Why Are You in Business?

If you don’t know the answer to the question in this headline, then your travel clients and team surely won’t either!

What is your why?

More importantly, if you don’t know, you won’t be able to tell your clients and team why they should choose you over your competitors.

Undoubtedly when you decided to start or buy your agency you had an inspiration. Remember back to that time… You were probably clear in your mind as to your reasons for doing so – all part of the “why”. Was it to fill a gap in the marketplace? Perhaps you were inspired to run a business that people enjoyed working for; or that maintained higher responsible ethical standards; or that surpassed existing agencies in providing superior customer service; maybe you wanted to see the happy smile of holiday travellers achieving their dream trip. Whatever your “why” is, find it and then write it down. Etch it into the wall…

Now you have your Mission Statement!

Mission statements define, preserve and strengthen your business’s unique competitive advantages. Research shows that a business with a clear and ever-present mission statement surpasses their competition and last in the market place. They create greater lasting value for their owners too.

Additionally, business owners who are clear about who they are and what they do are less likely to make irrational decisions in response to competition and fluctuations in the market place. However, that does not mean your mission statement should be inflexible. A good mission statement has the potential to lead a company for 10 to 20 years if time and effort are spent in creating it. Even so, re-evaluating your mission from time to time as your agency grows and as the industry changes, to see if it is still relevant, is advised.

When creating or updating your mission statement, consider these aspects of your business:

• What is your agency’s history and tradition? How does it influence what you want to accomplish both today and in the long term? What are the good and noble and joyous parts that set you apart?
  
  
• How do you characterise the management philosophy of the agency? Be it dictatorship, team democracy, enabled people or some combination of these – what is it that makes you stand out and help you to attract and retain great staff?
  
  
• What distinguishes your agency from all of the other agencies that provide the same service? What niche do you serve? How do you already surpass the competition? What can you do to continue surpassing them?
  
  
• Where do you need to improve in order to beat the competition? What are your competitors doing that you can be inspired by and improve upon?

Clarity of the “why” – your mission - will enormously help with your marketing and sales campaigns. A positive message can be woven through all your communications that is consistent with your agency’s reason for being there. The “why” will be visible and reinforced to clients. Your team members will be motivated… And this creates the enthusiasm and passion and drive that will be contagious for clients. They will want to keep coming back for more!

A good mission statement will be:

• Motivational
• Easily understood
• Goal setting
• Reflective of your business personality.

Now think again back to your “why” when you set up or bought your agency. Your reasons for doing so are probably all wrapped around the above 4 points. A mission statement is just a fancy term for your “why” – and it can be as fancy or as simple as you!

A good mission statement will inform your clients and your team of the “why” – why you are in Business. A great understanding of the “why” will build loyal clients, loyal team members, and a better, stronger - and more valuable - business for you.

DFK Business Advisors build better, stronger and more passionate businesses, with strategic planning, succession, sale advice, customer building and so much more advice.

Call us to discuss your “Why” with us… Why not?

DFK firms provide plain English advice, profit improvement plans, in-depth business coaching, board advice and much more to grow your travel business.

Robert Shelton,
Director at DFK Everalls Canberra
Ph (02) 6232 4588
info@dfkeveralls.com
www.dfkeveralls.com