Although most small businesses only have a one to two-line mission statement, it is the words contained within this small declaration that can have a huge impact on its success or failure. After all, the mission of the company not only tells the consumer what your company stands for and strives for, hopefully increasing their desire to want to do business with you, but it should also be the basis for your day-to-day decisions as you work toward meeting and even achieving the very mission you’ve set.
So, whether you already have a mission statement and wish to create one with more impact, or you don’t yet have one and need help developing an extremely powerful one, here are five steps that will help you do just that:
Step #1: Define Your Goals
The first step in creating a mission statement requires that you get clear about what it is you intend to do with your small business. In other words, what is it that you hope to accomplish? What are your goals and aspirations? What do you want to achieve? How will you make your customer’s life better, happier, or easier?
Do you strive to provide superior service? Lower prices? An unparalleled experience? What is it that you want your customers to feels during and after using your products or services?
Step #2: Share Your Vision
A large number of mission statements also share the company’s vision. This tells the consumer exactly where you plan to go in the future with both products and services. So, where do you see your small business going?
Do you plan to dominate your field or area of expertise? Are you preparing to expand into other areas or niche markets? Think 20, 50, or 100 years ahead and share where you envision your company being at that time.
Step #3: List Your Values
Assigning values to your company’s mission statement makes you more personable. It removes the image of four walls and a roof, and replaces it with feelings that make the consumer feel good about doing business with you.
With this thought in mind, what are values that your company promotes or holds near and dear to your heart with both employees and consumers? Honesty? Integrity? Adaptability? Consistency?
If you’re having a hard time coming up with them, Steve Pavlina offers a fairly complete list of values to consider. Just go through it and see which ones speak to you most.
Step #4: Think About Your Strategy
Now, with the first three steps complete, it is time to think about your strategy. How do you intend to make all of this happen? Is it through research? Sales? Training? Customer support? Some combination of these things?
Step #5: Put It All Together
The final step involves actually writing your mission statement in a way that shares your goals, vision, values, and strategy. Remember to use impactful words so that your readers can easily tell what is important to you. Some to consider include: accelerated, cultivated, delivered, spearheaded, advanced, and fostered.
It may also help to read some mission statements from other successful businesses just to give you an idea of how yours should read. So, here are a few that were created by Fortune 500 companies:
- AT&T has a one sentence mission statement: “Our mission is to exploit technical innovations for the benefit of AT&T and its customers by implementing next-generation technologies and network advancements in AT&T’s services and organizations.”
- P. Morgan’s mission statement is longer, but it pretty much sums it up in their one statement which says, “From the start, we have contributed to business, society, and world affairs – doing ‘first class business in a first class way.’”
- Home Depot’s mission is “to provide the highest level of service, the broadest selection of products and the most competitive prices.”
Follow these five steps and you will create a mission statement that packs a punch. And if you feel like it, share it in the comments below to help other readers develop theirs!
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