SWOT analysis
Improving your business performance with SWOT
By Simon Misiewicz – 9th December 2011
If you are looking to improve your business by increasing sales, reducing costs, improving quality or reducing the amount of time spent on non-valued activities, then this article is for you. This article is also useful for people reviewing their careers and life style.
SWOT stand for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Using a SWOT provides you with an opportunity to be open and honest with yourself and to invite people, which you respect to help you make those all-important decisions.
Do you think that just one person has the best ideas? Neither do I, so, I always invite people to help me generate and evaluate my thoughts and ideas. People often think that people will not help, but more often than not, I get the most effective ideas once I have spoken with a handful of people. I don’t always take everyone’s thoughts on board but it does give me a balanced view.
Strengths
A strength is an aspect of you, your product or your services. A strength is something that sets you apart from everyone else and therefore it’s marketable. I am very good at Excel (no challenges please I am just using this as an example), but who knows about it? Unless I tell people, then no one will ever know. Lesson learned tell everyone your strengths and why they should buy your products or services.
The important thing to remember is that everyone has strengths. You may think that your knowledge, skills or aspects of your product or products are common place, but they may be worth a lot more. Do not shy away from your strengths, in fact shout about them.
Weaknesses
A weakness is an aspect of you, your products or your services. You need to be open and honest with yourself and identify your weaknesses. Please bear in mind that weaknesses can be improved upon and therefore only for the short term.
Examples being that you do not have a communications strategy to tell your potential customers what you do. This could be in the form of a web site, social media, networking etc. Other examples could be limited amount of money to invest into the business.
Opportunities
Although this is in sequence, I do not want to spoil the surprise so we will come back to this later.
Threats
Threats can be internal (of your business) or external (market conditions, legislation, new technologies or your competition). Threats are factors that will have a negative impact on your business, your career or your social life.
As individuals, threats could be a recession, which affects jobs, income and loss of customers. Threats can be measured through a risk profile. You could identify each risk / threat and categorise them in terms of likelihood (probability) and impact on you or your organisation.
Finally – Opportunities
Opportunities are factors that can help improve the current position of your business or personal life.
Examples could be to enhance your skills in order to improve marketability and increase your earnings as an employee or consultant. A business opportunity could be where your competition has gone out of business or is selling up. Other opportunities can be using technologies or marketing strategies to improve customer awareness and loyalty.
The Surprise
Here is the surprise. I am sure, like many others, that writing a list of weaknesses and threats can be daunting and even demoralising. But, see this as an opportunity.
How can you convert your weaknesses and threats into strengths?
You do not need to do this alone. For example, you may not be good at interviews? Why not work with people in practicing your interview skills with others? Would you not improve? Could you not seek a web developer if your business website is not appealing? The point I am making is simple, never be down on yourself, seek help and make those improvements. You are good at many things but utilise people’s strengths to help your business wherever possible.
I hope that this article has demonstrated how easy a SWOT analysis is and how effective it can be to help you focus the mind and seek out new ways to improve your career, business or lifestyle.
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If you have any additional questions or would like additional support then please contact us
Good luck
Simon
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