What is the best way for any business owner to convey their spirit and passion for their small business?
A mission statement!
Developing a mission statement for your small business is not required but it can be helpful for many reasons. If you are drafting a business plan for funding or investor recruitment, it is a must. If you’re starting a small business slowly from scratch and you’ll be the only employee, wait a while. I’ll explain a little later why waiting could be a good thing.
What is a mission statement?
A mission statement is a sentence or short paragraph that describes your business’ philosophy and goals. I believe that keeping it short and easy to remember is important. This is something you will repeat over and over to employees and yourself. If it’s half a page long there’s no way you’re going to remember it and chances are, it won’t have any real meaning to you anyway.
A mission statement becomes a mantra for your business success!
To develop a mission statement and use it for what it was really intended means to repeat it over and over again. Your employees should be able to recite it and use it as a benchmark for any important decision your company or individual employee makes. It becomes something of a values statement for how your company relates to people (clients & suppliers) and makes decisions. Customer service driven companies will talk about the customer experience while many large companies have a lot of text about profit and revenue. A good mission statement that effectively joins both of these theories is the Family Dollar Stores mission statement…..
“For Our Customers A compelling place to shop. . . by providing convenience and low prices For Our Associates A compelling place to work. . . by providing exceptional opportunities and rewards for achievement For Our Investors A compelling place to invest. . . by providing outstanding returns.“
What information should your mission statement have?
A mission statement is not a novel or description of everything about your business. It should be short and cover the essence of your business philosophy. What kind of relationships do you want to build with everyone your business touches? Why did you decide to go into business in the first place? Who is your ideal client and how can you best serve them? What is your brand and image? Answering these questions is important to developing a good mission statement. Decide what is most important to you and your clients so it can be incorporated into your mission statement.
Should I write my mission statement before I start the business or later?
If you’re just starting a business and need to obtain funding from a third party or are trying to attract investors you will have to write the mission statement now. Do the best you can to answer the questions and sum up the experience you are trying to create.
If you can, you should really wait to write your mission statement.
I firmly believe that when you first start a business it’s difficult to really know exactly where you’re headed. It takes some time to figure things out, develop a profile of your ideal client and craft your business profile. This is why I think it’s best to wait 8-12 months before writing your mission statement. Even then, it will require modification until it’s truly great.
If you write it too soon you’ll find you really didn’t get it right the first time and will need to take another shot at it. It’s not a big deal to have to re-write it but in the eyes of your employees (if you have any) it can seem really scatter-brained to be revising your mission statement over and over.
Make sure the text is engaging and meaningful.
If it’s boring nobody’s going to remember it or care about it. It needs to engage anyone who hears it. A great example of that is the mission statement for Harley Davidson Motorcycles….
“We fulfill dreams through the experience of motorcycling, by providing to motorcyclists and to the general public an expanding line of motorcycles and branded products and services in selected market segments.”
This mission statement is great! It starts out talking about how they fulfill dreams! Who doesn’t want to fulfill the dreams of their client? It also does a great job of being practical. It’s only one sentence long and therefore easy to remember.
You may choose to use your mission statement as part of your advertising or marketing campaign. If this is the case, your mission statement will certainly have to be interesting and engaging.
What not to do with a mission statement.
As I said earlier, don’t make it too long!
Don’t make it difficult to understand or follow.
Don’t use a bunch of industry jargon and tech-speak.
Give it thought and take your time in writing it.
Don’t write it in a vacuum. If you have employees, they should be involved in writing it too.
Here are other examples of good mission statements.
Ford Motor Company
“We are a global family with a proud heritage passionately committed to providing personal mobility for people around the world. “
Duke Energy Corporation
“Our purpose is to create superior value for our customers, employees, communities and investors through the production, conversion, delivery and sale of energy and energy services.”
A mission statement is really a reflection of you as the business owner. It should convey your passion for the business in a manner that can develop the same passion for anyone who reads or recites it. Let it speak from your heart.