Scanning your environment

One crucial part of being in business is research - researching your industry, scanning the environment and knowing your strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats. No matter how strong your own skills are, and how well defined your product is, your business will struggle if you haven’t done the groundwork about the bigger picture of where the trends are heading and what may impact the business.

It is easy to get so caught up in day to day work that you run out of time for activities such as research. As a business owner you must put aside time to research – it is the responsibility of being a director of a company. Benchmarking is one of the tasks that you should carry out. Benchmarking simply means comparing your business and its specific activities to your competitors. They may do things better than you, be more profitable, etc. You can even compare your business to other businesses that perform a similar process to determine whether they do it better than you and if there are improvements that you can make. This is the great thing about being a business coach - we see how things work across industries and in many ways perform informal benchmarking for our clients.

Here are some questions that might be useful:

• Who are my key competitors • What are my key competitors achieving that I would like to?

• What am I achieving that sets me apart from my key competitors?

• What is the trend in demand in my targeted sales demographic or should I look at diversifying or specialising further?

In evaluating your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats don’t forget to take into account PEST. PEST stands for: political, economical, social and technological. It is an analysis that should be done to assess the external factors that will have an impact on your business (such as economic, technological and legal developments or changes in an industry or the environment that will impact the business). By becoming aware of these factors and focusing on the ones that will have the highest impact on your business, you can identify challenges and also see opportunities for growth and expansion. It becomes part of your risk management strategy, but also alerts you to changes that may be necessary in your processes, for example with all the telemarketing calls from overseas that consumers are receiving renders this method of generating leads more difficult.

Read more about this type of analysis: target="_blank" title="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_scanning">en.wikipedia.org

Another helpful research tool is IBISWorld. IBISWorld is an international service provider that provides high quality information, research analysis and reports on every industry. Visit your local Victorian Business Centre or check out their Australian website at: www.ibisworld.com.au

Also check out www.trendwatching.com and www.springwise.com for examples of innovative products services and services and trends.

Another way in which you can research your industry and place yourself and your business at the forefront of new developments and information is to join an industry association. Being a member of a relevant industry association will give you invaluable access to things such as newsletters, networking, professional development and referral services.

You might have been very lucky with your business and it took off very quickly. But it is likely that even if your start up is swift, you will face times when things slow down or change directions. At these times, knowing your industry, through a process of thorough research and informed knowledge will be a saving grace and may also open up opportunities and ideas you had never even considered. It’s definitely worth the time and effort now, for the pay off in the future! Sometimes businesses that take longer to get off the ground are the ones where the directors learn to research and continually improve their processes to get the business going, which is valuable training for the long-term viability of the business.

To find out more about Moving Forward Business Coach, visit the website at: www.movingforwardcoaching.com.au

© Robyn Pollard 2006

Scanning your environment - To learn more about this author, visit Robyn Pollard's Website.

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