In my last post on the topic of strategy and planning I talked about the need to create a vision for your company. A clear picture of where you want to be one to three years from now. If you took the time to create that vision for yourself and write it down, congratulations! You’ve taken that all-important first step toward maximizing your success. A step that 95 percent of your competitors won’t take. So while they continue to fight their daily fires, let’s continue moving toward reaching your goals.

Effective marketing is a game of “niches”… laser-focused targeting is one of the keys to success.

With your vision in mind and committed to writing, it’s time to take stock of the current situation. To take a hard look at where you are now versus where you want to be. This will give you the information you need to take advantage of your strengths, shore up your weaknesses, identify key opportunities and reduce or eliminate any threats that might stand in your way. This process is known as a SWOT Analysis: (S=Strengths; W=Weaknesses; O=Opportunities; T=Threats).

What Are Your Strengths and Weaknesses?

Let’s start with the positives. As you consider your vision, what strengths does your company have that can help get you there? A good reputation in the community? Highly trained or experienced staff? A large customer base? Diverse product line? Strong networking partnerships? What factors help you “get the sale”? The idea is to fully leverage those strengths to help you reach your vision. To clearly identify and communicate those strengths to turn them into powerful differentiators.

On the flip-side of that coin, what are your company’s weaknesses? You can look at these as the absence of strengths required to achieve your vision: no reputation or visibility in the community; inefficient staff; small customer base; limited product line; no networking partnerships; etc. What factors keep you from making sales? The objective here is to shore up those weaknesses and eventually turn them into strengths.

What Are Your Opportunities and Threats?

Now consider your opportunities. This is an area where security company owners and managers often get that “deer in the headlights” look. Not because they don’t see any opportunities, but because they see too many! But no company, large or small, can take advantage of every potential opportunity. You need to prioritize and focus. Otherwise you (and your staff) will end up running around like proverbial headless chickens, running from one “opportunity” to the next on a daily basis with few of them coming to fruition. Remember, effective marketing is a game of “niches”… targeting is key.

So write down all the opportunities you can think of and then prioritize them. Put one, two or at most three at the top of the list—the ones that will have the greatest impact on moving you toward your vision. Then commit to them as your areas of focus. Don’t worry, that doesn’t mean you won’t get to the rest of those opportunities. But for the time being put them on the back-burner so you can concentrate your efforts.

Now think about any issues in the external environment that could threaten your chances of success. Examples would include alarm non-response ordinances, moves by competitors, or a weak economy. What obstacles stand between you and your vision? They need to be identified so they can be accounted for in the marketing plan.

On the flip-side of that coin, what are your company’s weaknesses? You can look at these as the absence of strengths required to achieve your vision: no reputation or visibility in the community; inefficient staff; small customer base; limited product line; no networking partnerships; etc. What factors keep you from making sales? The objective here is to shore up those weaknesses and eventually turn them into strengths.

What Are Your Opportunities and Threats?

Now consider your opportunities. This is an area where security company owners and managers often get that “deer in the headlights” look. Not because they don’t see any opportunities, but because they see too many! But no company, large or small, can take advantage of every potential opportunity. You need to prioritize and focus. Otherwise you (and your staff) will end up running around like proverbial headless chickens, running from one “opportunity” to the next on a daily basis with few of them coming to fruition. Remember, effective marketing is a game of “niches”… targeting is key.

So write down all the opportunities you can think of and then prioritize them. Put one, two or at most three at the top of the list—the ones that will have the greatest impact on moving you toward your vision. Then commit to them as your areas of focus. Don’t worry, that doesn’t mean you won’t get to the rest of those opportunities. But for the time being put them on the back-burner so you can concentrate your efforts.

Now think about any issues in the external environment that could threaten your chances of success. Examples would include alarm non-response ordinances, moves by competitors, or a weak economy. What obstacles stand between you and your vision? They need to be identified so they can be accounted for in the marketing plan.

Okay, are you ready to give yourself a SWOT? Download this SWOT worksheet and complete it over the next week. The worksheet is in PDF format so you can complete and save it on your computer. Once you’re completed your SWOT worksheet, it’s time to give some thought to your business development strategy.

[su_pullquote]Effective marketing is a game of “niches”… targeting is key.[/su_pullquote]On the flip-side of that coin, what are your company’s weaknesses? You can look at these as the absence of strengths required to achieve your vision: no reputation or visibility in the community; inefficient staff; small customer base; limited product line; no networking partnerships; etc. What factors keep you from making sales? The objective here is to shore up those weaknesses and eventually turn them into strengths.

What Are Your Opportunities and Threats?

Now consider your opportunities. This is an area where security company owners and managers often get that “deer in the headlights” look. Not because they don’t see any opportunities, but because they see too many! But no company, large or small, can take advantage of every potential opportunity. You need to prioritize and focus. Otherwise you (and your staff) will end up running around like proverbial headless chickens, running from one “opportunity” to the next on a daily basis with few of them coming to fruition. Remember, effective marketing is a game of “niches”… targeting is key.

So write down all the opportunities you can think of and then prioritize them. Put one, two or at most three at the top of the list—the ones that will have the greatest impact on moving you toward your vision. Then commit to them as your areas of focus. Don’t worry, that doesn’t mean you won’t get to the rest of those opportunities. But for the time being put them on the back-burner so you can concentrate your efforts.

Now think about any issues in the external environment that could threaten your chances of success. Examples would include alarm non-response ordinances, moves by competitors, or a weak economy. What obstacles stand between you and your vision? They need to be identified so they can be accounted for in the marketing plan.

Okay, are you ready to give yourself a SWOT? Download this SWOT worksheet and complete it over the next week. The worksheet is in PDF format so you can complete and save it on your computer. Once you’re completed your SWOT worksheet, it’s time to give some thought to your business development strategy.

[su_pullquote]Effective marketing is a game of “niches”… targeting is key.[/su_pullquote]On the flip-side of that coin, what are your company’s weaknesses? You can look at these as the absence of strengths required to achieve your vision: no reputation or visibility in the community; inefficient staff; small customer base; limited product line; no networking partnerships; etc. What factors keep you from making sales? The objective here is to shore up those weaknesses and eventually turn them into strengths.

What Are Your Opportunities and Threats?

Now consider your opportunities. This is an area where security company owners and managers often get that “deer in the headlights” look. Not because they don’t see any opportunities, but because they see too many! But no company, large or small, can take advantage of every potential opportunity. You need to prioritize and focus. Otherwise you (and your staff) will end up running around like proverbial headless chickens, running from one “opportunity” to the next on a daily basis with few of them coming to fruition. Remember, effective marketing is a game of “niches”… targeting is key.

So write down all the opportunities you can think of and then prioritize them. Put one, two or at most three at the top of the list—the ones that will have the greatest impact on moving you toward your vision. Then commit to them as your areas of focus. Don’t worry, that doesn’t mean you won’t get to the rest of those opportunities. But for the time being put them on the back-burner so you can concentrate your efforts.

Now think about any issues in the external environment that could threaten your chances of success. Examples would include alarm non-response ordinances, moves by competitors, or a weak economy. What obstacles stand between you and your vision? They need to be identified so they can be accounted for in the marketing plan.

Okay, are you ready to give yourself a SWOT? Download this SWOT worksheet and complete it over the next week. The worksheet is in PDF format so you can complete and save it on your computer. Once you’re completed your SWOT worksheet, it’s time to give some thought to your business development strategy.