Does your business have a North Star? It should

Published 10:27 am Thursday, January 27, 2011

My favorite Yogi Berra saying is “If you don’t know where you’re going, you might wind up someplace else.” A mission statement is a company’s North Star, a guiding light to keep a business on course. When crafted correctly, it can serve many important business functions

. Do your employees and customers know where you’re going?

I surveyed nearly 1,000 executives to understand their most significant challenges, in terms of running and growing their businesses. I found that fewer than 10 percent of them had a mission statement that was published. Also, among those companies with a mission statement, I found that most of their employees (internal customers) didn’t know what it was.

The purpose of a mission statement is communicating who you are, what you do and whom you serve — to both internal and external customers. Your internal customers (employees, stakeholders, suppliers, partners, etc.) are just as important to the success of your enterprise as your external customers. If your own people don’t “get it,” they won’t be able to “give it.”

A mission statement is also a good decision-making tool, and should be the litmus test for everything you do. When you have an opportunity to consider, or an important decision to make, run it through your mission statement. If the idea or opportunity under consideration doesn’t support your mission, it should be discarded.

Writing an effective mission statement involves a simple three-step process: 1. Answer three questions; 2. Select key information; and 3. Write your statement. If you have employees, involve them in the exercise … especially those who have customer-facing responsibilities.

Step 1: Write words and phrases that answer each of the following three questions: 1. Who you are; 2. What you do; and 3. Whom you serve. Don’t worry about wordsmithing until Step 3.

Step 2: Go back over your answers to all three questions and select the key information by marking the words and phrases in each answer that you feel should be included in your mission statement. Then put all the selected words and phrases together in one paragraph. The only objective of this second step is to identify, select and consolidate the most important information.

Step 3: After you’ve put your key information together, you’re ready to write a concise statement in one short paragraph. Begin drafting your statement by arranging the key information in logical order, then create a coherent flow. You will rewrite your draft statement a few times until its final form is satisfying.

I also have two rules for any mission statement: It should be 25 words or less and it must communicate a customer benefit.

The reason for the 25 words rule is two-fold. First, it will force you to focus on the key points that are most relevant to your customer and, secondly, a short statement is far more apt to be read and remembered. Nobody is likely to read or remember a mission dissertation.

I hope the reason behind the inclusion of a customer benefit is obvious. Your mission statement must be easy to understand and relevant to your customers’ wants, needs and desires.

Keep in mind that you aren’t writing a brochure. Think of a mission statement as you would a landing page on a website. All of your company information isn’t present, just enough to keep the visitor from abandoning the site.

Completing this simple three-step exercise will make it much easier to find your North Star. Once you find it, continually use it to stay on course.

Andrew Ballard is an author, educator and the president of Marketing Solutions, a local agency specializing in research-based growth strategies. Call 425-337-1100 or go to www.mktg-solutions.com.