How To Clarify Your Business’ Mission and Vision

You need to compose two major statements, your vision and mission statements, to drive you toward success in achieving the things you want your business to accomplish. The mission statement captures what your company does here and now and helps you define how to measure whether you are successful. The vision statement, on the other hand, helps you to continually keep an eye on what you ultimately want your company to look like.

Writing these two statements early in launching your business will help define many other aspects of the way you operate and inform future decisions related to business strategy. In general, you should start by writing the mission statement and move on to the vision after you have determined your mission.

Mission Statement

Your mission statement is something that states what your company is about. Overall, your mission statement should reflect what your company cares about and what you are doing now as a business. You can also include one or more goals, but if you do, they should be short-term and very attainable.

Brainstorm for your mission statement by writing down all the words or phrases you can think of to describe what your company does now. What services do you have? What is your product like? What do people who use your products or services think of them? Your mission statement needs to address what your company does, who you do it for, and how you do it.

Also brainstorm at least one goal that you could include in your mission statement. You want the goal to be something that will move your business forward, is actually possible, and is specific enough so you know when you get there. For example, you might say that your goal is to have 95% customer satisfaction based on your feedback surveys.

After completing your brainstorming, combine these ideas into a concise mission statement. It should be no more than three sentences, or about 70 words. It can be as short as one sentence if you can fit everything in. You want your vision to use words that are easy for everyone involved in your business to understand, whether they are your business partner or the volunteer who helps you for a couple of hours every month.

When you have completed a rough draft, edit the statement to replace words that are unclear or are not specific enough for you to envision what they actually mean. Remove words that are filler or don’t convey anything useful about your business. Cut out everything except the essentials for the core of what your business is now.

Vision Statement

Your vision statement takes a step back from your current mission and asks the question of where you want the business to go in the future. This statement will help you set a trajectory and motivate you to continue going to work and putting your best effort in to propel your business to the next level. It is something you can show your employees to help motivate them to excellence in the workplace.

Brainstorm for your vision statement by closing your eyes for a minute and imagining what your business would look like in the ideal world. You typically want to think five to 10 years down the road to avoid getting stuck on short-term goals. Think about what products and services you will offer, what customers will think of them, and what significant change your business will have made in the world.

Distill the ideas you brainstormed into a word picture of your business in the future. However, write this vision statement in present tense. The idea is that while reading the statement, you should be reading a description of the business in the perfect world, and you should be able to see it in your mind’s eye. As with the mission statement, your vision statement should generally be 70 words or less. You want it to be concise enough to be able to recite to yourself anytime.

Edit your business’s vision statement by asking the question of whether it is unique to your business. If you expect that one of your competitors could have an identical vision statement, stop and consider what sets your business apart from the competitor. Think about what you offer that nobody else does, whether it is a unique product, superior service or a special personal touch. Work this into your vision statement so it is something that you are confident is unique to you and is something you are working toward that nobody else can do.

Concluding Tips

Even after writing your mission statement and vision statement, your work in these areas is not done. You must put them into practice to get the most out of these statements you worked so hard to create. Put your mission statement into practice by displaying it prominently on your website, in your workplace and on promotional materials. Your vision statement should be something you can recite from memory and use to help you make everyday decisions that will affect the future of your business. Your goal is to make decisions that lead you toward the scenario you outlined in the vision statement.

In many cases, you will end up revising the mission statement and vision statement throughout the life of your business. As the market changes, you may change your strategy and try to appeal to a different sort of consumer or go after a different market niche. In addition, you may find that you have reached the vision you set out and want to go farther, so you need to revise the vision statement to reflect the new goals. When making revisions, put the same energy and attention into these as you did on the initial statements, because your new mission and vision will continue to play a critical role in your business.

Haircut Not the Only Fantasy Trump Sells

While the news that Donald Trump isn’t running for President of the United States isn’t a big surprise to most, it is another touchstone in his career as the most famous pitchman since P.T. Barnum.

The thing that Trump is best known for is simply being Trump and while his latest dalliance with politics has been controversial and caused some backlash, the last few months of Trump’s life have also been an impressive display in the power of marketing.

Trump has been in the media spotlight since the mid 1980’s, but his latest foray into politics has taken his brand to another level.

You couldn’t pay for all the publicity “The Donald” is getting these days. He’s everywhere, on television, on the internet, in almost every magazine you pick up the Trump brand is one of the most ubiquitous in the world.

But it’s not as if everyone the world over loves Trump.

In fact, according to some surveys, almost 4 of every 5 people have a negative view of him. Still, by almost any measure, he is an unqualified success, especially when it comes to getting his name out there while attaching it to products that suit his lifestyle.

So how does he do that despite a relatively negative public image?

You may not believe it, but Trump stands for something.

Even if his views change over the years (In Trump’s previous jumps into politics he was first a Democrat, then an Independent and is now a Republican) Trump’s image still stands for power and prestige.

