How do you figure out what to do next in your business?
There are so many factors at play, so much noise out there, so many people telling you to do X or Y, Z, A and all the letters in between.
It can get overwhelming, especially when you’re down in the reeds, dealing with detail every day.
And it’s tempting to think there’s some magic pill, system, tool or process that will make everything come clear.
Spoiler alert – there isn’t!
So relax. You’re not missing anything. That download isn’t going to magically “tell” you what to do.
If you’re overwhelmed, running around like a headless chicken, trying to do everything but feeling like you’re just spinning in circles, it’s time to step back and take a bird’s eye view of your business.
It’s important because you can’t see patterns or the whole map when you’re actually driving.
You need to step back and look at the bigger picture, at all the big things that are affecting your business.
It’s time to do a SWOT!
What is SWOT Analysis?
SWOT analysis – sounds corporate and complicated, right?
But really, it’s just a method for organising your thoughts, stepping back and looking at the big picture.
When we’re deep in the work of our business, creating products, services, selling to clients, fulfilling orders and projects, it’s easy to get lost in the detail.
Doing a SWOT helps you take that step back, get some distance, take some of the emotion out of the thinking.
So instead of looking at what’s going wrong and getting upset or overwhelmed by it, you can look at it the way a consultant might, as something that’s happening that needs to be fixed or taken advantage of.
Because what we’re doing with it is to look objectively at four things.
- What you’re good at so you can do more of it.
- What you’re not so good at so you can remove it or strengthen it.
- What opportunities are out there so you can start moving towards them.
- What might become a problem for your business so you can figure out how to avoid them.
Really simply, it helps you identify what to focus on for your business that’s going to give you the best results.
And it’s just stage one in getting a plan together.
Because before you figure out what you need to do next, you need to understand where you are now!
What does SWOT stand for?
SWOT is an acronym for the framework of looking at four main areas in your business split into two – things you have control over and things you don’t.
How can a SWOT be used to create strategies?
Creating a SWOT is just part of formulating a strategy for your business.
Building a strategic plan means everything that you’re doing in the plan is joined up, you are planning with the end in mind, the goals you want to achieve and have considered the big steps you need to take to get there.
Performing a SWOT is just part of the work, it’s a way of documenting key areas of your business that need to be looked at and considered in planning what you’re going to do next.
Once you’ve taken a look at these four elements in your business, it’s time to work out what to do about them.
- What’s most important to deal with in your business?
- How can you use the strengths you already have to take advantage of the opportunities?
- How can you minimise or remove the weaknesses that may stop you moving forward?
- How can you use the strengths in the business to reduce the impacts of the threats?
When do you use SWOT?
Use a SWOT when you’re looking at the overall plan for the business, when you’re thinking about a brand change, as a regular review of the business or if something is just not working for you.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, so much to do, so many projects, customers, clients, demands on your time, questions, last minute projects, changes, firefighting etc then it may be time you did this and really started to figure out what’s going on.
Because once you know what’s happening, you can change it. Make it better. Take the real steps needed to grow your business, in the right direction instead of just any direction.
How to perform a SWOT.
Set aside some dedicated time when you can turn off all distractions and make sure you have something to write notes on.
If you have a team, include them in the process to get a fuller view of what’s going on.
The first step is to brainstorm all the ideas out and identify any additional information you need.
BE HONEST.
It does you no good at all to close your eyes to the weaknesses and only focus on the strengths.
A weakness is not you, it’s resources you don’t have yet, whether that is skills, people, an engaged audience, great branding.
It’s key to realise that if these are weaknesses in the business, then you can focus on these and make a plan to remove or reduce their impact.
SWOT Action Plan
- Brainstorm and gather the information.
- Prioritise key areas for review.
- Document what action to take.
- And go do them (That’s the hard bit!)
Brainstorm and gather the information
Brainstorming is basically just getting everything out of your head and onto paper, sticky notes are great for capturing lots of different ideas and moving them around.
Because when you start, you might find you can think of lots of things, but you need to prioritise these all down into a few ideas to take forward that will make a big difference.
