SWOT Your Business--Part
III
NoSpin Debunker
#53: October 28, 2002
We’re in the 4th quarter of the calendar year and the 4th quarter for a lot of businesses. It’s a good time to take a fresh, objective look at your business—and make changes to increase sales and profits in 2003. In Part I and Part II I’ve discussed the rationale for a SWOT analysis, what it is, and how to approach a SWOT focused on Marketing & Sales.
In Part III, the finale of the “SWOT Your Business” series, I’ll talk about the missing piece: key questions that MUST be asked and answered to construct a SWOT that will point you to better 2003 results. Good answers always start with good questions—IF you’ve got the guts to ask and answer them without the spin. Tackle the questions below, and you’ll be well on your way to completing a SWOT that will provide you an invaluable business “tune-up” for 2003.
If you thoroughly read and use
only one NoSpin Debunker this year, this is the one.
Note: The questions below
are can be applied to marketing and selling virtually any products and services,
but some may be more applicable B2B versus B2C. If a question is not relevant to
your business—or you just aren’t able answer it—move on to the next one. But
indicate if that question is one that needs further
investigation.
If you haven’t already, please take 5 seconds for the NoSpin Poll: “What’s impacting your company’s growth?” (See the left side of the http://www.nospinmarketing.com/ homepage)
q When you sit next to a stranger on an airplane and he or she asks what you do/your company does what do you say?
q Do they get it?
q What else do they ask?
q What do they NOT understand?
Line up your most current marketing and sales materials/vehicles and carefully review and critique the following (as applicable):
§ Basic collaterals (letterhead, business cards, portfolio, etc)
§ Web site
§ Search engine optimization
§ Brochures and print materials/ mailers etc
§ Print advertising
§ Email campaigns
§ Proposals
§ PP Sales presentations
§ Demos
§ Tradeshow booth
§ Other promotional events/items
§ Telemarketing (scripts)
§ Other media: TV, radio, billboard, etc
§ Seminar programs
§ Press Releases and other PR campaigns
§ Marketing plan
§ Media plan
§ Other communication vehicles
Then ask the following questions:
q Are the messages and information (and graphical appearance) across ALL of those materials/vehicles: current, accurate (true), consistent, clear, free of jargon, illustrative (vs. just descriptive) and unique?
q How well do your messages, themselves, differentiate your products/services and overall business?
q Can virtually anyone understand your top-line messages and what value/benefits that your products/services provide (that is what business problems they solve)?
q Who coordinates/how do you continually coordinates ALL messages regarding your business and your products and services?
q How often do you change your messages as necessary?
q How well do your messages match your actual products/services (see below)?
q What are your products and services (that you have actually have available to sell)?
q What are you selling at what prices?
q What is the rationale(s) for your current packaging/pricing?
q Could you price your products/services differently (and be more successful)?
q What business problems do your product/services address?
q How do your products/services address those specific problems?
q What makes your products/services different, better than the competition?
q What are the 2002 growth trends per product/service (e.g. new customers, revenue per customer, profit per customer, etc)?
q What are your “best” products/services and why?
q What are your most profitable products/services?
q Do you deliver what you sell (at a minimum)?
q What products and services have the most potential for 2003 and why?
q What does the marketplace need in your “space?”
q What else, if anything, should your company be offering?
q Where do your ideas come from to enhance current product/services and develop new ones?
q How much do you invest in developing new products and services?
q How well known is your company in the marketplace?
q Who knows about you and who doesn’t?
q How is your company perceived in the marketplace?
q What else would you like your markets to know about your business?
q How do you differentiate your market(s)—e.g. by size of business customer, type of industry, geography, etc?
q Where is your ‘”sweet spot” market(s) and why?
q What (else) do those key markets need to solve their business problems?
q What are your 2002 sales trends per market (per product and service)?
q Where do you make most of your money?
q Who are you trying to sell to now?
q What % of your 2002 revenues came from existing customers?
q Which of your customers are most profitable?
q What is your customer retention performance the past 3 years?
q Which customers are you most likely to retain?
q Who are your best customer(s) and why?
q Who are your problem customers and why?
q What do customers say about your products/services?
q How well does your company continually interact with clients?
q How do you track those interactions?
q Who are your top competitors? Other second-tier competitors?
q Who do you go up against most often in sales situations?
q How well do you know their product/services and marketing/sales approaches?
q How do your products/services and prices stack up to others?
q Who beats you most often and why?
q What do you like that could be incorporated into your business?
What marketing vehicles do you currently use?
§ Basic collaterals (letterhead, business cards, portfolio, etc)
§ Web site
§ Search engine optimization
§ Brochures and print materials/mailers etc
§ Print advertising
§ Email campaigns
§ Proposals
§ PP Sales presentations
§ Demos
§ Tradeshow booth
§ Other promotional events/items
§ Telemarketing (scripts)
§ Other media: TV, radio, billboard, etc
§ Seminars
§ Press releases/press campaigns
§ Marketing plan
§ Media plan
§ Other________
q What marketing vehicles have worked the best in 2002 and why?
q Which ones have not worked and why?
q How coordinated are your marketing initiatives?
q Are you getting people’s attention with your marketing messages?
q Who, specifically, are you attempting to reach?
q What level of frequency are you using to get your messages out?
q Do you apply marketing resources on a regular ongoing basis?
q What % of your revenues did you devote to marketing in 2002?
q Has that been enough, too much? Why?
q What limitations, if any, have you put on your marketing investment in 2002?
q What other marketing initiatives have you considered trying?
q Do you monitor your marketing results? How?
q Do you monitor your marketing results? How?
q Do you have a marketing plan?
q How often do you adjust your plan?
q How is your marketing department/function organized?
q How focused is your company on marketing in comparison to Sales?
q How effectively do your Sales people put Marketing leads to work?
q What resources are devoted to selling your products and services?
q Do you have the sales staff to adequately cover your market(s)
q Who sells most successfully and why?
q Are your sales people selling the same (agreed upon) products and services?
q What is the origin(s) of your 2002 new sales (e.g. referrals, direct sales contacts, cold calling /telemarketing, other marketing vehicles, etc)
q Why do you win specific types of sales--and lose others?
q What do they like and not like?
q What questions do prospects ask?
q How much does your sales pitch vary, salesperson to salesperson?
q What is your typical sales process/sales cycle?
q How well is it managed?
q What does your current Sales funnel look like?
q What is your Sales tracking process?
q How does Sales follow-up with prospects?
q How successfully do you re-sell (additional products/services) into your customer base)?
q How involved are Sales with customers on an ongoing basis?
q How do you leverage your Sales through “strategic partnerships”?
q How productive have those been?
q Do your sales incentives match your business strategy and growth objectives?
q How do your results (e.g. per market, product/service) compare with your sales incentives?
q Are your Sales and Marketing people on the same page? If not, why not?
Summary
Asking and answering the questions above takes a little time and effort—and as mentioned in Part I and Part II of this series, it’s not a bad idea to get some outside help you conduct your SWOT. Regardless, watch how quickly your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats lists start generating some excellent steps to implement and get your business moving in 2003. Think of your SWOT as a tune-up that every business needs periodically to diagnose and fix what’s a bit worn, what’s on the verge of breaking down, or what’s already broken and needs replacement--so that you can keep the business humming—even better than it has in the past.
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Tom Ranseen
NoSpin Marketing
615.383.7157