Is It A Mission Statement or A Country And Western Song?

There you stand, in your vendors reception area, and you notice amongst all of the framed documents on the wall a Mission Statement.  Since you’re bored you take time to read it.  And almost fall asleep standing there like a horse at a hitching post.  Why? Because the traditional full page Mission Statement is like a Country and Western song.  From one to the next they have the same content: beer, trucks, momma, happy employees, good service, increased bottom line, happy shareholders.

Why do they write Mission Statements anyway?  What’s their purpose?  Organizations use Mission Statements for two purposes: to enjoin you to do business with them and to motivate their employees.  If their employees and cows are happy, then your cheese will be happy.  So they all write the same long and forlorn mantra.

And miss the mark.

People have neither the time to read them, nor the belief that just because you say it’s so it will happen.  Today’s consumer begins a relationship with the expectation that these core values are present anyway.  Let’s be clear… Values need to be as part of the company culture as copper rivets are to jeans.  And Core Values are internal.  Employees need to ‘own’ the mission.  The customer expects the results of values. Values are essential, but a Mission Statement they are not.

What do we do about it?

Make this an opportunity.  At the base level, a Mission Statement is a marketing and motivational tool.  Okay, that set some teeth on edge.  Grow up.  Think it through.  It causes people to want to do business with you.  People, like cows, want to be happy!  Don’t bore them and for sure don’t waste their time.  Entertain the client, motivate the employee.  Write statements that are short, catchy, and if possible, speak to both the customer and the employee, and go right to the heart of the matter. Simply put, when you are driving down the road (because that’s where today’s business is done) and you see a Mission Statement on a vehicle, it should, without effort, make the company memorable and induce you to do business with them.  The consumer gets it without having to work for it.

Easier to do when it’s shorter and sweeter. 
John Deere – “Nothing Runs Like A Deere.”  Proud to be an owner, proud to be a producer.
Handyman – “Even My Wife Recommends Me!” – Think he might be compelled to be the best?
Fed-Ex – “The World On Time” – Easy for the employ to remember, compelling to act on.
Jim Horan, Author of The One Page Business Plan© says: “Short, six to eight words. Period.”
Where do we start?  Write a long power sentence, with highly descriptive words. Remove some words, replace some words, add some words.  Try and get to eight or fewer words.  Mix and match.

We were working on Mission Statements in a seminar on business planning when Joanie McIntosh of an East Bay real estate marketing firm shared her idea. She said these words:
“Let us ignite your business with our creative fuel and put some dynamite into your sales.”
That’s mighty powerful stuff in them thar words.  We put more power in them.  Look at the results from Joanie’s original sentence:  For the marketing company:  Ignite your business- fuel your sales.  For the commercial developer:  Ignite your sales! Dynamite your business! 

Dynamite your old mission statement.  Get your employees AND customers attention!  Ignite YOUR business!

Bart Gragg

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