Significant GPS Blog

1st: Assess your current situation: SWOT analysis

business excellence growth marketing performance sales teams Jan 16, 2023

SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. It is a popular technique used by businesses, nonprofits, government bodies, and entrepreneurs to evaluate where they stand currently in the market and what they can do to achieve their business goals. SWOT analysis is a holistic method that leaves no guesswork or gray areas.

Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors (which you can control) whereas opportunities and threats are external ones (which are not always in your hands but you should be prepared for them). When you incorporate all of them in your analysis, you will get a better idea of things that need to be done for growth and risk management.

The results of SWOT analysis are often represented in a tabular form for better presentation and understanding. Look at the below example -

Strengths

What is the USP of your products/services
What competitive advantage do you have?
Which are your best-selling products and why?
Do you have the finest resources in the industry?

Weakness

Which is your poorest performing product/service and why?
Which part of your business operation needs improvement?
Where do you fall behind in competition and why?
Which resources are not doing their best and what can you do about it?

Opportunities

Is there a specific service/product that your clients may need but no one is offering so far?
Can you expand your offerings without impacting what you are currently doing?
Is there a new trend coming up in the industry and can you be the first one to introduce it in your region?

Threats

Is your competition killing you by offering the same products or services at a lower price?
Are your products or services going to be out of demand in some time?
Are you financially prepared to deal with adverse situations like pandemics, earthquakes, etc.?

The above table gives some rough ideas of where you stand in the market and how you can evaluate how prepared you are for the future. For example; once you have identified your USPs, you can use the information to market yourself as an industry leader. Once you have identified your least-performing service/product, you may start offering it at a discounted rate to make it popular or maybe discontinue it to save cost. Similarly, introducing something unique or trendy can help you get a lot of attention and being prepared financially will help you continue paying your staff even during bad days.

SWOT analysis helps break down complex issues into smaller things so you can address them one by one instead of feeling overwhelmed. It is pretty simple although it requires some brainstorming. So, sit down with your team and start it today!