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Business Planning – try a SWOT analysis

Posted: 19th Jun 2019 by Hunter Gee Holroyd Business Advice General, Cloud Accounting

If you can’t get into a flow with your business planning, try doing a SWOT analysis. It’s a great way to organise your thoughts and kickstart the planning process.

What is a SWOT analysis?

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It’s a way of thinking about your business from the inside out, and from the outside in.

Strengths = things that are great about the idea

Weaknesses = things about the idea that could be better

Opportunities = things about the environment or market that will help the idea take off

Threats = things about the environment or market that will work against you

A SWOT analysis gives you talking points for your business plan, and concrete action points for getting launched.

How to do a SWOT analysis

To do a SWOT analysis, divide a page into quarters, then list your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the four boxes.

So you’ve done a SWOT analysis – now what?

Your SWOT analysis is likely to have uncovered some new strategies, goals and things to work on. There’ll be something to do in each quarter of your SWOT analysis.

  1. Strengths How will you build on your strengths? Is there more you could do, such as other opportunities to go after? How can your strengths help you deal with threats?
  2. Weaknesses Which weaknesses are the most glaring? Can they be fixed? Will it take more money, more people, or more knowledge to do that?
  3. Opportunities Set goals for each opportunity. Ensure that the goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and have a timeline (also known as SMART goals).
  4. Threats Threats tend to attack your weaknesses first, so use this as another opportunity to remedy your weaknesses and reduce the risks.

These action points will be a great starting point for your business plan and your marketing plan – both documents tend to take shape together. Start with the one-page version.

If you would like support with business planning, please get in touch. We work with a range of small and medium sized businesses across a range of sectors in Yorkshire.  We take the time to listen to you and understand your business so that we can offer the most suitable and relevant advice for your business and industry sector.

To discuss your requirements, contact us now to arrange your free consultation at a mutually convenient location and time.

Source: Xero