Can you recite your mission statement? My bet is you can’t.

Mission statements are prominently displayed on most websites and within company literature, but rarely used by the people they were designed for.

Here are 12.5 questions to make you think, squirm and reassess your mission and its meaning:

1. Who created your mission statement?

2. What does it mean to you?

3. Do you have it memorized?

4. Do you use it as a guiding light?

5. Do you have it up on the wall in your office?

6. Do you have it on a card in your wallet?

7. Is it your computer wallpaper?

8. Does it in any way affect your corporate behavior?

9. How do your customers benefit from it?

10. Does it inspire you?

11. Does it motivate you to make more sales?

12. Do any of your customers know your mission?

12.5. Or is it just a bunch of B.S. that your marketing people – or worse, your ad agency – created? Most mission statements are created for P.R. purposes, purported image or some other form of business pomposity. Totally bogus.

It’s formally called a “mission statement,” but the reality is, IT’S THE MISSION. YOUR MISSION!

I realized that there are several missions needed for every company. When I started to list them, it became apparent that these missions, if written by the people responsible for their execution, could change the culture of any company for the better.

• Company Vision – It’s easier to make missions if you have clear (big-picture) vision. Start there. What are you seeking to achieve? Not be the No. 1 blah, blah. Rather, how will you help, who will benefit and what will THEIR outcome be?

• Company Mission – Words about how you will act, the quality you purvey, the fairness you’ll set an example for, the value of what you’ll provide, the loyalty you’ll seek to earn, the honesty you’ll speak and the integrity you’ll display.

• Sales Mission – Your sales mission is your REAL mission. Without it, salespeople will wander into sales calls without a purpose other than “trying to make a sale.” MY SALES MISSION: Get the customers to buy from me based on value and relationship, and make the experience so memorable that they buy again, and tell other people how great I am.

• Customer Mission – What do you want your customers to say about you? How do you want them to view your quality, value, ethics, service, friendliness, ease of doing business, fairness and speed of response?

• Employee Mission – A statement of how you will treat people, communicate with people, train and educate everyone, provide opportunities to succeed, provide a workplace atmosphere to succeed and be truthful with your people.

• Vendor Mission – Your business couldn’t operate without your suppliers. How are you ensuring that you will thrive without squeezing and choking the profit out of them? How are you partnering with them to grow sales? How will they feel about doing business with you?

• Profit Mission – What are your profit motives? How will you invest your profits to grow people and business? How will you earn your profit? What actions are all employees to take to ensure maximum profit without sacrificing ethics?

• Community Mission – What is your local commitment to involve yourself and your company? What are you volunteering for? What outcome are you hoping for? How will the community win?

Maybe it’s time to revise your mission.

Jeffrey Gitomer can be reached by phone at (704) 333-1112 or by email at salesman@gitomer.com. © 2011 Jeffrey H. Gitomer