Essential Business Documents

taylaahearn
7 hours ago
3 min read

Starting a business is not easy. Keeping that business alive is even harder. You often hear statistics about how many small businesses fail within the first few years. While there are many reasons for these failures, a lot of the issues could have been foreseen had the business owner taken the time to research, plan and document their business. In this article, we will run you through our core five documents we think every business should have in place. If you are in business already, please ask yourself how many of these documents you have.

Rule Book

Depending on your organization structure, your businesses rule book might be called a constitution, a trust deed, a partner’s agreement or articles of association. Regardless of name, it is crucial for your organization to have a carefully worded rule book to ensure all members are fairly treated and there are adequate conflict resolution procedures. A generic off the shelf constitution is usually okay for small businesses, however when the business brings in other investors, it is time to upgrade the document or set up a shareholders agreement.

Business Plan

Arguably the most important document, the business plan sets out the goals and strategies of the business. I still remember my third-grade teacher saying “failing to plan is planning to fail”. I think the business plan is the most important document in the business as it details what the business is and what it is trying to achieve. It doesn’t have to be a long document; I’ve seen a very successful client with an excellent one-page business plan. It does however need to be reviewed regularly as the business grows and changes.

Procedure Manual

Potentially the thing that holds small businesses back the most is the lack of a formal procedure manual. It is often the case that the procedure for how to do something is locked away in the proprietor’s brain. If the answer to a team member asking how to do something at Beda is “ask Dan”, we know we have work to do. A key goal for growing small businesses is to have a concise procedure manual documenting exactly how to do each task within the business. This ensures consistency, efficiency and quality.

Training Program

Similar to the procedure manual, the training program can help your business maintain consistency and efficiency by transferring knowledge to new team members. There are some fantastic training platforms available online, which can help you collate your training material in progressive courses. Interactive courses with industry knowledge, video tutorials and quizzes can save a lot of senior level time when training junior staff.

Marketing Plan

Once the other documents are in place, you can focus on how to let the market know you exist. The marketing plan describes your target market and defines your ultimate customer. It then explores the methods and advertising mediums you could use to reach this market to let them know who you are and what you have to offer. Marketing is becoming much more complex as new technology disrupts the traditional media so it is important to ensure your advertising dollars are hitting the right market.