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64 August 2015 | beautystorebusiness.com MISSION Even if your store is part of a chain and you already have a mission statement for the company, it's a good idea to have one for the store. If you're an independent location, then you definitely need a mis- sion statement. For a business, a mission defines who you are, what you do and usually something about your custom- ers. The French have a wonderful phrase that epitomizes a mission statement— raison d'être, which means "reason for being" and is an apt moniker as a mission should be the reason your store exists. Typically, mission statements are short—just a few sentences long. Any- thing longer simply won't be read or followed. Think carefully about what you want in yours and how you can convey the message in as few words as possible. A simple mission statement might be something along the lines of the following: "At Steve's Beauty, we provide high- quality beauty products that solve our valued customers' needs and desires. In a well-lit, clean store, we offer cat- egories of items that cannot be found in other retail stores. Our customers are typically women in their 30s to 50s and they tend to be professionals with a keen eye toward quality." This example answers the questions of what the busi- ness does, what is valued and who the customers are. Your mission statement might focus on something entirely differ- ent. Avoid the temptation to copy what someone else has done though. Craft your own that means something to your particular store. VISION Often, a mission and vision are confused or used interchangeably. They are two very different concepts. A mission state- ment describes the here and now. A vision is a portrait of the future. It forces the business to think about what the next five, 10 or even 100 years look like. As with the mission statement, a vision statement is brief and avoids puffery. For example, you wouldn't want to say "We want to be the best beauty store," as that is indefinable. However, you might state that you want to double in sales in five years or add a second location in three years. These forward-thinking goals are easily quantified. A vision statement can really be anything you want it to be as long as it adequately describes where you are going. An example might read, "The next 10 years for Steve's Beauty will include two pri- mary targets. First, we should have four locations by the end of the next decade that are all located in the Midwest. Secondly, each location will be managed by individuals who have grown within our store. The talent we seek now will be our leaders of the future." With a vision statement such as this, obviously, growth into a small chain of stores in a defined geographic area is stated clearly. And the store is putting an emphasis on staffing in such a way that the hiring strategy of the present day fun- nels future managers into key positions. Again, keep it short, think about future growth that you can measure and share it with everyone on your team. SWOT Probably the one concept that is ubiqui- tous in business schools is the acronym "SWOT," which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It is something so pervasive in corporate America that university students study this topic in all four years of their program. It shows up in nearly every business class. The reason it is so prevalent in business courses is because it is used in so many different ways. Certainly, a business wants to conduct its own SWOT to get an insight into its operations. But it's also used on the competition and can even be utilized on a micro level to evaluate specific products, areas of the store, services offered and so on. SWOT can be used to evaluate virtually every aspect of the business. Here's how the acronym breaks down. The strengths and weaknesses are internal items. In other words, what are the positive features of the store or areas where the store excels? These are activities or ways of doing business that you tend to do very well. Weaknesses are those things you are missing or don't do particularly well. They are things you may need to have renewed focus on or hire a team capable of turning around your weaknesses. The opportuni- ties and threats tend to be external to the store. Opportunities are those steps within your grasp. These might include opening a new location, acquiring new shelving from a competitor that went out of business, expanding your store into the empty space next door and so on. Obviously, these may cost money, time and staff, but they are actions that are on the horizon. Finally, threats are those pressures from outside the store that might negatively impact your business. Often, you have no control over them. A souring economy, loss of your best employees, a new competitor opening up across the street, a scandal involving one of your suppliers and natural disasters are all examples of threats. Though you may not be able to prevent these from happening, you can be aware of them so that when they happen you can minimize the possible financial damage to your store. A SWOT analysis is something you should consider doing once a year. Pull If your store has reached a plateau in its operation, apply concepts taught in business school. gettyimages.com/OSO collection