Operations: The Benefits of Doing a SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis is a simple tool you can use to evaluate your club’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This analysis should be done every year, and is extremely useful in helping determine marketing strategies and if any adjustments need to be made to your business.

Like most clubs, you’re likely in the midst of budget season and are planning for the upcoming year. As a result, now is the time to utilize a SWOT analysis, before the New Year’s rush kicks into high gear and changes become nearly impossible to make.

Something to keep in mind as you create your SWOT analysis is that the strengths and weaknesses columns refer to items that are internal to your organization (procedures, offerings, etc.), while opportunities and threats refer to external factors, (competition, trends, etc.).

After you’ve completed your SWOT analysis, look for areas where your company is excelling and areas where it needs to improve.

Andrew Schrage, the founder and CEO of Money Crashers, recently gave an interview about SWOT analyses and told Business News Daily, “It allowed me to identify the key areas where my organization was performing at a high level, as well as areas that needed work. Some small business owners make the mistake of thinking about these sorts of things informally, but by taking the time to put together a formalized SWOT analysis, you can come up with ways to better capitalize on your company’s strengths and improve or eliminate weaknesses.”

What’s great about SWOT analyses is that they can even be used on a personal level. In an article for Forbes, Lisa Quast shared ways it can be used for personal growth. Read it here.

Have you done a SWOT analysis before? If so, what did you learn? What changes did you make to your business?