Answer the Ten Questions Every Customer Asks Ten Questions

Every question you answer in public is a sales call you do not have to make. Here is how to find your ten and use them.

Picture your inbox on a normal day. How much does this cost? Do you deliver to my area? How long does it take? What if I am not happy?

You answer these one by one. Then next week, a new person asks the same thing. It feels like work. It is also a clue.

I have been reading about a book called They Ask, You Answer by Marcus Sheridan. The idea behind it is simple: your customers are already asking questions. If you answer them in public, you earn trust before anyone talks to you.

The idea in plain words

Sheridan's argument, as I understand it from interviews about the book, is that buyers do a lot of research before they contact a business. In the podcast he puts it at about 80 percent, which is his estimate, not a hard rule. They search, they read, they compare. If your site is silent on the things they want to know, they find answers somewhere else. Often from a competitor.

He suggests being honest where others stay vague, including on the uncomfortable topics. Buyers tend to trust a business that talks openly about price, problems and who a product is not for.

He groups buyer questions into five topics: cost, problems, comparisons, reviews, and "best" (what is the best option for a certain need). That list is a good prompt when you are stuck.

Sheridan says he used this approach at his pool company, River Pools in Virginia. In the podcast he says the business was about to file for bankruptcy during the 2008 financial crisis, before he turned to answering questions. That is his account, so treat it as his story, not proof that it will work for you.

Find your ten

You do not need a tool. You need a week of listening.

1. Open your messages, emails and call notes from the last three months.
2. Write down every question a customer asked before buying.
3. Group the ones that mean the same thing.
4. Pick the ten that come up most, or the ten that scare you most to answer.

That second group matters. If a question makes you uncomfortable, it is probably on your customers' minds too.

Turn each question into something people can find

One question, one page or post. Write the answer the way you would say it to a friend across the counter.

• A short post or video for social media.
• A section on a Frequently Asked Questions page.
• A line you can paste into a reply, with a link to the longer answer.

A small example (invented)

Say you run a small cleaning company. Your list might include: How much does a visit cost? Do you bring your own supplies? What if something gets broken? Can I trust the person at my door? Each of those is a short post. The one about broken items might feel scary to write. It is also the one a nervous customer wants answered most.

Where this can go wrong

Answering everything can feel risky. You may worry that giving a price will scare people off. Maybe it will scare off some. Those people might not have been right for you anyway. Start with the questions you are comfortable with and work towards the harder ones.

Also, do not copy answers from other people. A generic answer builds no trust. Use your own numbers, your own examples, your own voice.

What I take from this

Your repeated questions are a free list of content ideas. I would rather answer a question once, well, in public, than answer it fifty times in private. If a question is awkward, that is a sign to answer it first.

Try this week: Collect your last twenty customer questions. Circle the ten that repeat. Write the answer to just one and post it.

Sources

• Marcus Sheridan, They Ask, You Answer (book). Ideas as described in a podcast interview with the author and an overview of his five topics, both linked with this article.