BUILD-A-BROKER
How To Conduct A SWOT Analysis For Your Brokerage BY ADAM ENFROY | SPECIAL TO NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL
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n a nutshell, doing a SWOT analysis is vital, because it helps you know where your business stands. And performing a SWOT Analysis is one of the major ways you can know exactly where your business stands and avoid said pitfalls so your business doesn’t become another statistic. In this article, we will define SWOT Analysis, explain why you need to conduct one, and show you how to do it. Plus, there will be plenty of examples along the way.
WHAT IS A SWOT ANALYSIS? SWOT Analysis stands for: Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats It’s an approach you use to evaluate your business and know whether it is on track to reach its growth projections and its performance reflects that. Use it to assess individual projects, a department, or an entire organization.
WHY DO YOU HAVE TO IDENTIFY THE SWOT OF YOUR BROKERAGE? Since you started your brokerage, you probably know everything about it right? Wrong. While you might
think you have every little detail at your fingertips, here are three valid reasons you need to conduct a SWOT analysis: 1. To identify your strengths: Once you know what your company excels in, you can do even more in those areas and consolidate your position on the market. 2. To uncover weaknesses: A SWOT Analysis lays bare all the areas where you are not doing well. You can then draw up plans and strategies on how to improve. 3. To sharpen your focus: As an entrepreneur, it’s easy for you to become so absorbed in the running of your company until you get off track totally unaware. Assessing your performance helps you refocus on metrics that matter and get back in line.
HOW DO YOU CONDUCT A SWOT ANALYSIS? Let’s look at the steps you take when doing a SWOT Analysis. We will follow the four components of the process. STRENGTHS Strengths are the internal components you have going for you which cover: • Aspects your business is good at. • Good qualities and unique skills that
put you ahead of the competition. • Sufficient resources like skilled manpower and technology in place like business networks to stay connected. • Assets, e.g., buildings, capital, technology. • Quality software and tools that can integrate with finance like mobile form data, Salesforce, and cloudbased accounting software To gauge your organization’s strengths, ask yourself these questions: • What are your standout positive brand attributes? • Do you have extensive experience in your industry? • What resources do you have that your competitors don’t have? • Do you have a unique selling proposition your competitors are afraid to copy? • What’s the one good thing customers can only get from you? To make it even easier to identify your strengths, look at how hyperfocused you are whether it’s the product you’re selling or the market you’re targeting. The more focused your product, the more persuasive it will be. One example is the AI-driven calendar brand Woven who position themselves as an all-
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> Civic Financial
Services, an institutional private money lender, added Prateek Khokhar as the company’s chief financial officer.
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> Sagent, a
mortgage fintech company based in Pennsylvania, hired Shawn Stroud as its new director of information security.
| NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE
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