Much Ado About Mission Statement — What You Need to Know!!
A mission statement is necessary while creating a business plan for your business. Mission statement captures the quintessence of your business goal & the philosophies underlying them. This brief statement will decide your purpose of new business and defines the reason for company’s existence.
Writing a mission statement provides the context and framework to help guide the company’s strategies that spells your business’s overall objective. A lot of noise is made about the kind and style of mission statements. There are no hard and fast rules. Simple realities apply while writing them.
A good mission statement answers key questions about your business.
1. Relevance to Business
Understand, mission statement is not the same as your company’s slogan — the latter usually serves as a marketing tool designed to grab attention of customers and clients. Your mission statement necessarily is same as your vision statement. The statement that defines your company’s futuristic aims. A mission statement is also a business plan that will keep your company on track. Remember, the mission statement shouldn’t be irrelevant or stale, and required fine tuning with relevance.
2. Opportunities and Needs of Business
The reason why your business was founded, and the kind of end purpose it meets for the clients. You can take a call to establish this business for yourself as an accomplished entrepreneur, or you just want to enter a business line and be done with it. Think about the spark that really kindled your desire to start this business.
3. Basic IMAGE of Business
Suppliers, vendors, employees and customers will all be having a certain perception about your company. Create the first impression, showcasing your business image.
4. Level of Services Offered
List out the factors that determine your quality and pricing. Analyse if your business DNA has the scope to change over time with the advancement of technology.
5. End Customers
Is your business B2B or B2C, or both? Identify the kind of clients your business delivers to and what is being offered.
6. Relationship with the Suppliers
Does your mission statement have anything for your suppliers? They are the backup plans that play a vital role in running your business smoothly.
7. Roles of Your Employees
Your employees are your treasured professionals, who will be helping you to make your business successful. They will be at your side in every challenge, evolution of business strategies and success.
8. Your Competition
Majority of the entrepreneurs forget that they are pursuing the same money as their competitors. How you are going to differ from them- what you plan to do, opt for some cheap, faster and better business gimmicks? How will you use your competitor’s weaknesses to benefit your business?
9. Core Marketing Approach
This is perhaps the most important question that you need to pen down with a truthful answer. Are you going to give a healthy and clean competition to your competitors, or you are going to use all sorts of marketing gimmicks “the good, the bad” etc? Because, the kind of approach you will opt will definitely reflect about you as a person and your pattern of leading a business.
10. Principles and Values Guiding the Business
Whatever it is, jot it down as you are going to read it often and that will remind you of the prime goal, all the time.