Sales Managers: Use SWOT to Find New Opportunities and Eliminate Threats7 min read

Know the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats To Your Sales Team SWOT

When I talk with sales managers, clients, and prospective clients it’s usually because they are looking for ways to generate more revenue; control sales cost or enter new markets. They don’t have a specific plan in place, they just know they need to do something and aren’t quite sure what to do. Most people will tell you that the first step is to develop a sales plan.  I would say that is the second thing you need to think about. First the on the list is for the sales manager to figure out what the sales team is all about.  What does your sales team does better than your competition? What weaknesses does your sales team have? Are their opportunities you’ve observed that your sales efforts aren’t taking advantage of? Do you understand the biggest threat to accomplishing your sales goals?

Answering these questions should be first on your list if you want to build a successful sales organization. To help with this process I rely on an old trusted tool called the SWOT Analysis. This is a tool many organizations use to gain a better understanding of their Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

Sales Managers Can Use The SWOT Analysis

This is a tool that was developed by Albert Humphrey in the 1960’s, and it is a fantastic tool to help you develop your strategy. SWOT stands for Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. The SWOT Analysis will allow you to visualize both external and external factors that can have an impact on your business in a very simple way. This tool can help you examine the external factors which effect your business, opportunities and threats, and the internal factors, strengths and weaknesses. As you go through the tool and think about how you can use it, you will see that it’s not just for looking at the business as a whole, I have used it as a starting point for developing strategies for sale teams, service departments and individuals. To help you go threw this exercise, you can use this free SWOT Analysis form, just download the form and print it out. It will help you answer some of the following questions.

Strengths

What’s the best places to start when you are looking to develop a new sales strategy?  Ir’s to understand what your sales team is good at.  You want to take advantage of what you do well and build on it. So let’s take a look at your strengths.

1. What is it that your sales team does better than anyone else in the market?
2. What do your current customers see as a benefit they get from working with your sales people?
3. What strength does your current product line offer that your competitors can’t?
4. Do you have unique sales process, product, or services that set you apart?

These are sample question you may want to answer, but try to come up with questions of your own. You want to ask about your USP, unique selling proposition that you see as a strength or your ability to service your accounts with one day service.  When you look to uncover your strengths, ask others within your organization to come up with strengths they feel the organization has and don’t forget to ask for help outside the organization.  Talk with you current customers and ask what they like about your organization, talk with vendors, or anyone else that can help give you a clear picture of your organizations strengths.

Weaknesses

Every sales team has them and as the sales manager you need to identify them early and take action.  The problem comes when sales managers hide from them hoping things will get better or the weaknesses will miraculously disappear.  They don’t, you have to face them, gain an understanding of why the weaknesses exist and look for ways to strengthen them.  So let’s write them down.