Your Business Check Up

Your Business Check Up

Leadership | Posted by YouInc.com - February 5, 2014 at 12:00 am
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Use this tool to support your business plan review and planning process. Simply make notes on progress to previous goals and identify your focus for the upcoming year.

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SWOT Analysis

A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis can help you understand how your business is positioned in relation to the market and your competitors, and thus provides verification of strategic/competitive analysis.

By carefully evaluating your business before creating next year’s business plan, you can start to craft a strategy that helps you distinguish yourself from your competitors. Create an overview of your business today by thinking through the questions to complete the chart below.

Related: Why Start A Business When You Can Buy One

  Strengths Weaknesses
Internal Factors
  • What advantages does your company have?
  • What do you do better than anyone else?
  • What do people in your market see as your strengths?
  • What could you improve?
  • What should you avoid?
  • What are people in your market likely to see as weaknesses? Are your competitors doing any better than you?
  Opportunities Threats
External Factors
  • Where are the good opportunities facing you?
  • What are the interesting trends you are aware of?
  • Are social patterns changing in your favour?
  • Can new technologies or markets be exploited?
  • What obstacles do you face?
  • What is your competition doing?
  • Do you have bad debt or cash-flow problems?
  • Could any of your weaknesses put your business at risk?

 

Evaluate Business Plan Components

Use the following evaluation criteria to further assess the key areas of your business plan and ongoing development.
Remember: Simply make notes on progress to previous goals and identify your focus for the upcoming year.

Market Review    
What have your key marketing initiatives been?   Sales
How does this compare to your original marketing plan?   Pricing
What are the key considerations for the business as you create next year’s marketing plan?   Advertising and Promotion
What are the risks identified? And what contingencies have been advised?   Competition

 

Related: Look before you Leap

Operational Review    
What are your key operational accomplishments during the past year?   Product Quality
What areas for improvement still exist?   Premises and equipment (technology)
How can your operational priorities contribute best to the success of the business next year?   Human Resources
    Risk Management

 

Management Review    
Are the right people in the right roles?   Knowledge, Skills, Abilities
What incentives have been introduced to drive the business (commitment)?   Advisors
What gaps in the team need to be addressed?   People Engagement
    Performance

 

Click here to download the Business Plan Review Template

Tags: analysis, business, check up, cybf, goals, leadership, SWOT

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