SWOT in Practice

‘Spare change, please?’

I had a very interesting encounter with a beggar while I was in Shenzhen a while go. I was approached by a beggar while waiting for a friend outside a well known mall in Shenzhen.

He asked me for some spare change. I had some time, so I asked him why he came to me.

‘I saw you from afar. … You are loaded with shopping bags, so you must have just spent some money in the mall and should not mind handing some change from the shopping. You also look like a generous person so I decided to ask you for some spare change’

I was amazed by his informed comment.

In general, people are afraid of beggars because of they way they look – scruffy, dirty, torn clothes and sometimes smelly. This beggar is different. Although he has most of the begging characteristics, but he is clean. He pointed out that he needs to stand out of other beggars to be less intimidating.

‘I know my SWOT’

‘I am conscious of my own strengths. People don’t find me intimidating if I have a clean look – and that is my strength.

‘I look at my opportunities too. The huge population and its flow offer me opportunities. Only if the passers-by outside this mall are willing to give ¥1 a day, the opportunities would be ¥30,000 a month. Of course in reality, not everyone would spare me a yuan, and I can’t ask all of them in a day either’.

He strategically identified his targets – the passers-by of the mall. He continued his business forecasting.

‘If 30% of the flow around this mall is my reachable patrons, and if my success rate is 70%, my chance of success would be 21% of those approached.’

Selecting the patrons

‘There are several groups of people I regard as potential patrons. They should be around 20-30 years old. If they are too young, they would not have the money and if they are too mature, or already married, their partners often have control of their money. My targets are:

1. Relatively young ones and well dressed – they would be more free with spending money;

2. Young couples – they would at least, act generous to avoid embarrassments in front of their partners;

3. Singles and pretty girls – they are always scared of being harassed by strangers and willing to spend money to avoid them.’

He works eight hours a day and applying his chance of success, he could end up with ¥300 a day. He confirmed that he makes about ¥200 a day on weekdays and around ¥500 on weekends

He went on to disclose his marketing tactics. ‘You cannot keep chasing your patrons. You would easily waste time on chasing a customer without any success. I need to decide at which time to give up and find a new target.’

‘The business of a beggar cannot rely on luck. I need to plan on every ¥1 of my taking.’