When running any business, you have to keep on your toes. You need to be nimble and ready to pivot in a different direction in order to keep going down the right road to success. This means paying attention to what is going on in the business of your practice, so that you can make smart, strategic decisions that achieve your overall goals.

In order to help you do that, there is an exercise that I recommend you do once every six months. It’s called a SWOT Analysis. This stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Some of these are internal like strengths and weaknesses, while others are external, the opportunities and threats. But let’s look at each one in turn and why doing this twice a year is important.

Strengths

First there are your strengths. In looking at your practice, ask yourself: what are its strengths? What differentiates you from other firms in your area? In your service area? What makes you stand out? What do you do better than anyone else?

For example, do you have a strong brand, a good name recognition for your firm? Do you have a good base of loyal clients that refer business to you? Do you have good cash flow? Do you have some killer technology that you use that really gives you an edge? Do you deliver high quality legal services for a competitive price?

Once you have identified your strengths, you need to come up with ways to make better use of them. What strategies and tactics can you implement that play to these strengths? How can you do more of what’s working for you and use these strengths to differentiate yourself in the legal market?

Weaknesses

Now correspondingly there may be some weaknesses. Identify them. What are they? Do you have some high employee turnover, which is creating some inconsistency in the delivery of your legal services? Maybe you have a high amount of debt that’s holding you back financially and not letting you grow and make the money that you should and money that you could also reinvest in the firm.

Identify those weaknesses. What’s holding you back? Then, figure out ways to eliminate or lessen these weaknesses. Come up with a plan to pay down the debt. Establish better communication with team members to address any dissatisfaction before it pushes them out your door. Lessen or eliminate the weaknesses you identify over the following months.

Opportunities

In the external forces there are opportunities, ones that you can take advantage of to grow your firm and increase revenue. You need to be looking for them and identifying them on a regular basis. For example, is there better hardware or software out there that will help you do a better job, more efficiently and in less time and therefore more profitable?

Is there a local firm that was competing with you but is now leaving that practice area and might be a good referral source for you? Maybe you should meet with that attorney or those partners? Take some time to think and make a list of the opportunities out there. Then, make a plan to seize the best ones in the next few months.

Threats

Then there are threats to your business. You need to identify them and meet them head on. Is there competition coming from a new source that could cause a problem for you especially in the way that you distinguish yourself? In other words, your strengths. Is technology changing where if you don’t change with it your practice could suffer?

Google and Verizon right now are involved in a change of technology that could affect the deliverability of your marketing emails if you don’t take certain steps. Periodically Google comes out with a new algorithm or a new set of rules in how they rank search results on their pages for searches, and if your website isn’t in compliance with that it could suffer.

Maybe you have a successful marketing campaign but the cost of doing that has gone up. It’s hitting everything and maybe it’s going up to the point where you can’t afford to do that anymore and maybe you need to invest that money somewhere else in another marketing campaign.

So it’s good to look every six months at what your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are. This will keep you on your toes, more competitive, and more successful in your practice. Sit down, schedule a meeting on your calendar to do it with your staff or your law partners and get it done.

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If you want to know more about how to conduct a SWOT analysis, or don’t know where to start or exactly how to approach it, I can help! Just click on this link to schedule an initial, no obligation call with me to discuss your situation and what value I can bring to the table.