consumer expectations, how search engines actually work, the Big 5, group brainstorming, sales impact, personal voice, editorial guidelines, and future vision. He proves that once employees understand what, how, and why transparency matters, buy-in skyrockets. The result is what happened at Block Imaging—a team with 700 content ideas ready after two days.

Keeping the Momentum

Jane Kotrla, Block Imaging’s CMO, developed a long-term structure to keep employees excited: internal awards, storytelling newsletters, department challenges, and shared results. Celebrating wins keeps participation alive. Sheridan encourages leaders to make training part of onboarding and to continually tie success back to measurable results. Content goals must feel personal, fun, and aligned with company values.

From Program to Legacy

When content is owned, taught, and celebrated internally, it ceases to be a project—it becomes identity. Sheridan calls this “the snowball effect”: at first building momentum feels uphill, but once cultural trust takes hold, growth accelerates like a snowball rolling down a mountain. As employees see direct impact on sales and reputation, production speeds up organically.

Organizations that build this kind of culture don’t just market better—they transform. Their people find pride in transparency, customers see integrity as brand DNA, and leaders earn results grounded in trust. For Sheridan, that’s the true revolution—when They Ask, You Answer becomes not just what you do, but who you are.