Get the SWOT Team in....

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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:

 

  1. Considering how you can use your strengths to seize the opportunities
  2. Exploring ways of converting weaknesses to strengths
  3. 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.

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