A company’s mission statement typically addresses which of the following questions?
What does a company do for the customer? What products does a company sell? What does a company stand for?
Every business has to have some kind of mission statement, but when it comes to an individual company, the mission statement typically deals with what their product or service is, what they do for customers (i.e. how they make them happy), and what their values are.
1. What does a company stand for?
The answer is that it usually addresses all three questions, but it also depends on what industry the company is in.
For example, in the case of a company that sells food, they are selling their food which makes people happy and they have values based around making good food.
But if they were making clothes then they would be selling clothing which makes people happy and also has some kind of values attached to that.
2. What products does a company sell?
Again, it depends on what industry they are in. For example, if they sell chicken then they would be selling chicken.
But if they were selling anything else then it would be up to the company to describe what kind of product or service they are making.
3. What does a company do for the customer?
Again, all three questions go into this but other than that it depends on what industry the company is in and whether or not the answer is general for all industries or whether or not it’s specialized based on the type of business being run by that particular company.
What they do for the customer usually also has a lot to do with the product or service that they sell and it’s up to the company to describe what they are doing.
4. What benefits do the customers receive?
A company’s mission statement will typically encompass the first two questions because they are the ones that make people happy. It also gives their competition an understanding of what they are up against.
They can then analyze their product or service and see where it fits in with what that particular company is doing and determine how they can achieve a competitive advantage.
For example, you can’t decide to outdo a competitor’s product if you don’t know what products they are selling.
A company’s mission statement also serves as a reminder of why the company was started in the first place and who it is for (i.e. customers).
5. What do customers value most?
This question is another way of asking the first, but because the answers to this are all related to what kind of product or service the company is selling, it’s best to describe that instead. Examples of this include: size, color, and features.
These are questions that you should think about when you are formulating your mission statement because if you can answer them clearly then your customers will receive those values and they will be happy with what they get from your product or service.
If a customer doesn’t like those specific things then he probably won’t be happy with what he gets from your company and thus he will be looking for a competitor’s products.
6. Which type of business is being run?
The main types of business that a typical mission statement addresses are: manufacturing, service, and information.
If you describe what kind of business you’re in then your customers will know why they are being sold the product or service and they will also know how to use the product or how to make use of the service.
All of those aspects serve to make a customer happy. The only exception is information businesses because if you say that you sell information then your customers won’t be able to tell if you’re talking about services or products.
In that case you might want to limit it down to describing what kinds of information you sell or what kind of services are available instead.
7. What values does the company adhere to?
The most important question that a company’s mission statement should address would be this one. It’s a question that will answer all of the others and it will also tell your customers what your values are in general.
It includes things like being honest, being responsible, keeping promises or being trustworthy. The most important thing to remember when you’re formulating your mission statement is that these kinds of values fit within the category of “how to make someone happy” because how you make someone happy is what a company’s mission statement should represent.
