Developing a Mission Statement

Why do you need to spend time developing a mission statement?

Now that you have decided to start your own business, you need to define your business identity and developing the mission statement for your small business is an important step.

A good mission statement is simple, easy to understand, and usually short.

They can be a single sentence, a list of bullet points or a short paragraph.

By its very nature, your mission statement defines your business and guides your actions throughout the life of your business.

Mission statements commonly include some or all of the following concepts:

• The moral/ethical position of the enterprise,
• The desired public image,
• The key strategic influence for the business,
• A description of the target market,
• A description of the products/services,
• The geographic domain, and
• Expectations of growth and profitability

Need One or Two Examples?

Sometimes an real life example can do more to explain a concept than pages and pages of discussion. Just below you will find the mission statements for Amazon. Boeing, Coca-Cola, Merriott and Walt Disney.

Amazon:

To be the most customer-centric company in the world, where people can find and discover anything they want to buy online.

Boeing:

"To push the leading edge of aviation, taking on huge challenges, and doing what others cannot do."

The Coca-Cola Company:

The Coca-Cola Company exists to benefit and refresh everyone it touches. The basic proposition of our business is simple, solid, and timeless. When we bring refreshment, value, joy and fun to our stakeholders, then we successfully nurture and protect our brands, particularly Coca-Cola. That is the key to fulfilling our ultimate obligation to provide consistently attractive returns to the owners of our business."

Marriott:

"To make people away from home feel that they're among friends and really wanted."

Walt Disney:

"To make people happy."
• No cynicism
• Nurturing and promulgation of "wholesome American values"
• Creativity, dreams and imagination
• Fanatical attention to consistency and detail
• Preservation and control of the Disney "magic"

Writing Your Mission Statement

Before you write your first draft you need to gather up the information you have gathered while you were evaluating your business model.

• From your internal analysis, make a list your core competencies and your unique strengths and weaknesses.
• From your customer research make a list of your primary customers by type.
• If you did any surveys with your target customers make a list of what they are looking for when they buy your product or service in terms of benefits (not features).

Now compare your strengths with what your customers actually want. Are there any matches?

If there are not, perhaps you should go back and take a good long look at your business model!

Write a descriptive sentence for each of the matches. Then combine the top three to five statements (the matches) into one paragraph. You have completed the first step in developing a mission statement!

What's Next in Developing a Mission Statement?

Now that you have your first draft, it is time to test it. Take a copy with you, visit your suppliers and ask them what they think. Ask some of your target customers and anyone who will be working in the business with you. If you have found a mentor or a business coach, run your draft past them as well.

When you have asked for feedback from as many sources as possible, sit down and rewrite your mission statement. You don't have to incorporate all of the suggestions made by the people who reviewed your mission statement but you should at least consider them.

Then as a final check, compare your mission statement with your small business values. Is the statement consistent with the type of business you want to have?

If yes, great you are done developing a mission statement. If not, you need to redraft one or the other!

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