My latest coaching client started on their They Ask, You Answer (TAYA) Mastery journey about a month ago, and as we started putting times in the calendar to set up the regular training sessions, the TAYA leader (the person responsible for the TAYA program within my client's organization) said, "We are going to do all that? This is fantastic. I had no idea that this would be so extensive and all included in this coaching program."
Yikes! The curse of knowledge had worked its magic again. Although I knew what the coaching program entailed, I had failed to explain to my new client everything we would do. While this isn't a question per se, I have gotten this question before and haven't gotten around to answering it yet. But you know what they say: If they ask, you must answer it.
So, in this article today, I will answer the question "What is included if you hire a certified coach to help you implement They Ask, You Answer in your organization?' By the end of the article, you will have a good idea of what to expect and whether or not this is the right choice for you.
Before you dive into what is included when working with a They Ask, You Answer Coach, it is important to define what a TAYA certified coach is and why you should consider hiring one.
A They Ask, You Answer Coach is an individual who has successfully completed 6-month certification training with Impact and Marcus Sheridan and is therefore authorized and competent to coach and train others to implement They Ask, You Answer correctly.
Although you can implement They Ask, You Answer by yourself, hiring a coach will ensure that you are taking the steps in the correct order for your unique situation, implementing them as efficiently as possible, and doing them correctly, which means you can avoid costly mistakes. A coach challenges you, sees your blind spots, and keeps you and your team on track.
More information about the They Ask, You Answer Coaching Program:
Despite common beliefs, They Ask, You Answer isn't a content marketing approach or a way of selling (although all of these are included). Instead, it is a completely transformative business philosophy that aligns all customer-facing teams to contribute to a common mission to help achieve a shared goal: to grow the business by becoming the most trusted voice in your space.
To achieve that goal you have to be willing to:
To do this successfully, you need to train and coach a lot of people in your organization over 18-24 months. So, let's have a look at what that means in practice.
Please note: Every coach might structure their coaching program slightly differently. Below, I will explain what I include in my They Ask, You Answer Mastery Program.
Before we dive into each and every thing that is included in your They Ask, You Answer program, it is crucial to point out that this is NOT a theoretical program. This is all-hands-on-deck, "I hold your hand as you master this transformation" coaching. There will be tons of on-the-job training as you are "doing the thing." I will challenge you and push you. This isn't about just talking the talk. We will walk the walk — together. So, roll up your sleeves, get ready to drink from the fire hose, and let's get the work done.
They Ask, You Answer cannot be successful without executive management buy-in and full company alignment. Therefore, every coaching program kicks off with a company alignment workshop that brings everyone into the fold so every single person understands how the buying behavior of today's customers is different and requires a different approach to selling and marketing, why trust is crucial, what They Ask, You Answer is, and how it will enable all of you to grow your business.
Secondly, every 90 days, your coach will facilitate a Quarterly Planning Session. In these 2-3 hour sessions, you and your core team will evaluate your progress so far by completing a digital scorecard, and then you'll decide on the 3-5 priorities for the next 90 days. There is so much work to be done when implementing They Ask, You Answer, so breaking it down into smaller 90-day sprints helps you stay on track and not get overwhelmed. Your coach will guide you into deciding which steps should be done in which order.
The goal of a They Ask, You Answer coaching program is to equip you with the core competencies, confidence, and skill sets to continue doing They Ask, You Answer long after you graduate. To do this successfully, you must have a company culture that will continue to support you in your quest of becoming the most trusted voice in your space long after you have stopped working with your coach.
Examples of how your coach will help you transform your company culture include:
As mentioned above, executive management buy-in is crucial to the success of your They Ask, You Answer implementation. As part of that, TAYA leaders receive coaching as individuals for 45 minutes every two weeks. Your coach will work with your TAYA leader on:
to enable them to continue to lead this transformation long after you graduate. This is one of the most exciting benefits that most leaders don't realize they will have when they first sign up, but they enjoy it tremendously.
You cannot do They Ask, You Answer without aligning your sales and marketing teams. But this goes far beyond having just an alignment workshop. Your coach will help:
As the job titles imply, you will be addressing your customers' questions, concerns, and objections in the form of written and video content. This requires you to hire, onboard, and train an internal content manager and videographer. Your coach will help guide you in writing a job description for both roles, creating situational activities, and choosing the right candidate.
Once you have made the decision to hire someone for each role, your content and video trainer will help onboard and train them using a mix of online classes in Impact+ and hands-on, on-the-job training.
Depending on how fast your new employees are progressing, this can take 8-10 months for a content manager and 5-7 months for a videographer. Your trainer will provide actionable feedback to improve the quality of your content right from the start so you can achieve results as fast as possible.
In addition to training your internal marketing resources, your sales team will receive in-depth coaching (5 x 90-minute training sessions) and training in how to:
Your sales leadership will be trained in how to hold effective 1:1 meetings with their team members and how to role-play correctly so everyone feels safe and comfortable doing these activities as regular exercises.
In addition to the training mentioned above, specific people on your marketing team will receive training (1 hour a week each for 4-6 months).
For example, your HubSpot/CRM manager will be trained on how to:
Your website owner will be trained on how to:
Last, but not least, your They Ask, You Answer coaching program includes teaching your team how to set priorities, how to track your progress over time, and which metrics you should monitor. One of my favorite tools is the digital scorecard.
While the They Ask, You Answer Scorecard serves as an umbrella master scorecard, your content manager, videographer, leadership, sales team, HubSpot owner, and website manager have their own scorecards. Each of those individual scorecards helps you determine the contributions that each member of your team has made to the overall scorecard.
And yes, even I, as a coach, have a scorecard that my coach will hold me accountable to!
If you have read this far, you are probably considering doing They Ask, You Answer. Usually, this means you have a ton of questions and I am happy to answer them all. Click here to get access to my calendar and schedule a free 60-minute coaching session so you can get a firsthand feel for what working with me feels like rather than having me tell you about it.