hello my name is Tim Walterbach with IBBTalks I will be continuing on the SWOT analysis series that I’m doing SWAT of course stands for strengths weaknesses opportunities and threats it’s a great analytical tool that you can do among your peers among your co-workers that will invite a lot of feedback into your business your program your efforts in the marketplace so today we are going to talk a little bit about the S part the fun part of the S wot it’s good to be you’ll have an opportunity to share the strengths of your company the things that that you know you do better than anybody else that has provided the market share that you’re after let’s face it you had to work hard he had to the little little more diligent little smarter a little more aggressive than then your competitor my experience is there’s no easy money there’s no maybe for maybe for the people who invent the product to get it started prices can be artificially high but what’s called Milton’s Friedman’s unseen hand you know that drives the mark price down you know as always comes down to supply and demand if the supply is scarce and the demand is high you can ask what you want but that’s just not typically the situation and the marketplace so if you’ve got strengths if you’ve done things well you there’s reasons for it and you ought to be able to articulate to others why you’ve captured the market share that you’ve had you have what is it that your company does better than anybody else what has provided that opportunity in the marketplace for you to capture a share of that you know it can be hey we’ve got the best price and we work hard to get the best price we drive further we you know we we work harder or work longer hours we’re more efficient with our labor whatever it might be that would keep our price down your strength may be on the other hand higher quality prices is not as much as a concern because you’re you’re selling the fact you’re promoting the fact and your strength has been we had the best quality goods in the marketplace but it’s an opportunity to talk about you know the things that support that business – you know the management structures that that you enjoy that the effective hiring practices that you’ve had all these things are good in in these settings so that we could encourage each other in those areas what is it what are the qualities that separates you from your competitor what what is it what are the internal resources you know the skilled staff you know speaking of skilled staff you know there’s a great example in our area in convenience stores you know typically convenience store employees were not of the highest caliber but somehow this group this community store called quick trip and this Corporation was founded here in Tulsa is now spreading across the United States there is a real distinction when you walk in you get greeted the young people the people employees working there are very energetic I don’t know how they that’s that would be their strength their secret sauce how do they get such highly motivated people for a job which typically was not well thought of yeah I walked into a gas station of the day and I won’t name the competitor but what a difference so when I walked through the the front door the lady behind the counter doesn’t then have uniform on and she’s got her hand resting on her chin said hey are you doing and talking to her boyfriend and well I thought what a difference what a strength this company that that becomes their distinguishing mark what is the strengths what are the strengths of your business that distinguishes you from your competitor how about you know what what are the tangible assets that you have and the things that you know we talked a little bit about your facilities and how well they’re taken care of and how well your work environment is provided for the you know the quality of the equipment and and furniture and fixtures that you you know it’s very encouraging to hear and challenging to others that that is a concern that affects the bottom line we were in a Oil Products Company visiting the other day and in the neighborhood was just an industrial area but they took a lot of pride in their facility beautiful glass building and you walk inside and everything’s just perfect and the the did a factory tour everything’s nice and neat no nothing out of place and assists it just it just screamed success so when a customer comes in they’re impressed that hey they could handle I know they can handle my business because of how well this is run that’s that was a real strength of theirs that impressed all of us that went for this little tour and that encouraged and promotes just good business around the world okay thank you is this first talk s strengths next one will be our weaknesses and the S wot SWOT analysis series thank you