Your mission statement is fundamental and defines what your company is, what it cares about, where it wants to go, and how it wants to improve the lives of those who trust in it. If you don’t think it’s all that important, you better think again.
Too often, people slap a business-y string of phrases together that sound robotic, disingenuous, and outright awful. But since, in many ways, your mission statement not only defines your present but also your future, it’s imperative that you get it right the first time. Customers aren’t going to trust a company who can’t define its goals, and they’re most certainly not going to trust a business that can’t clearly speak to how those goals will affect them as customers. If you want to sell products, you first need to sell your company to potential customers, only then can you expect to see growth.
So forget how awful your mission statement is or isn’t, either way, here are a few steps you can do to improve it:
- Keep it simple and strong: Your mission statement should feel action-oriented, as if you’re out there right now making a difference. Use clear language, and use it sparingly. Don’t waste time with filler words or empty phrases. Promise one or two things; don’t promise everything, and remember that you can’t speak to every person out there, so focus your mission statement in a way that will attract your most important customers.
- If you’re the head of the company, your opinions still aren’t the only ones that matter: Customers often look at a company’s culture in order to gage whether it’s trustworthy. So when you draft your mission statement, talk to colleagues—talk to your team. Get others’ opinions and make sure the mission statement you draft aligns with how all of you see the company, your target audience(s) and the future.
- Believe: Simple, right? Belief is the most powerful part of your company’s mission statement. If you don’t believe what you write, then your customers won’t either. Your mission statement should be the image of your company and your customers. It should be believable to those on the inside and those looking in.
Sometimes you need the help of an outsider to resolve the issues plaguing your mission statement. As a Chicago-area sales consulting service and outsourced sales group, the folks here at Acquirent can help you connect your mission to the needs of your customers. Your mission statement is the roadmap your customers will follow, without it, you can forget about sales.
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