In his businesses, Trump aligns himself with the best of the best. He sells the lifestyle of the rouge billionaire, and most importantly, always finds an answer to that most important question, “What’s in it for me?”

It’s virtually the same marketing mindset that rappers like Jay-Z employ. Sell the lifestyle you live and, more importantly, don’t use anything that you don’t get paid to use.

Whether people have a positive or negative opinion of him, Trump’s self-assured way, even if it is arrogance, is very appealing to quite a number of people.

Trump knows that marketing isn’t necessarily about getting people to like you, but it is about getting people to trust you.

People trust that Trump will do what he says he will do and that the products he endorses are of superior quality. In this respect, his persona, and his arrogance, is a selling point.

Trump isn’t looking to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Instead he is trying to appeal to others who aspire to live his lifestyle. He’s not only a pitchman, but he is the fantasy that those that buy his products want.

It’s the perfect marriage of image and product and a revealing look at how marketing really works. It is also the reason he is in the public eye almost 40 years after he bought his first real estate property and the reason his brand will continue to grow.

Entertainment Industry Doesn’t Escape the Reality of Economics

We consider the Return on Investment in any project we do, in any team member we hire, in every hour of the day.

Without a Return on Investment, the quality of a particular project is irrelevant.

Even businesses based on fantasy, like the entertainment industry, have been forced to face reality head on and cut corners, because the ROI on some of their best products has been so poor.

Literally dozens of quality shows have been cancelled because of poor ROI.

One-hour scripted shows generally cost about $2 or $3 million to produce, while reality shows can be made for a percentage of that cost.

If a season of shows in the United States lasts 20 to 26 episodes, you’re talking about an investment of anywhere from $40 to almost $80 million in just one show.

Even for networks with the most viewership, that is a steep number.

These days some shows are taking proactive stances so they don’t get cancelled.

Take critically acclaimed crime drama Southland for instance.

Since its inception, Southland has been fighting a budget battle. Southland began on NBC but the price tag was simply too much and the show moved to TNT.

The show is generally filmed on location rather than on sets to help cut costs and now they are getting rid of cast members.

Southland originally had eight main cast members, but now they are down to four and many of the peripheral characters are now only seen every few episodes.

As with most businesses, the cost of staffing is high in Hollywood and the easiest way to cut costs is to simply use less actors.

This is another example of doing less with more and accentuating this particular product’s ROI but it remains to be seen whether it will be enough to keep Southland on the air while not reducing the quality of the show.

Interesting Results from the Franchise Business Review

If you’ve been in business, or lived life, for any length of time, you come to realize nothing is ever perfect … and that’s particularly true in the franchise world.

No franchise is perfect (yes, not even ActionCOACH!) … and we certainly don’t pretend to be.

However, based on the most recent results from the Franchise Business Review (FBR), we are doing better than most in terms of franchisee satisfaction in our system.

The FBR is a true third-party measure of franchisee satisfaction, and we look forward to its results every year because we make leadership decisions based on this survey.

This year’s numbers show we’ve made some pretty significant strides over the course of the past several years to be more responsive to the needs of our Franchisees and more innovative in leveraging best practices within our system.

The results?

The FBR’s latest survey ranks ActionCOACH “Very Good” to “Excellent” in a range of categories, compared to “Average” to “Good” in terms of our competition and the franchise industry in general.

With more than 1,000 franchisees around the world, that’s not always easy.

As a large format franchisor, we are also unique in that we don’t have a conventional “brick and mortar” business model.

Because of this, we attract a very specific kind of franchisee. They are typically highly driven, highly skilled and extremely innovative in terms of sales growth and profitability.

Our coaches also have very “bottom-line” personalities and ideas about how to run their own practices.

Overall, this is great for our business, because it leads to new innovations and results in the field.

It does, however, sometimes make life a bit complicated for our executive team in terms of getting consensus on certain issues globally.

But that’s just the nature of our particular franchise, which makes the overall numbers in the FBR survey particularly satisfying from a franchisor perspective.

In terms of “General Satisfaction,” ActionCOACH outpaces the benchmark score 63% to 55% …

… which is an important metric to consider in terms of future franchise growth.

Why?

FBR’s own research shows that those franchise systems with the highest franchisee satisfaction outperform the competition by upwards of 400% … so satisfaction is vitally important to the overall growth and long-term strength and health of a franchise system.

I learned this as a valuable lesson just last year.

While the premise may be that higher profits are highly correlated with franchisee satisfaction, our own internal numbers show the opposite to be true.

Last year, we had three consecutive quarters during which average coach income grew 20% each quarter.

You would expect as a result of this historic growth in franchise profitability – we would have perfect scores.

Not so.

For me, this survey further highlights the reality that relationships, accessibility and outreach are as important to franchisees in some instances than are dollars.

The important thing is that the franchisees were happy. That’s satisfying to me as a CEO who has come in following the work of our company’s Founder and CEO.

It was also important to me as a female and an Australian working in America to be able to show both improvement and overall consistency in our numbers.

