SWOT Analysis: Enhance Your Marketing & Operations

6-8% of the people in your database will buy or sell a home in the next 380 days. To capitalize on this, you need to go all in on maximizing your opportunities and ramping up your marketing, and that starts with a SWOT analysis. 

Doing a SWOT analysis will help you play to your strengths, minimize your weaknesses, and safely navigate the threats facing your business. It’s an essential component of your business plan and overall marketing strategy that too many agents overlook. 

In this blog, I’ll walk you through how to conduct a SWOT analysis for real estate, provide SWOT examples, and explain how you can use these insights to supercharge your real estate marketing plan and overall strategy.

What is a SWOT Analysis?

A SWOT analysis is a structured framework used by businesses to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. For real estate agents, this process can highlight what’s working, pinpoint areas for improvement, and uncover untapped opportunities for real estate lead generation.

Whether you’re refining a marketing content calendar or evaluating the effectiveness of your real estate social media marketing, this tool ensures you’re building a comprehensive marketing strategy that aligns with your business goals.

What Are Strengths?

Strengths are the internal advantages that set you apart from your competition. For real estate agents, this might include a strong database, excellent negotiation skills, or a recognizable brand presence. A SWOT analysis example might look like this:

• Strengths: Strong client relationships, expert market knowledge, and effective social media presence.

What Are Weaknesses?

Weaknesses are internal factors that hinder your success – knowledge or skills you lack, things you regularly struggle with, or tasks you too often avoid. Identifying these through a SWOT analysis is one of the most liberating things you can do. 

• Weaknesses: Lack of a structured follow-up system. Inconsistent marketing content calendar. Limited geographic reach. 

Do you know why it seems like great leaders have no weaknesses? It’s because they know what those weaknesses are and outsource them! 

Take the marketing content calendar for example. If you’re not good at creating these, there are people you can pay to make something much better than you could come up with in a fraction of the time. 

Time is money, so pay the fee, get it done, and use your strengths to fuel your revenue. 

What Are Opportunities and Threats? 

Opportunities and threats are external factors that can either help or hinder your goals – things you may or may not be able to control but must prepare for. 

Situations such as market trends, the recent NAR verdict, interest rates, and economic conditions could either be a threat or an opportunity, depending on what’s going on at the moment. 

This is where it can get tricky to categorize opportunities and threats. You need to be honest with the situation while looking for ways you can turn threats into opportunities. 

For example, NAR regulation changes would be considered a threat, but a proactive marketing strategy tailored to addressing it could turn it into an opportunity. 

How To Do SWOT Analysis

Conducting a SWOT analysis involves these steps:

• Gather Insights: Ask team members their thoughts. Study competitors. Take a hard look at yourself and your skills and write down everything that comes to mind. 
• Analyze the Market: Use data, news outlets, and tools to recognize external opportunities and threats. 
• Develop Strategies: Prioritize actions to address weaknesses, capitalize on opportunities, and mitigate threats.

The best way to write it out would be to use the hyper-advanced Tom Ferry Business Plan Template, which will give you a dedicated area to refer to right inside your business plan. 

How TomAI+ Can Help

Let’s take a look at how our proprietary AI tool, TomAI+ can help in each of the above steps. 

• Gather Insights: Use the Business Review feature to scan all your online reviews and compile a report on what clients have to say about your strengths and weaknesses. Our coaching members have had incredible results using it to refine their brand definition and bolster their Unique Value Proposition. 
• Analyze the Market: 2 features really shine here. 
  • Market Updates: Get up-to-the-minute news and information sourced from across all of real estate’s most trusted and relevant sources. You can ask it questions and find exactly what you’re looking for. 
  • MLS Analysis: Upload your local MLS data and TomAI+ will scan it for important insights tailored to your specific needs. Ask it to look for threats or opportunities. 
• Develop Strategies: Now take all of your findings, drop them in the chat, and ask TomAI+ to come up with powerful strategies around these opportunities and threats. 

A Real Estate SWOT Analysis Example

Meet Alex. He’s a Level 4 in Tom Ferry’s 8 Levels of Performance. Over his seven years in the business, he’s mastered the basics of prospecting, closing, and lead generation, but now he’s at a critical juncture. 

Alex feels stretched thin managing day-to-day tasks while striving to grow the business. He’s recently hired his first administrative assistant to free him up for revenue-generating activities like client meetings and marketing strategy.

Here’s a SWOT analysis example tailored to Alex’s situation...

Strengths

• Established Database: A robust database nurtured over years of consistent follow-up.
• Proven Marketing Success: Effective use of real estate social media marketing and geo-farming to build a market presence.
• Client Loyalty: Many repeat clients and referrals thanks to exceptional service and market expertise.
• Strong Work Ethic: Systems for lead tracking and client communication that ensure no opportunity is missed.

Weaknesses

• Limited Delegation Skills: Struggles to fully delegate tasks to assistant, often micro-managing or taking back control.
• Over-dependence on Self: Seen as the team’s sole decision-maker, limiting scalability.
• Inefficient Workflows: Lack of detailed S.O.P.s and marketing content calendars leads to inconsistency in execution.
• Lacking Google Business Profile: Profile and overall SEO are in need of a serious update. 
• Burnout Risk: Balancing too many roles without clear boundaries between business and personal time.

Opportunities

• Technology Adoption: Tools like a CRM system and automated follow-up sequences could streamline operations and improve efficiency.
• Expanding Geographic Reach: Tapping into nearby high-value neighborhoods offers significant growth potential.
• Leveraging Assistant’s Strengths: With better delegation, assistant could take over administrative and operational tasks, freeing up more time for strategic planning.
• Business Growth: Building a team of specialists—such as buyer’s agents or a marketing coordinator—would increase bandwidth and revenue.

Threats

• Competitor Innovation: Competing agents in the area are leveraging advanced real estate lead generation technology and digital marketing.
• Market Volatility: Interest rates and housing inventory fluctuations could reduce transaction volume.
• High Turnover in Real Estate: Retaining team members like the new assistant may be challenging without proper onboarding and career development opportunities.
• Client Expectations: Clients might resist working with new team members if expecting to work directly with the face of the business. 

Put it All Together

From here, Alex has a bird’s-eye view of himself in his business and where he needs to focus next. If he’s been looking to make another hire and then sees the need for an SEO/Google specialist, it’s more clear what he needs to do next. 

Leverage Knowledge Into Power

Becoming aware of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats is the starting point for turning gaps into gains, but when you’re grinding in the day-to-day, you usually can’t see what’s actually right in front of you. 

You need a coach to help you identify what’s actually going on in your business and zero in on new opportunities you’ve been missing. 

Want to learn how it works and start building your strengths right away? Schedule a free business growth assessment now!