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.

Last September, a client asked me, “Tom, at the beginning of January, can you give me some resolutions for the upcoming year? I want to start 2019 off with a bang!” After thinking about it for a second, I asked him, “Why does everyone wait until the beginning of the year to write their New Year’s Resolutions? Let’s do it now!” As we talked through the resolutions, I realized just how relevant they are for all of my clients. And since “Resolution Season” is in full swing, it seems like the perfect time to share them with you. Here are the top 5 things you should do right now to kick off 2019.

If you do what you've always done, you will get what you've always got. At the end of every year I receive dozens of requests for sales training or some sort of sales team intervention. "Tom, I love your blogs and webinars – do you ever do anything on Sales?" Yikes! Um, yes I think I may have something on that... For all the sales managers and owners out there who want to conduct their own end of the year sales retreat, here is your required reading.

Slow down. Our goal is to close the deal. No reason we have to do it today. Before you hop on that important call with a key prospect, pause. Read these five reminders.