When was the last time you carried out a SWOT analysis in your business?
What is SWOT analysis?
It identifies Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats and is such a powerful tool which can help you ensure your business is operating closer to its optimum.
SWOT analysis can be carried out as a short activity or can be scaled up for larger, more complex businesses and to get maximum value from the exercise. And you can choose a specific project (such as a new product launch) or think about the business as a whole.
How do you do it?
Using a template like the one shown, start to fill in each section – I’ve provided some examples of questions you could consider for each one. Do this with other members of your team where possible to help increase the number of ideas generated.
Strengths:
– What does your company do well?
– What seperates you from your competitors? (your USP)
– What internal resources do you have? (eg strong leadership, skilled technical team)
– What tangible assets do you have?
Weaknesses:
– What does your company lack? (consider what your customers dislike)
– What do your competitors do better than you?
– What limitations do you have on your resources? (budget / finance)
– Is your strategy clear?
Opportunities:
– How might you improve sales? (marketing / PR)
– What growth opportunities exist? (new markets / new products)
– How do you improve customer satisfaction?
– How do you improve employee satisfaction?
– How do you improve efficiency of the business?
Threats:
– Are there any PR / media / reputational risks?
– Are there changing regulations or laws?
– Are there new competitors?
– Are there funding concerns?
What next?
Once you have carried out the exercise above you can start to establish your action plan. This will help you create a roadmap to making the most of what you’ve uncovered. You can do this by:
- Considering how you can use your strengths to seize the opportunities
- Exploring ways of converting weaknesses to strengths
- Finding ways to reduce or remove the threats
DHProfessional Solutions can help guide you through this process or even facilitate the whole thing for you, providing a report of the outputs and an action plan.
If you want a free, no-obligation 30-minute consultation, please get in touch today.
