Mission, Money, Measurements: Effective Business Management Tools

In 1961, the M&M boys, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, combined to hit 115 homeruns with Maris knocking out 61 and setting a major league record. They propelled the New York Yankees to win the American League Pennant and World Series that year. Maris and Mantle played until 1968, losing steam and declining in homerun production. Maris hit only five and Mantle 18 in 1968 and stored their bats away at very young ages. Babe Ruth was still hitting over 40 homeruns per year in his late 30’s. The glory days of the M&M boys are statistics in Cooperstown’s Baseball Hall of Fame. M&Ms? Candy or great ball players? The M&M boys left a legacy, but ask any kid on the street which one has a more prominent name today, the candy or the ballplayers?

How do you establish a business name in your markets? How do you produce yearly and grow your business according to your desired goals? When people hear about you, do they think “great enterprise” or a business statistic?

Another set of M’s can help you maintain your business with your clients so their expectations of you are strong. They are interdependent and must be thought of within the same strategic framework. Otherwise, your business risks becoming another statistic – a declining one. These strategic M’s consist of Mission, Money, and Measurements. They have proven legacies in the business enterprise and can help you establish a strong infrastructure and market penetration.

Your Mission and Markets

What is your business mission? Does it communicate results for your customer, banker, vendor, employees, and those doing business with you? They are all part of your marketplace and serve to make you successful. At the very least, your mission should provide these market entities more than an idea of the products and services you offer.

They want to know more about what you can do for them. Is it solutions oriented? Does it convey why they would want to do business with you? Does it communicate how it contributes to their success? These lend to market presence and penetration. Your mission statement is a critical communiqué that attracts your constituents to do business with you rather than another company.

The purpose of the mission statement is to invite window-shoppers into the door of your buisness before they move on to your competitors. Once inside, you can provide them solutions to their personal or business challenges that would keep them coming back for more.

Sometimes old adages return as positive reminders or haunting echoes of actions taken or not taken. One of those adages is “Cash is king.” Cash is one of the most important resources you have in your organizational arsenal. Without cash, you would have no liquid capital, and today’s markets demand short-term liquidity for business growth and survival. It is either king or pauper in your strategy. As king, you treat it with the highest priority. As a pauper, it becomes ignored and expendable. You make sure you use it as a valued resource for the future of your business. You invest it wisely and seek the greatest return on your investment. Money must be treated and thought of strategically for business growth and success. Therefore, it requires sound management without which you cannot recognize desired results.

An ill-focused mission statement is equivalent to impulse buying. You spend on items that first catch your eye that may be unrelated to your market thrust or goals. The mindset behind the mission statement has a focus down the path of the business and guides the capital requirements necessary for fulfilling it. If you are struggling to keep your head above the competition, and they appear to be beating you to your markets, perhaps it is time to revisit your mission statement or step up to the drawing board to create one.

Without a clearly defined mission statement, it lacks focused direction for a sound return on your investments. Attempting to set financial targets without a clear mission statement will not provide focus to capital and financial requirements.

Your Mission and Financial Management

You might ask, “What does my mission statement have to do with cash management?” If you do not know where you are going or why, how do you know how much it will cost to get there? An unfocused mission statement will leave you forever testing the marketing waters for an undefined customer until you deplete your financial resources.

Among the most commonly missed cash management issues are an ill-defined mission statement and strategy, fuzzy objectives, insufficient process controls, and a lack of cash measurements. These issues are different from simply watching your checkbook, reviewing online banking for cash balances, or paying your bills on time. These activities provide only minimal information for effective cash management and investment. They do not inform you of its effectiveness. Realizing the best return on your money takes focused forethought, clear strategy and objectives, and quantifiable means of measuring performance. These spell out the priority you place on this valuable asset.

If you believe they may be too costly in their implementation to give direction to your business, then weigh their costs against your current methods and bottom line. Implementing sound investment measurements are critical to business success. If cash is not effectively measured, your business will flounder. Can you do better? What is your present return on capital? These principles allow you the best control over and return on your cash investments and help you reach your markets more effectively.

Communicating how you plan to invest in the success of your customers reaps its own financial rewards and wealth. Hitting a homerun with your customer begins with the window of your mission statement.