“Better than the Rest!”
– Bush, 1994
I love SWOT analyses.
I love them because invariably,
Somewhere along the line,
A high ranking skeptical executive
Sits across a conference room table
And asks, “tell me why I should hire your company?
What do you really do that’s better than anyone else?”
Because of SWOT analyses,
And knowing a company’s strengths,
I always have an answer.
[And you will too!]
If you aren’t sure of what strengths you have just yet
Don’t worry.
I’ve asked plenty of people and heard a wide range of answers.
Everything from “I haven’t thought about it,”
to “We aren’t good at anything.”
[Don’t listen to that one]
Strengths are about one thing: differentiation.
Things that make your company
Stand out against everyone else.
It asks big questions like “What makes us unique?” or
“What do we have no one else does?”
And they give you a story to build strategy around.
Figuring out what really makes you different,
Takes a lot of thought,
A lot of conversation,
And even more honesty.
It requires you to be sincere, transparent,
And detailed.
You’ll find clients rolling their eyes quickly
If you present strengths that look like everyone else’s,
Or worse, that don’t exist!
So start finding your strengths.
Start anywhere you like.
Use your experience,
Talk to co-workers, stakeholders, and clients.
Walk around your company,
[Use your imagination if you work from home]
Review your company’s materials,
Maybe even a google, glassdoor, or reddit search or two.
[With a very heavy grain of salt]
You can focus on:
- Things that you do extremely well
- People you have with name recognition and skills
- Tools, products, or processes only you have
- Resources you have that others don’t
- How your customers talk about you [hopefully in a good way]
Brainstorm,
Write them down,
Discuss them.
Build and share proof points from what you find.
Strengths can change and evolve,
Often quickly.
So be flexible
Get the hang of identifying, establishing, and
Keeping track of them, and
You can drive new and unique strategies for your success.
