Unpopular opinion: I want to throw ‘MISSION’ and ‘VISION’ in the bin.
Why?
Because they are one of the biggest creators of unnecessary and meaningless jargon.
I don’t have an issue with having a purpose, but I do have an issue with businesses trying to fit what they do under these labels and believing that this is the most important thing.
Everyone gets mission and vision confused for a start.
But it also gives businesses the unhelpful opinion that their vision and mission should be the first thing a prospective customer sees.
And quite honestly, your vision to be ‘the best X in the world’ just isn’t important to your prospects.
What they care about most is how you can help them make progress in their life or overcome a struggle.
Of course, if you are a B2B business that is authentically trying to make an important change in the world, brilliant. Make sure your prospects know about it.
But I can assure you that your purpose alone isn’t going to be enough to convince a prospect to buy.
They want to know that you can help move them towards pleasure or away from pain (and by the way, moving away from pain is a much bigger motivator).
So, instead of trying to fit your business into the traditional ‘mission’ and ‘vision’ boxes and then using those to promote your business, ask yourself these questions:
Who do you help?
What problems do you help them overcome?
Why do you care about helping them?
If you’re successful, what will the world look like?
Then make sure that the problems you solve and the progress you help your prospects make is the first thing they see.