In the first of our series of business plan blogs, we’ll discuss the creation of a mission statement that is specific to you and your company.

An effective mission statement will often include your company’s functionalities, goals, markets and competitive advantages. Additionally, it should address your product offering, pricing position, quality, service, growth potential, and your relationships with your customers, employees, competitors and the community. No… you shouldn’t necessarily try to get all that into one sentence! However, you do want to keep it to three or fewer to avoid over-complicating things.

For those of you who have not written a mission statement, it’s important for you and your key management or employees to separately list all of the items that an effective mission statement discusses above. You do not want to fall into a groupthink setting where one owner, manager, or employee can dominate a mindset which sways others in describing and understanding your company. After you’ve tallied all of your information and discussed each measure in length, it’s time to begin writing your mission statement.

Primarily, mission statements should not be more than three sentences in length. Each sentence should be detailed but brief and to the point. Also, each sentence must adhere to the purpose of your business and philosophies surrounding your company. For those of you who already have a mission statement, it is absolutely key to monitor whether you mission statement is still fresh and relevant… do a check up about every six months to one year. Anytime you see changes in your market  – whether it is new competition entering the market, technology upgrades which enhance your product base, or potential of growth due to services added – you should consider modifications in your mission statement so you and your employees have a better understanding of the direction of your company.

Once you have a mission statement that accurately reflects who you are, what you offer, how you plan to do things and where you wish to go, it becomes a guiding point for your business plan. When the time comes in the writing process to make some hard decisions (and those times do come), you’ll have a “filter” to use to help make the right choices for your plan and your business.

It is extremely difficult to get from A to B in your company if you do not have the right business planning in place.  If you are intimidated by business planning or simply don’t have the time to accurately and effectively put together a strong business plan, give us a call and we can get started growing your business today!

See the next post: Vision, Goals, Objectives