Module Five – Pin Down Your Businesses Strength

There are always elements of our businesses that we’re not great at or that we don’t pay enough attention to, especially when the business is young. When a company says it’s “working towards” a particular vision, that’s an acknowledgement that they aren’t there yet but they know what they’re aiming for.

In this module, you’ll identify the places in your business where you aren’t performing strongly but where, with some attention, you could turn into strengths.

Accept The Weaknesses

“Weaknesses” in this context mean areas where your business isn’t as robust as it could be. For example:

• You don’t have a strategic marketing plan so you’re using ‘spray and pray’ marketing methods
• You don’t use social media as a source of useful customer information so you’re missing out on valuable data
• You don’t have a high-converting lead generation system so you aren’t attracting enough people into your marketing funnel.

Don’t feel bad about your business’ weaknesses. Improvements are always possible in business, as in life. As we grow, we develop, so try instead to see the future potential behind your current weaknesses.

The growth of your business will highlight any areas of weakness that already exist. It makes sense to deal with them now to make your business stronger in the future. But you need to be honest.

You’ll easily find where the weaknesses are, as they will show as:

• Areas where you’re struggling
• Offers that are losing you money
• Problems you’re having making sales.

Questions to Ask Yourself

You may instantly know or think you know where your weak areas are. But take it calmly and use these questions to help you identify them:

• What’s holding you back from growth?
• What resources do you lack?
• What parts of your business are not very profitable?
• Where do you need further education and/or experience?
• What are your biggest time drains?

Moving Forward

Now that you’ve gathered some data, you’re in a good position to flag the areas of underperformance – for example, customer service or sales follow-ups.

Don’t rush ahead to think of solutions to these problems or get bogged down in the issues you’re facing. Right now, you’re simply gathering evidence. When you put together your Business Growth Plan in a later module, you’ll take this information and use it to strategize ways for change.

For now, it’s enough to highlight the areas for improvement. For example:

• Identify which offers aren’t paying off and mark as potentials for eliminating
• Pinpoint where you need more experience or training
• Look at where you need to cut costs
• Consider where your staffing isn’t adequate to perform as you want to.

Key Takeaways:

• It’s important to identify where your business needs to improve.
• Weaknesses can be turned around once they’ve been highlighted.

Action Steps:

1. Quick Win: What’s the one thing you’d really like to change about your business?
2. Ask yourself the questions listed in your Action Guide to pin down your business weaknesses.
3. Make a list of areas for improvement.