Build a Strong Foundation for your Business
With significant Local, National, and International changes to the operating, business, economic, political and commercial environment – it’s a really good time to think about either creating or reviewing your Business Plan.
To build a strong plan for your business, you first need a strong foundation.
It does not need to be a 10-page, 4-volume work of art… it just needs to be relevant to your current business needs and can easily be summarised in a 1-pager.
How can you do this quickly?
The fastest way for you to understand your current position in the market is to create a SWOT Analysis (Strengths , Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats). A SWOT Analysis will help you understand where your business stands in the market today and the information can be used in a variety of ways to give your business a firm foundation for growth.
There are a number of ways to create a SWOT and I have put together a guide below with some ideas and tips that you might like to consider. These tips arise from my experience over the last 30-years developing Business Plans for a range of businesses in multiple sectors – Retail, FMCG, Tourism, Wholesale, Manufacturing and Not for Profit.
Use a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis to grow your business
Strengths
- What advantages you have?
- What do you do better than anyone else?
- What is your Unique Selling Proposition ( USP)?
- Consider your strengths form various perspectives – customer, competition and internal
- What factors can ‘get you the sale’?
- What resources do you have that others don’t have?
Weaknesses
- It is best to be realistic now and face any unpleasant truths a.s.a.p.
- What could you improve?
- What should you avoid?
- What would others see as a weakness?
- What factors lose a sale?
- Consider your weaknesses from an internal and external perspective
Opportunities
- Look at your strengths and ask yourself whether these open up opportunities
- Look at your weaknesses- can you eliminate them?
- Look at trends that may create opportunities – technology, changes in technology, markets, govt policy, or social patterns
- Local events with collaboration
Threats
- What obstacles do you face?
- What are your competitors doing?
- Cash Flow, bad debts, and other financial issues
- Do your weaknesses threaten your existence?
Always make sure the information is relevant to your current needs, that it is reviewed regularly, that it forms the basis of all your major decisions, and that it does not go into the bottom drawer of your filing cabinet to gather dust!
These are just a few issues that could be of value to you, your business and your family. Developing a great SWOT Analysis will create an excellent foundation for building a winning plan for your business.
For further ideas, help and support please get in touch,
Robin Martin
P.S. This article is part of my Secrets of Success series, aimed at helping business owners and entrepreneurs with some of the key components of business success. The insights I wish I’d had at the start of my business career. I hope that by passing on these little gems of knowledge I can give you some support and help you along the pathway to growth and prosperity.