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  Tim Wettone June 29, 2011 at 12:40pm

  It sounds like someone at the bank has just been on a seminar themselves to promote the concept of SWOT analysis!

   

  I hope you told them that one of the biggest threats to small businesses is the unsympathetic attitude of the banks.  I had a case recently where a client's commercial manager was insisting on imposing quite ridiculous levels of personal guarantees on a company overdraft.  When he wouldn't budge (or even answer emails), we went above his head to the area manager who told us he was "appalled" by the service and attitude of the commercial manager and has since taken him off the case and agreed a sensible level of guarantees.  So, if anyone is having trouble with their manager, don't think twice about going higher up. 
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  Lisa Valentine June 29, 2011 at 8:48pm

  swot analysis is pretty sensible actually. It's asking you to look at your strengths as a business, the weakness's you have as a business, what opportunities there may be for your business and threats. When i went to the bank when I set the business up, i had to do a business plan and had to identify a swot analysis for my business at the time. So as a strength I had minimal outlay and set up costs and I could afford to cost my jobs lower than the bigger business's. My weakness though was I was a young business, I had just started out and I did not have many customers and I did not have a large turnover. However, my opportunities was I could mould the business to the way I suited, I was able to go for the smaller jobs at first because I had minimal outgoings. My threats were other gardening business's around me, that I was the owner of a new business with a lot to learn.
  
  A swot analysis is just asking you to be realistic about your business and asking you to think about how you can avoid the threats and strengthen the weakness's of business. The bank need to make sure that you're not going in with your head in the clouds and set up bank accounts, overdrafts, credit cards etc. I think it's a standard thing that all banks ask for. Personally, for me, it was quite a useful tool for me and I know that I should be looking at business plans at least once a year.
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  David Channon June 29, 2011 at 10:33pm

  A swot analysis and a business plan with a cash flow forecast can show the bank how realistic your business knowledge and potential is.

  What seems so obvious to you because its your baby and you know every wrinkle isn't quite so plain to a banker.

  When you look at some of the people who go onto Dragons Den you realise that a good idea is only a beginning, its not a business and the Dragons make their investment decisions as much on the capabilities of the business proposers as the do on the business itself.

  So a SWOT analysis helps the Bank to check you out ....
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  Fenlandphil June 30, 2011 at 7:20am

  I think that a SWOT analysis too is a useful tool. The presentation itself was by a firm of accountants the bank had organised it.

  During the discussion that followed I suggested that the bank could offer to help start up businesses prepare a business plan, what they as banks want to see within is the plan and how businesses can draw the information together. One of the other delegates spoke of the difficulty in helping new innovative businesses (remember this seminar was held just outside Cambridge) gain finance, he said that the people he helps have the intelligence but not the equipment to present their proposals to a bank.

   

   
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  dgeorgea July 2, 2011 at 2:25pm

  SWOT analysis is an essential tool in any new business, or any business seriously looking at expanding.

  Strengths and opportunities are usually the easier things to think of, but a lot of thought should go into weaknesses and threats.

  That said strengths and opportunities may not always be obvious!

  For instance doing the strength analysis would you consider putting down membership of LJN?

  A large active network of businesses in the same and related fields that you are or planning to work in who freely share their knowledge, advice and job leads. These could well offset some of the weaknesses and threats.

  Similarly strengths and opportunities can produce weaknesses and threats.

  I once worked for a print finishers, had they done a swot analysis they may well have recognised that a major weakness was their dependance on a single printer. The printing company was owned by a brother of the boss and all looked well as the printing side was expanding and had invested heavily in some new machinary. Unfortunately while the new equipment met the current needs which had become stretched the new work that was needed to make it all pay never materialised, both collapsed.

  When we last did our SWOT analysis some council staff were not happy that we had put decent homes work down as a possible threat. However as an independant organisation it stayed in and we were prepared for some of the issues that arose. Including stopping the council from signing off on the work after one year because many of the snags had not been rectified. This saved us a small fortune in repairs and alterations that the council would have happily signed off leaving us to pick up the pieces.

  One threat the board refused to recognise the elderly population of the estate. We normally have between 3 and 5 voids in a year, in 6 months, with winter in the middle we ended up with 12. We managed to minimise the cost and loss of money to some extent, but it has taken for it to actually happen to start putting in the pieces that will ensure we won't get caught out again. Fortunately the losses were not as severe had we not taken some steps in the first place.

  I look on SWOT analysis as being part of the business risk assessment. It helps you to put in place strategies to deal with what ifs and when they happen. At least in can set flags that can warn you when things may be starting to go wrong and give you the chance to deal with them before it becomes a fire fighting activity.