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Tuesday, September 20, 2011

The Importance of a Mission Statement

We all understand the value of a tag line – a neat one line statement that others can use to remember what you do. However, a tag line does not always completely describe what you do or how you do it.

When more description is needed what do you do or what do you say? We all ramble on saying what we think the other person wants to hear or we can offer our “elevator speech” which is often nothing more than an extended tag line.

The best way to avoid the rambling is to generate a living Mission Statement. The actual act of writing a living Mission Statement forces you to think through an explanation what you do that will resonate with the prospect.

The Mission Statement will often:
- Contain a phrase reflecting standards
- Contain a phrase reflecting a unique approach
- Is written so that it can be provided and understood by the prospect
- Serves as a daily reminder for you and your staff
- Provides focus

Several examples of Mission Statements:

“The Comfort Keepers mission is to provide our clients with the highest level of quality of life that is achievable. We shall treat each of our clients with the respect and dignity they deserve, as though we were caring for a member of our own family.”

“The Potter Pest Control mission is to provide chemically safe, personalized and scheduled services that focus on prevention of infestations and to follow through in response to all requests for help until the client’s problem is eradicated.”

"The Ives & Associates mission is to fully understand and then capture the essence of what a company does and how they do it in a manner that is aesthetically pleasing, factually accurate and useful for branding and marketing purposes.”

“The mission of the Atlantic Center for Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine is to enhance that quality of life of every patient through the provision of alternative treatments and therapies and to assist the patient in identifying live style changes that may reduce the frequently or intensity of illness and discomfort.”


My thanks to Rob Robison, of Comfort Keepers, for letting me use his idea for this post. He presented this as an Educational piece at one of our BNI Shore Money weekly meetings.

Richard M.J. Jarosz
Currently working on the Mission Statement for Jersey Shore Coupons