Practical Mission Statement Examples

Thank you to Russel Earnest of Shirt Sleeves Solutions for pointing me towards the Inc.com article Walking the Talk: How to Turn a Mission Statement into Sales.

Russell and I had been discussing the uses of mission statements, and he kindly saved and shared the print article with me. I have written in the past about the value of a mission statement in a commercial company, and this article gives some good examples of its use.

Staying focused

A mission statement helped Savvy Travelers realize they were spreading themselves thin. Once they put their services and goals into a single sentence about women living on-the-go, they were able to eliminate all efforts that were not directly targeted towards this goal. The result was an increase in sales and in workforce.

As the gift that keeps on giving, the mission statement also meant their new employees understood the goals and kept to the company mission, so efforts were not lost or diminished by a need to onboard new team members.

Customer Experience

The customer is central to your business – and even more so if your business is a support service. New York Computer Help embodied this with their mission statement about treating each customer “like your own mother”.

It is a clear message to employees about the standard of behavior towards customers, and also tells customers that they can expect a high level of care and service from the company. This can in turn be used to keep employees accountable in how they perform.

In Conclusion

These are two excellent examples of a mission statement being much more than a soundbite. A mission statement is a story, an instruction, and a standard of behavior ensuring your clients, employees and management are all playing on the same team.

The Inc.com article goes on to give tips for writing a mission statement, the first one of which is “Ask Why Not What“.

Telling people I consult with small businesses is not really useful, and in fact barely interesting. My goal, on the other hand, is to guide “companies from good ideas to thriving businesses” which can grow in the long term. Running your own business, creating new jobs, providing good experiences through products or services, are all results that motivate me, and my mission statement keeps me focused on a structure for decision making, allowing business owners to continue to grow and thrive.