SWOT analysis before a business meeting

A SWOT analysis is a sheet divided into four quadrants: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The first two look inside the company, at what you control. The last two look outside, at what you do not control.

Done before a business meeting, it serves a very practical purpose: deciding what you are going to say in the two minutes you will have at each table, and what you are going to look for in the conversations.

How to do it in 40 minutes

It does not need consultancy. It needs a sheet of paper and honesty.

Strengths (10 minutes). Write what you do better than your direct competitors, with evidence. "Differentiated service" with no proof does not count. "I deliver in 15 days while the market delivers in 30" does, because it is verifiable and because it fits in your pitch.

Weaknesses (10 minutes). Write what customers complain about, what you turn down because you cannot do it and where a competitor beats you. This is the quadrant almost everyone fills in cowardly, and that is why it is the most useful.

Opportunities (10 minutes). What is changing in the market in your favour. A sector growing in the region, a new rule that creates demand, a competitor who left.

Threats (10 minutes). What is changing against you. A large competitor entering, dependence on few customers, a change in the cost of an input.

The example that makes the tool concrete

Think of a small bakery opposite a school.

• Strength: a location with guaranteed footfall Monday to Friday.
• Weakness: few staff, which produces queues at peak times and customers who

give up.

• Opportunity: school trip days and school holidays that concentrate demand.
• Threat: the school holidays, which flatten the trade for weeks.

Notice what the analysis reveals: the biggest threat is seasonal and predictable. That changes what this bakery should look for at a business meeting. It does not need more customers at the door. It needs contracts that work during the holiday period, meaning companies that order cake for a gathering, caterers who subcontract desserts, offices that ask for a coffee break.

Without the analysis, it would go to the event saying "I sell cakes". With the analysis, it goes saying "I make desserts for companies and I am looking for recurring contracts, particularly in January and July". The second sentence generates referrals. The first generates nothing.

How to turn each quadrant into action at the table

A strength becomes your opening sentence. It is what sets you apart in two minutes.

A weakness becomes what you look for. If you lack production capacity, look for a subcontracting partner. If you lack a sales channel, look for a representative. A weakness declared as an ask is one of the most efficient ways of using a matchmaking event.

An opportunity becomes your question. "Does anyone here serve sector X?" is a question that opens a door.

A threat becomes your filter. It helps decide which events to attend. If the threat is dependence on few customers, prioritise events with many different buyers rather than events with a single anchor.

The classic SWOT mistakes

• A weakness written as a disguised strength. "We are very

perfectionist" is not analysis, it is evasion.

• Confusing internal with external. A strong competitor is a threat, not a

weakness. A small team is a weakness, not a threat.

• Listing without prioritising. Twenty items per quadrant helps nobody.

Stick to three in each.

• Doing it alone. Your perception of your own weaknesses is the least

reliable. Ask the opinion of two customers and one supplier.

• Doing it and filing it away. A SWOT is only worth it if it becomes a

decision. If it did not change what you are going to say at the table, it was time wasted.

How to validate it with outsiders

Two cheap and quick sources:

Public reviews. Read what customers write about competitors. The recurring complaints about a competitor are your opportunities, and the recurring praise is the standard you have to reach.

The matchmaking event itself. Hearing forty companies in one afternoon is market research you could not commission. Go with two questions ready: "how do you choose a supplier for this kind of service?" and "what bothers you most about your current suppliers?".

What to fill in on the event registration

A SWOT done properly even improves how the tables are built. At events organised with software, the supply and demand fields determine who you sit with.

In Rodada de Sucesso, every meeting receives a compatibility score from 0 to 100, which cross-references supply, demand, interests, segment, priority and history. Writing "various services" on the registration is wasting that build. Writing the strength and the demand that came out of your SWOT changes who sits in front of you.

After the event, revise it

Go back to the sheet with what you heard. Was a weakness you thought critical mentioned by nobody? Did a threat appear in what several companies said? A SWOT revised every quarter, with information from the field, is worth more than an elaborate analysis produced once a year.

Continue with how to assess your business, how to build a business plan focused on matchmaking and how to beat the competition.

An analysis that does not change what you do on Monday is an exercise. An analysis that changes your opening sentence at the table is a tool.