3rd New Year's Revenue Resolution

As I reflect on our third New Year’s Revenue Resolution especially because of the pandemic I recognize how important it is now more than ever to compare yourself to the compset for changes and adjust. This process of comparison to the compset has a nice simple name for us to remember it and the steps too….SWOT. First most likely your marketplace is different today than yesterday just because of the pandemic alone. Many properties performed renovations, created new offerings, found new ways to be strategically creative. The business environment of 2019 is not that of 2022 even with returning demand. So what can you do? Well with SWOT you have the tools to identify today’s new reality. SWOT stands for: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. As we review and research the marketplace next, this will allow us to gather the data necessary for our SWOT analysis. So what is SWOT. Well strengths and weaknesses are just that. What are our strengths and weaknesses. Opportunities are our benefits over the compset and threats are non-controllable market factors which threaten our business. So where do we begin?

Well it’s time to put our thinking caps on and start market research. Initially begin with market research. Typically most properties love to show off their completed work. Take a look through their brandweb sites. Are there new photos? If so do they display major or minor work? New amenities? What are they offering from a product standpoint? New packages, discounts, or strategy? These are just some questions to consider as you review the marketplace for changes. Next where are you? How does your product compare to what you believe is your competitors current product? What is your current production and what changes could potentially be necessitated? Are there any changes necessary? What are the changes necessary? Just rate or are you need to go after another demographic? Where are you less competitive vs the compset? With this data you are now armed with sufficient information to create a list of your strengths and weaknesses versus the compset. From that list you should now be able to identify opportunities as well as threats.

Ideally at this point you can create a ‘big board’ and part out your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. With these on your ‘big board’ now we want to strategize how do we address these? How do we take advantage of our strengths and how do we compare that to the compset? How can we minimize the impact of our weaknesses? How do we take advantages of the opportunities? And what threats are we watching for?

Now with a defined understanding of the today’s status quo in the marketplace we can strengthen our pricing practices, understand our position in the market, plan for necessary work/maintenance/repair based on a strategic understanding vs the market, and more.

I hope you had a terrific Wednesday. Tomorrow we will return to reflecting on our New Year’s Revenue Resolutions, with #4 Plan your yearly marketing strategy.