Your Mission Statement

A Mission statement tells the world about your business and needs to be in the forefront of the minds of everyone who works in your business. You also need to communicate it to your customers. It is the statement of why your business exists. It must also explain to your potential customers why they should do business with you.

The purpose

A mission statement is a short statement of your purpose, identifying your goals: what kind of product or service you provide, your primary customers or market, and your geographical region of operation.

It may include statement of your values or philosophies, a business’s main competitive advantages, or a desired future state.

It is an expression of what your business is all about. A good mission statement is essential when defining your strategy. Without it you do not have your purpose defined.

Writing it is your opportunity to define the company’s goals, ethics and culture. Remember what’s most important: the company has a purpose.

The mission statement will only be of value if it is different and special to you.

Your Customer

Your start point is your customer. Think through who they are, what they want and how you can improve their lives with your product. It also defines how your business is different from the rest. Also think also about what you DON’T do.

What you do

Don’t undervalue your business. What you do matters. It may not be the most exciting product in the world but even the humblest of products or services have a value. Your business is unique. What you do is special or different, probably in several ways. Identify these unique points (USPs or Unique Selling Points – to use the jargon). These things matter and help you to focus on what makes you special. But be careful, don’t just say it, it needs to be true.

What you do for your employees

Your employees matter more than anything else in your business. For this reason company culture matters. Things like training, development, fairness, diversity, empowerment etc. do matter but beware – everyone says they do them. You need to find a way of actually demonstrating how important they are to you. A very useful tip here is to involve your staff in developing your mission statement. The employees will come up with the things about your company that they value the most. They will also put them into better words than you can.

Writing a Mission Statement

You may actually want several forms of your mission statement, broken down a fairly short form for wider publication with more detail for employees or as extra definition if asked for.

Be wary of the buzzwords that every other business uses. Phrases such as “being the best possible” and “great customer service” are meaningless because everyone uses them.

Summary

This may all sound like a lot of work, but it really does make a difference. Before you can fully develop your company’s strategy, you do need to work out, and document, what you are all about. Only then can you be sure that your strategy will work.

We enjoy working with businesses developing their mission statements and if you would like to chat through how we may be able to help, please call or email.