When did you last SWOT your company?

When evaluating other people or companies, it is fairly easy to be unbiased and objective. But, when asked to accurately draw a picture of our own strengths and weaknesses, it is often a much more difficult task.

Nessen Consulting brings unbiased expertise into every area of a Client company. A SWOT Analysis is one of the tools used to develop an objective overview of company Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

SWOT is a participative process that includes the Client’s Key Employees, and if desired, Key Customers. SWOT starts by compiling a list of what the participants view as the company’s Greatest Strengths, Biggest Weaknesses, Best Opportunities and Most Immediate Business Threats.

The SWOT List becomes a good starting point for fueling discussion, making recommendations, implementing Improvement Plans and charting progress.

SAMPLE CLIENT SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths 1. Equipment and technology closely matches our competition. 2. 3 good Sales Reps recently hired 3. We have many good long-term and happy employees 4. Many long-term Customers 5. Great teamwork & organization 6. Superior offset & digital color quality 7. We consistently meet Customer expectations   Weaknesses 1. Fairly new Sales Team is not fully aware of our capabilities 2. Order Entry takes too long 3. Need to preflight check files sooner 4. Big swings in plant workload 5. Prepress technology needs updating 6. Estimating rates and standards are not current 7. We are not recovering costs for overtime and customer extras   Opportunities 1. Sales Team focusing on opportunities with Larger Customers 2. Create operational efficiencies 3. Improve cost recovery 4. Increase Digital Printing & Bindery capabilities and capacity 5. Develop and sell Variable Information printed products 6. Improve Credit & Collection policies and procedures   Threats 1. Price competition is affecting profit 2. Direct competitor is adding new equipment and offering new products 3. Perfect binding buyouts are limiting our ability to deliver fast enough 4. Our second largest Customer is closing their local office. Potential $1.4 million revenue loss 5. Space & electrical issues affecting our ability to expand

E-mail  Jerry

“I initially hired Jerry to help our Sales Reps build new business. He got them past the typical dislike of cold calling and gave them the tools needed to succeed at prospecting. He also came up with some basic job flow changes that allowed the Sales Reps to spend more time selling and less time in the plant. Most recently, he evaluated our digital printing business and helped us make the right expansion decisions.”

Bruce McDonald, President, Craftsmen Printing