Whenever people ask me questions I will throw back the "I don't understand", and mean it. Sometimes their questions are inane and I really don't have an answer

Whenever people ask me questions I will throw back the "I don't understand", and mean it. Sometimes their questions are inane and I really don't have an answer for it, but many other times the biggest issue is that people aren't giving me a clear view of what they want when they are asking me. "What is it you are trying to accomplish?" is usually my second question after "I don't understand". Hopefully I can find out what exactly they are trying to accomplish and what they have now to help them.