Every business has strengths, and every business has weaknesses. What are yours? Using a SWOT analysis, you can help your insurance business grow, change, and improve as the business environment around you changes.
What Does a SWOT Analysis Do For Your Business?
What is a SWOT? It's not as painful as it sounds. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. A SWOT analysis can help you bring a new eye to your business. Whether it's a strength or weakness that's inside your business or an external factor that poses an opportunity or a threat to your business, your SWOT analysis will help you identify these factors. It's best to involve people from many different parts of your business, as a manager will identify different concerns than a front-line administrator might.
A SWOT analysis could cover the following:
What do you do well?
What resources do you have?
What is your competitive advantage?
What skills or resources do you lack?
Where could you improve?
What opportunities exist in your local market, and are they consistent or ephemeral?
How do people see your business?
What trends threaten your business?
How has the market for your products changed?
Why SWOT Analysis is Important to Insurance Agencies
Like any other business, an insurance agency works in an ever-shifting market and with an ever-changing group of people who have different needs over time. You might hire a new employee who has skills in web design but is not particularly good at answering phone calls. A competitor might enter the local market, making it more difficult to get business in that part of town. Conducting a regular SWOT analysis can help you get a deeper understanding of what internal and external opportunities and threats face your business today.
Staying on Track
A SWOT analysis is like brushing your teeth. As a regular practice, it helps promote good overall business health, and when you do an analysis, you can learn from your experience and make changes that will allow you to adjust your internal business environment or be proactive in understanding and planning for your changing external environment. Whether it's an annual review or a seasonal discussion between employees, a SWOT analysis can help your business make smaller course corrections and avoid surprises.
Sudden SWOT
A SWOT analysis can also be a useful tool during a time of change in your business. Perhaps the market for flood insurance expands exponentially due to a recent flood in your area. Maybe a competitor emerges, or you discover that your website needs a serious reworking. A SWOT analysis can help you identify your path when you're faced with external threats and opportunities or internal challenges, such as a manager's sudden move from the company.
Are you aiming for change? Would you like to deepen your understanding of your insurance business? Talk with the American Agents Alliance. We're a group of insurance professionals who are here to support each other. Learn more about the membership benefits that come with the American Agents Alliance membership, and contact us today!
