Creating a Road Map for your Business: Part 2 - The What
Why do the big corporates have vision/mission statements plastered around staff offices and break rooms, but so few small and micro businesses understand this vital piece of successful business strategy?
In Part 1 we uncovered the first pillar of a Big Picture Strategy, your why. It feeds into your vision, giving you a guiding light. Now we need to work out how we are going to achieve this.
Defining Your Mission
I define the business mission as The What. It is the actionable side of your purpose. The Why answers where the passion for your business is derived. The What defines what you’re actually going to do to bring that passion to life. Think of it as the engine of your Big Picture Strategy: it’s the core work, the services you provide, the products you sell and the value you deliver to your customers.
The What serves as a practical guide that can grow with your business.
The Role of your Mission in the Big Picture Strategy
Your Big Picture Strategy is a combination of your vision, mission and ideal client. Your vision is the end game, your mission is the road map to get there and your ideal client is who it is all for.
Crafting these two statements requires simplicity and focus. Think of it as a short, powerful description of how you bring value. It’s the ‘elevator pitch’ you tell yourself when you’re in decision fatigue or procrastination paralysis to keep moving forward.
Let’s see how this works in practice, here’s the original Vision and Mission statements I penned when I created my Aussie pub in Sweden.
Vision
To create a destination pub in Stockholm where one can have an authentic Australian experience without the long-haul flight and hefty price tag, that is renowned throughout Sweden.
Mission
To showcase the best of Australian hospitality by serving fantastic food, complemented by the finest Australian wine and beer, giving our Aussie-curious & -expat customers an immersive customer focused Australian experience that will compel them to walk in the door and keep them coming back.
This is probably a little wordy, I do love my words, but basically it is as simple as serving fantastic Australian food and drinks and giving excellent customer focused service! That's it.
Aligning Offerings with Purpose
Now it is easy to evaluate your offering, is your mission reflected in every product and/or service you provide. Confusion causes frustration and ultimately your customers will look for someone who makes it easy to say yes.
Have you ever had that feeling when you walk into a restaurant and you’re not sure if you should just take a seat or wait to be seated? You need to make it simple for your customers to buy from you. You don’t need sexy fonts and buttons on your website or overly fluffy ad campaigns.
Here's my thing, here’s how you buy it!
Vision + Mission = Decision-Making Tool
A clear mission simplifies decision-making, saving you time, energy and mental stress. It works hand in hand with your vision as a decision making filter. Now when you get one of those annoying customers that asks for something outside of your scope, just run it through your filter: does this align? If the answer is yes, go for it.
If it’s a no, it’s probably just a distraction. Now you have the freedom to say no, isn’t that a relief.
You won’t see Coca-Cola selling Pepsi, why should you!
In Part 3 I'll dive into the final pillar of your Big Picture Strategy - The Who or your ideal customer. Then your roadmap will be complete and you can jump into planning!