A structure with some key questions though, will help to keep you focused and even better if you can do this with others, ideally your team if you have one.
Schedule it in the diary and make sure you have at least 2 hours focused time to do this.
Gather some basic information before the session to give you a starting point and some key indications on the health of your business.
- Customer feedback on your product/service
- Why they buy from you
- What they love about it, what they don’t love
- How they think and feel about your business
- Sales and profit margins
- Feedback from your team on things that cause problems, delays or things that go really well
- Your website stats
- Your social media key stats
- Key competitors and an overview of their business
Questions to get you thinking!
It’s hard to stare at a blank sheet of paper so I’ve created a list of questions to ask yourself and your team.
Keep it simple and high level when you’re brainstorming it out, don’t get distracted by digging too deep into the detail or it’ll take a lot longer, especially if you’re doing it with other people.
This is in no way an exhaustive list and some things on here may not apply to your business but it’s a good start if you haven’t done this before.
Strengths and Weakness IN your business.
Your Product and/or Service
- How does your product/service compare to similar offers?
- What’s the quality like?
- What do your customers say about your product or service?
- How big is your range of products and/or services?
- Does the range meet your customers’ needs?
- Are they profitable or not?
- How is your product or service given to the customer, is it efficient, cost effective or are there costly and time consuming elements to it?
- How is your product or service different from others in the same field?
Marketing
- Do you have a plan to get your business in front of people? And how is it working?
- How strong is your branding? Do people recognise your business and know what it’s about?
- Do you have a plan to attract new customers into your business?
- Do you have a plan to engage current customers in your business?
- Where do most of your customers come from right now and has that changed over time?
- How much time and money is spent on marketing?
- What platforms do you use and which are the most important to you (and why)?
People and Team
- How do you team feel about the business and working there?
- Are there gaps in your team’s knowledge?
- What are the strengths in your team already?
- What is the management style like?
- What weaknesses or strengths do they have?
- What skills, experience or knowledge do they have?
- What training, skills, knowledge gaps are there?
- Are your team clear about their job roles?
- How much time do you spend answering questions?
Client/customer relationships
- What do your clients or customers say about you? Good and bad!
- What is your customer service like?
- Do you have a lot of repeat business or is it a single purchase item?
- How easy/hard is it to deliver your service/product to your customers?
- Are your customers loyal to your business? (why?)
- How frequently do you get new customers?
- How many refunds or return requests do you get?
- How easy or hard is it to maintain customer relationships?
- Where do your customers come from?
- How do they hear about you?
- How long is the sales cycle?
Systems and Processes
- Do you have robust systems and processes in place?
- Are you and your team clear about what’s needed on a daily basis?
- Do you have a planning process in place?
- Do you have your business processes written down and being used?
- What technology are you using and does it speed you up or slow you down?
- Do you have one place where everyone can go for the information on the business?
Revenue and Cash Flow
- What are the biggest costs in your business?
- What’s the cash flow like?
- What would happen if key invoices aren’t paid on time?
- Is there money available to invest if needed?
- Do you have a system and process to review your accounts regularly?
- Do you have revenue goals for the year?
Opportunities and Threats from OUTSIDE your business
- What products or services are people asking for that you could develop?
- What are the big upcoming trends in the world?
- What do people care about most in today’s world and how can you turn that into an opportunity?
- What opportunities are there to partner with other businesses to promote your business to their customers and their business to your customers or develop a product/service with?
- Who are your competitors and what are they doing? How well are they doing it?
- Are there competitors that are doing really well? What are they doing that seems to be working?
- Are there any competitors that are doing badly? What lessons can be learned from what they’re doing?
- What legislation is on the horizon that will cause a challenge or could be taken advantage of?
- What markets are growing?
- What are your suppliers doing?
- Are costs increasing or decreasing?
- Is distribution becoming more difficult or are there easier options to explore?
Summary
The first step in creating any plan is working out where you are now.
Looking at what’s working and what’s not in your business.
So you can make a plan to capitalise on what’s great and change what’s not.
Take advantage of opportunities and avoid or minimise the threats!
