Don’t you hate it when customers ask questions you can’t seem to answer? You drew up a stellar proposal only to face complaints from the client about the cost, price-breakdown, or what they think is a mistake. Sometimes these situations seem insurmountable. But they’re not. In fact, they may be simpler than you think. As I work with salespeople to help them navigate objections, I find most objections are “single-level” objections — an objection you can diffuse with as little as one word or one simple explanation. These objections are often the buyer’s way of processing information, and the worst thing we can do is overreact to a single-level objection. You don’t have to change your price or the way your company operates. Instead, just give the objection the brief response it requires. Here’s how:

Back in the day, dealership agreements were territory-based. You were THE dealer for a product in a city. But, as the industry grew, they started dividing up those territories, making them smaller and smaller until there was no longer any territory — there were 2, 3, 4, or 40 dealers for the same product in the same city. So, dealers started adding more products as they lost territory. They assumed that more products equaled more value to the buyer. But it doesn’t. I doubt you can name anyone right now that is still doing this strategy successfully… except Amazon. Why? For the rest of us, product is not a strategy.

We ask these “what if” questions because they grant us insight. The more time we spend in these types of questions, the better understanding we’ll have about what our strategy needs to accomplish for us. These questions help us understand what people think us from the outside, a.k.a. our “branded perception.”

Developing a strong strategy begins by understanding what you’re already doing. With strategic questions, there are no wrong answers. There are just answers that guide us towards developing a strategy that works. So, think about how you handle new business opportunities as you answer these two questions:

Let’s pretend a stranger walked up to you, handed you $1,000, and said, “All you have to do is give me $200 back.” Would you do it? On paper, it makes perfect sense. You’d make $800 instant profit. Why wouldn't you do that? The fact is, though, most of us would NOT go through with it. We’d look at the cash in our hand and question it. We’d challenge it, because deep down, we’re all innately afraid of money.

Updating your strategy is no small task. In fact, it’s not really a task at all — it’s a journey. It’s more than a to-do item on a weekly agenda. Creating a strategy is a process of discovering who you are as a company and how to best serve your customers. If you want to update your strategy the right way, you need to answer these six questions about yourself and your organization before you get started.