Along with a business plan, a mission statement is an important tool that will capture the spirit of your business. A mission statement helps to clarify the goals and objectives of your company. In just a sentence or two, the mission statement for your cleaning business will set your business goals, your underlying philosophy, and what special benefits you have to offer to your customers. A good mission statement will reflect that special niche that your cleaning business is catering to and provide a long-range vision for you to build on.
Following is a sample mission statement:
“ABC Cleaning Company is committed to delivering the exact services our commercial cleaning customers want, listening closely to their expectations, taking a pro-active approach in defining their needs, and building the best partnering relationship possible. We are also committed to acting with honesty and integrity at all times in all aspects of our business, to being professional in doing our job, and to delivering a consistent, high level quality of work.”
A well thought out mission statement will take more than just a few minutes to develop – it takes careful thought and planning. Spending time developing those few sentences that define your business can be just as valuable as the final statement. Going through the process of evaluating your cleaning business, and then defining your customers and your services will help you to look at your cleaning business from your customers’ perspective. Don’t get bogged down with technical jargon. Focus on defining your company’s strengths and why those strengths benefit your customers.
When you are ready to begin, sit down in an area with no distractions. To come up with the statements that will sum up what your cleaning business is all about, consider the following:
- What specific need does your business satisfy?
- What are the principles and values that guide you in the everyday operation of your business?
- Who are your customers?
- What level of service will you provide?
- What image would you like your business to portray to your customers?
To write an effective mission statement, sit down with those who are closest to your business and jot down notes to answer the above questions. Look at mission statements from other businesses and start brainstorming. Once you have a couple of key ideas draft those thoughts into complete sentences.
Once you have formalized your mission statement use it in your promotional materials. The statement will be a quick and easy way for your customers and potential customers to learn about your cleaning business. Keep your mission statement visible and live up to it everyday. This will show your employees and customers that you practice what you preach.
Copyright 2006 The Janitorial Store
By: Steve Hanson
Posts Tagged ‘Business Goals’
Does Your Cleaning Business Have a Mission Statement?
April 20th, 2010Importance of Computing Business Profitability
April 19th, 2010
If you are the owner of a business or contemplating starting a business, you should understand the importance of computing business profitability. With any business, no matter what good or service is being provided, it is very important that the owner understand the business side of the business. The purpose of company is to generate a profit.
Revenue versus Profit
Many people think that profit is the money a business brings in. This is not true. The total money brought in by the business is called revenue and this is different from profit. For example, if you sell an item for $100, you have $100 of revenue. To get to profit, you need to subtract the expenses out. For that $100 product, it may have cost $50 to make, there could have been additional overhead costs of $10, and employee expenses of $5 associated with that product. That would mean that there was $65 of expenses associated with that one product. So out of that $100 of revenue from the one product, you will make $35 of profit.
As you can see, it is important to set your business goals to make a profit, not just make revenue. This is the importance of computing business profitability. You need to make sure that your business brings in enough money to not only cover the expenses but make sure that there is something extra so that you can take some money out of the business.
Fixed Versus Variable Expenses
When computing business profitability, you will notice that your business has many different expenses. Some of these expenses are fixed and others are variable. Fixed expenses are expenses that you must pay not matter how much product you make. Examples of fixed expenses are rent, employee expenses, and some utility costs. In the above example, the $10 of overhead costs and $5 of employee costs are fixed expenses.
Variable expenses are expenses associated with creating additional product. In the above example the $50 cost to make the product is a variable expenses. You only have this expense if you produce an additional product.
It is important in computing business profitability, that you make sure that you are at a minimum covering your variable expenses. If you are not covering your variable expenses, then you are losing money with each unit you produce.
Get Professional Help
Computing business profitability can be a tall order, especially for a small business owner. You should hire a competent accountant or attorney to help you with your analysis. There are many profitability ratios that can be used to show the health of your business.
The More You Know
The more you know about the profitability of your business, the better off you will be. It is important that you stay up to date regarding the financial health of your business. You should constantly be computing your business liability and making any necessary changes.
By: Gary Pearson
Business Goals are Essential for Your Success
March 11th, 2010
Business goals are the foundation on which a business are justified, analyzed, and built. Business goals are commonly expressed as a certain level of returns on investments, returns on equity, or income from your business.
Personal goals are stated to achieve the life style you want. Goals are essential for creating the quickest and most effective plan to get you from A to Z in your career, business, job or life in general. Your motivation, initiative, and your direction will stem from your goals.
Goals will help you to stay focused on success and away from distractive activities that drain business resources and accomplish little. Goals are also your guideposts, established to show you the right path and to help you assess your progress.
Goal setting are important because it will affect just about everything you do, as you plan and operate your business. It’s not just the destination you’re moving toward, they’re also the painted white lines that keep you on the road. Without this designed target,that your goal represent, successful results are unlikely, accidental and often but sadly undetectable.
An effective goal must state, in one or two sentences, the conditions that will exist, once the goal is accomplished. Evaluate each specific business goal, identify the behaviors or actions you need to start doing, do more of, do less of, or stop doing if the goals are to be achieved.
The more well defined a goal is, the easier it will be to understand what you need to do to met it, and to measure successful achievement. If youre unclear on your goals, how can you ascertain if your business is successful.
If you find that your business, even if very successful, won’t satisfy you personally, or if you discover that achieving your personal goals requires you to take more risks and make more sacrifices than you’re willing to. Well, then you need to reset your goals.
By: Ove Nordkvist
