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The sales process · Strategic plan

Your mission statement has to survive a prospect asking what you do.

A mission statement says what your company does today and for whom, in one sentence a new salesperson can repeat without rehearsing. It belongs in the sales process because it is the first answer a prospect hears. GullySales writes it from interviews with the people who sell, then tests it on the phone.

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Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.

A founder and sales adviser discuss a customer proposal

In one paragraph

A mission statement says what your company does today and for whom, in one sentence a new salesperson can repeat without rehearsing. It belongs in the sales process because it is the first answer a prospect hears. GullySales writes it from interviews with the people who sell, then tests it on the phone.

Most mission statements are written for the wall behind reception. The test that decides whether yours is any use is smaller than that. A buyer asks the salesperson who joined in April what your company does, and she has about four seconds.

So a mission that works names the work, the customer and the place. A fabricator in Peenya should be able to say it to a purchase officer without sounding like a printed brochure. If it contains the words excellence and value, it has said nothing, and the buyer will ask again.

Nothing comes before this step, which is why it deserves an afternoon rather than a quarter. Vision is next, and it answers a different question. Mission is what you do now; vision is the day you would be judged by.

Where this sits

Stage 1 of 10, strategic plan. What the business is for, what it is aiming at this year, and the numbers that say whether it got there.

The stage after
Customer research

If you want this done for you

Your founder's story is told at every meeting and written down nowhere.

Read the brand story development page

The work

What this step is actually like.

  • “A salesperson who joined last month is the only reviewer who counts”

    Read your current mission to somebody who has been with you six weeks, then send them into a meeting. If they paraphrase it, it is too long. If they skip it, it is decoration.

  • “It breaks when it tries to cover everything you might ever do”

    Owners resist naming the trade because of the export order that might come one day. So the sentence widens until it fits any company in India, which is the same as fitting none of them.

  • “The person who answers your phone has to agree it”

    Whatever they say when a caller asks what you do is your real mission. Get them, the owner and whoever prepares quotations into one room for an hour, and write the version all three would actually use.

  • “An afternoon to draft, a fortnight to settle”

    Two hours with the right people gets a draft. The fortnight afterwards is spent hearing it said aloud on calls and cutting the words that make people wince.

What we do

What you end up with.

The artefacts this step produces, what each one is for, and how you know it is finished.

  1. One sentence on one page

    The mission itself, under twenty words, with the date it was agreed and the names of the people who agreed it at the bottom.

    Result: A new joiner reads it once and can repeat it to a customer the same day.

  2. The spoken version

    The same thing in the words your team actually uses on the phone, which will be looser and less tidy than the written one.

    Result: Nobody has to translate the official sentence into human speech mid-call.

  3. The words you agreed to stop using

    A short list of the abstractions that were cut, kept so they do not creep back into the next brochure somebody writes.

    Result: The next person who writes a page for you has a rule to follow.

  4. Where it goes

    The about page, the first slide of any deck, the WhatsApp Business description, and the line under your email signature.

    Result: One answer everywhere a buyer looks, instead of four versions written by four people.

Where this fits

Three pieces of sales work, in this order.

This work sits inside sales process design, at stage 0, foundation. The audit comes before it, and sales management keeps it running.

  1. Step 1

    Sales audit

    Find where deals are being lost and what to fix first.

    Start here if you cannot say where orders are lost.

  2. Step 2 · you are here

    Sales process design

    One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.

    Start here if every salesperson sells differently.

  3. Step 3

    Sales management

    A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.

    Start here if the team has targets and no routine.

Tell us what you need Your brief is read before we call. Scope, fee and term in writing.

FAQ

Questions owners ask before they call.

Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.

Tell us what you need
Is a mission statement worth the time for a ten-person business?
Yes, and it is the cheapest step in this stage. One afternoon, no outside help, no design work. A small firm feels the benefit faster, because almost everybody in it talks to customers.
What is the difference between a mission and a value proposition?
A mission says what you do and for whom. A value proposition says why this buyer should pick you over the other quotation on their desk. The value proposition comes later, in the customer research stage, and it is the harder sentence.
Who should write it?
Whoever has to say it out loud, which is rarely the person who writes the website. Put the owner, a salesperson and the receptionist in a room, and let the receptionist have the last word on the wording.
What does it cost to have this written for you?
There is no list price, because it is never bought on its own. It is a small part of brand story work, and the fee for the whole piece is put in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you, before anything starts.
How long is the contract?
The term is agreed in writing after we have spoken, along with the fee and the reporting. It is never a default twelve months, and renewal is decided on the numbers against the baseline recorded at the start.
How soon will we see results?
Fixes to reply time and follow-up are the quickest to show, because the enquiries already exist. Process, CRM and training changes show as the team uses them. Each one is tracked against the baseline.
Who will actually do the work?
The person you speak to before anything starts. We work from one office in Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru, with no account managers in between.
What do you need from us?
To start, last month's enquiries in any format and time with whoever handles them. After that, access to the accounts the work touches, such as the website, Google Business Profile or CRM.
What if we are not happy with the work?
Tell us and the plan changes. Everything is reported against the baseline, so a number that is not moving is visible to both sides. The term is in your written scope, and the refund and cancellation policy sets out the rest.

Where to go next

The work that carries this step further.

Services

The rest of strategic plan

Or read the whole sales process in order.

Your next practical step

Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.

Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.

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