Vision statements are an expression of the goals a business wants to achieve in the future. They are designed to be short, concise and easy to understand, and they serve two purposes: to motivate and rally employees around a common goal and to define a company’s culture and purpose so that employees understand their roles. A well-written vision statement for your sales team captures the aspirational principles that drive every sale your business makes and provides a clear direction for the company.

Vision Statement That Sets Specific Goals

Your most effective salesperson will always have a goal in mind, and that goal will remain a strong motivator if your vision statement is specific and goal-oriented. For example, if you run an online comic book shop, your vision statement could be “To be top-selling online comic book shop on the West Coast.” That goal is clear, and most importantly, it’s achievable. Vision statements that set unrealistic goals can negatively impact the morale of your sales team.

Vision Statement That Challenges

Some vision statements are effective because they challenge the sales team to push themselves to higher levels. The statement may seem greater than salespeople believe they can achieve, but it serves as a constant reminder that “good enough” won’t cut it. For example, streaming service Reelgood’s vision statement is “To be the place that people go to when they want to watch any TV show or movie.” That’s quite a vision statement because it challenges Reelgood’s sales team constantly to go after a larger share of the target market.

Vision Statement That Emphasizes Quality Service

When you run a service-based business, your sales team must understand the specific ways that your company can provide outstanding service to its customers. The goal of these types of statements is to list the processes that your company takes to ensure that quality. For example, AT&T’s vision statement is “Our vision is to design and create in this decade the new global network, processes and service platforms that maximize automation, allowing for reallocation of human resources to more complex and productive work.” In one sentence, AT&T outlines the specific ways that it plans to use that new global network to help its target market by maximizing automation so that its clients can shift resources to other facets of their business, thereby increasing productivity and saving money.

Vision Statement That Solves Problems

One of the strongest ways to help your sales team is to craft a vision statement that communicates your company’s efforts to solve a persistent problem for your target market. For example, the Alzheimer’s Association’s vision statement is “A world without Alzheimer’s disease.” As a result, every department that works for this group understands that their role is to find any and every possible solution to this problem.

What problem does your business solve? For example, if you sell computer security software, your vision statement could be “We make every second you spend on the internet safe.” When your sales team understands the problem or problems your business solves, their job becomes much easier.