One of the areas of great personal satisfaction to me is in terms of our franchisees view of overall “Core Values”:

From my perspective, this is a great reflection on how we live our business day-to-day via our “14 Points of Culture,” and try to maintain that culture throughout our system.

That our coaches see that reflected in their own experiences is a good gauge for us to consider as we head into the new year, and continue to be as open and accessible as possible for our franchisees.

What are some of the more effective ways we’ve been able to do that?

Here are just a few:

• A range of Social Media platforms … including Facebook and LinkedIN, with messaging designed to leverage initiatives and engage in rapport with franchisees.

• ActionMEMBERS … which is our intranet platform that serves as a portal and gateway to our systems and internal communication. In our forums, we can hear from (and interact with) our franchisees on a “real-time” basis.

• An international “Business is Booming” tour … funded and presented by our Founder and Chairman, Brad Sugars, who embarked on an 82-city tour to present his view of business and the economy, and to drive new prospects and customers to our coaches.

I’m not sure how many franchise founders do this for their franchisees, but I would bet not many.

As a result of Brad’s efforts (and expenditure, which amounted to more than $1 million), more than 82,000 new prospects were introduced to our brand and the value of coaching for their companies.

• Our annual Regional and Global conferences … during which franchisees can work with and network with other coaches and executives, as well as attend planning and strategic sessions that help guide the future of the franchise.

My experience over the past several years at ActionCOACH (and the past year as CEO of the U.S. and Canada) has shown me that franchisees want to be involved in communication and want to develop a good rapport with their franchisor.

Not to the point of distraction, mind you, but to a level where they see value and benefit in sharing practices that work  in – and work for – truly building a successful business.

More on the FBR surveys and rankings as they become available later this month …

I appreciate the results … and look forward to improving our numbers even more this next year.

Jodie Shaw

Another CEO Blog?

Right!

So … you may not know me right now, but I’m hoping over the next weeks, months (and years!) we’ll start to develop a rapport about business, women in leadership, franchising and business coaching – the latter being the business I’ve promoted, strategically planned and led for the past five years.

I’m a huge fan and proponent of online media, web marketing, business and personal blogs and the like, so this seems to me the ideal medium to communicate and share with others my thoughts and perspectives … in a forum outside ActionCOACH’s more conventional forms of media.

So why another CEO blog?

A few things here I suppose …

First, I’m a relatively young Australian woman heading an organization that was previously led by the person who founded the company … so I think I have a somewhat unique and interesting perspective on business, leadership and how to aspire to a leadership position – and actually get there.

Second, I lead a very unique organization that is built around a very different idea about how business does – and should – work.

These ideas have not only helped me coach our network to greater success, they also help more than 15,000 businesses every week all over the world get more profits, more time for those company owners and better team members to help build better companies.

Third, I rose to the rank of CEO from the marketing department, a path that is a bit different from someone who spent their formative years in finance or operations.

Because of this, I think I have a different perspective on how a marketing “world view” in business is actually better and more oriented toward growth for an organization than one based on finance or operations.

I also think I have some different ideas on how marketing can drive both finance and operations better than those areas can drive marketing … (but, we can have some good back and forth on that one …)!

Fourth, I believe that profit is not only the most important thing in business, but it’s the only reason to be in business … and I can say right off the bat you will not hear many CEO’s make such a blatant statement about the need and value of profit, but after “being in the trenches” of small business for a number of years, nothing is more important (yet misunderstood) than the role of profit in business.

One of the things we pride ourselves on at ActionCOACH (and the main difference between our company and a conventional consulting company) is that we focus on business growth and profit as the ONLY way to grow a company, versus cutting expenses to the bone.

You can only ever cut so many expenses before you affect performance … but once you know “how” to grow your sales and profit margins, the sky really is the limit – for any business on the planet.

Finally, I don’t only believe … but I know as an absolute fact … that small-and-medium sized business is the driving engine and force of economic growth in any economy.

This is even true in heavily regulated and highly top-down oriented economies (Mexico being one example), where small business and the profit incentive is the only factor standing between a recession and complete economic collapse.

I think this is because there are certain people in any culture or marketplace (read:  small business owners and entrepreneurs) who have an innate (or yes, even learned) need to succeed … fueled by a desire and drive to produce a profit and the aspiration to build a better lifestyle for themselves and others.

This need that is found in a few benefits many … even those who are more comfortable with stability and “security” … and who are content just to have a job or live pay check-to-pay check (either in the public or private sector).

The dividends small business pays are incalculable … not only to owners of small business but to communities and countries in terms of employment, innovation … and yes, even taxes and other benefits (even health care!).

But that’s a rant (or a topic!) for another day … or week … and just one of the many I hope to explore through this blog and interaction with you.

It’s been an incredible journey to this point … and I hope you’ll join me as I share my thoughts on a very exciting world of global small business and a future that will prove very interesting for all of us …

Jodie Shaw
ActionCOACH CEO, USA and Canada