Ready to Take Your Property Management Company (PMC) to the Next Level?
Whether you’re planning to make a shift or moving forward with business as usual, it’s helpful to conduct a SWOT analysis at least once a year.
It will help to cut through the noise and show you where to focus your attention.
The complexities associated with governing homeowners’ associations have continued to expand. HOAs need to take time to assess current situations and plan for the future. Planning now can help your association to stay the course and save time and money. Incorporating a SWOT analysis into your review and planning process will set the stage for improvements to your business and bottom line.
What Is a SWOT Analysis?
If you’ve taken any business courses or read a business strategy book or two, you’ve likely heard of a SWOT analysis before.
Just in case it’s new to you or you need a refresher, though, here’s an explanation.
SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. A SWOT Analysis is a framework that breaks down internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external (opportunities and threats) factors. It gives insight into what’s working, what’s not, where to grow or make changes, and what interferences or challenges may arise in the future.
Why Should PMCs Complete a SWOT Analysis?
PMCs that want to be successful should complete a SWOT analysis with their team to get a pulse on the business.
It’s an unbiased overview of the company you can use to redirect the course as needed or investigate possible growth areas.
When considering significant changes to your business or a specific service, a SWOT analysis gives insights into factors that you may have otherwise overlooked.
Tips to Conduct a SWOT Analysis for a Property Management Company
Gather individuals from a range of job functions at your company for a thorough SWOT Analysis.
There are likely some areas you may not have full visibility into, and others can share the perceptions from their areas of expertise.
You may even want to involve your whole staff, so that they feel valued as a team member. It will also give them foresight into any upcoming changes due to uncovered weaknesses.
Be as realistic and specific as possible as you move through each of the four aspects of your business. Everything you list should be a verifiable fact, not just an opinion.
Your SWOT analysis can be used as a launching point for your strategic planning – but more on that later.
Now, let’s take a closer look at each of the four aspects and how you can apply them to your property management company.
Strengths
The Strengths portion of your SWOT analysis will reveal the organization’s advantages related to assets, processes, and people.
A few questions to ask include:
- What do people in your market see as your strengths?
- What do you do better than other property management companies?
- What positions your company to be successful and beat your competitors in closing a deal?
- Do you have less overhead than your competitors?
Weaknesses
When reviewing your weaknesses, think about your organization as a whole, your team, processes, and assets. Weaknesses will show you what to avoid and improve, so be honest, even if it doesn’t feel good to think about the negative aspects.
Ask these questions:
- What factors cause you to lose sales or customers?
- What do outsiders see as your weaknesses?
- What could you improve? Are you wasting time on repetitive tasks? Are your files unorganized?
- Is your technology lagging in terms of capabilities?
Opportunities
Switching gears to more external factors like the market, competition, and state of the economy. The Opportunities section will show you where there’s a chance for growth or to be more competitive in the market.
Start with these questions:
- Are there any trends, regardless of size, that you could leverage to add to your portfolio of properties?
- What advantages does your property management company have due to technology, social connections, government regulations, etc.?
- What do your strengths open up for you?
- What could you do differently to grow your company’s visibility?
- How could you improve the quality of work your team outputs?
Threats
Threats are generally from outside your organization – things like the economy, your competitors, and the marketplace.
Kick off this part of your analysis with these prompts:
- What obstacles are you facing or expect to contend with in the future?
- What’s the competition doing that you should be keeping an eye on?
- Do you have bad debt or cash flow issues?
- What threats do your weaknesses open you up to?
- Is there a shortage of reliable vendors in your area?
How to Use a SWOT Analysis
You have your SWOT analysis; now what?
Don’t jump straight into addressing your laundry list of potential actions you’ve just created. Instead, analyze all four parts as a whole. Can some of your strengths open new opportunities? If you eliminated some of your weaknesses, would new opportunities arise?
Go through and reduce everything down to the most important ideas, likely the ones that will provide the highest return.
You may also want to look at your SWOT analysis alongside other strategy tools to get a complete picture. It will ultimately depend on your reasoning for completing a SWOT analysis.
Ready to Complete Your Own SWOT Analysis?
Keeping your strategic plan fresh and relevant is vital to your success.
So, be sure the board revisits and revises the plan yearly. Yeah, you may be thinking that’s not necessary, but you’ll find staying on top of it will help you stay focused and meet your goals. Once you’ve developed your SWOT analysis, it will be a quick review each year to ensure your business is still on track.
FREE Download:
Download a FREE eBook “SWOT Analysis for Property Management Companies”
This eBook discusses what a SWOT Analysis is and how to use it.
This eBook will:
- Show you what to avoid and improve, so be honest, even if it doesn’t feel good to think about the negative aspects
- Reveal things outside your organization, like the economy, your competitors, and the marketplace
- Show you where there’s a chance for growth or to be more competitive in the market
- Reveal the organization’s advantages related to assets, processes, and people
This is the resource you’ve been waiting for.
