Whether you're starting a new venture or looking to scale your existing operations, having the right paperwork is essential for success.
Business documents are essential tools that help companies streamline their operations, reduce risks and ensure compliance with legal requirements. If you don’t have proper documentation, you’re leaving your company on the brink of a major loss that could hurt business outcomes.
So what are the different types of documents companies need to run smoothly? In this blog post, we'll explain what a business document is and introduce you to the most common types of business documents you should have in your toolkit. We’ll also share customizable templates to help you create business documents within a fraction of the time.
So, what is a business document? A standard business document is any written or printed material that contains information about a company's operations, activities or transactions. These documents include but are not limited to, reports, proposals, contracts, agreements, letters, memos, invoices, receipts and process documents.
Business documents can be used for different purposes, including communicating with stakeholders, recording financial transactions, providing legal protection and facilitating business operations.
Well-written business documents are essential tools for record-keeping and communication. They help maintain consistency and accuracy in the information shared, which is crucial for making informed decisions and achieving business objectives.
In this section, we’ll look at examples of critical business documents that fall into categories like sales, marketing, project management, design, human resources, executive/director, finance and training and development. Also included are templates to help you quickly create your own.
A sales proposal is an essential business document used to pitch your products or services to potential clients and existing customers. It should highlight your client's pain points, deliverables, benefits, fees and other relevant details.
A well-written sales proposal proves you fully understand your prospect's needs and positions you as the best option. This sales proposal template comes ready with all the essential pages to craft persuasive sales proposals that win new business and boost sales.
Make your proposal engaging and inspire prospects to take action with Visme’s built-in icons, images, data widgets and other visual assets.
Contracts and agreements are important business documents to have in your arsenal. That’s because, at some point, you will form alliances, collaborate or enter into other business relationships.
Contracts/agreements define the terms and conditions of a business relationship between two or more parties and outline the rights and obligations of each party. With this template, you can easily create contracts, provide legal protection and help prevent misunderstandings and disputes.
Like proposals, sales presentations are crucial tools for the sales process . But in this case, you need a deck of beautiful slides filled with engaging visuals and other multimedia elements to help showcase your products or services to potential clients.
A sales presentation is a perfect way to grab your prospects’ attention, drum up excitement and nudge them toward a buying decision. Use this stunning presentation template to tell a compelling story about your brand, educate your audience about your offerings and persuade them to take action.
Visme also provides templates for creating pitch decks and marketing , product , finance and business presentations . Elevate your presentations with interactivity and animation features —hover effects, clickable pop ups, hotspots, links, cool transitions and more.
A sales report summarizes your company's sales performance over a particular period. The reporting period may be daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually. Beyond tracking your company’s sales performance and operations, sales reports are critical tools for making informed future growth decisions.
When it comes to reporting, you need data visualizations to help stakeholders make sense of complex data. Visme offers 50+ widgets, charts, graphs, maps and other visual aids to make your report digestible. Use it to highlight patterns and trends that might otherwise be difficult to discern from raw data alone.
Easily add them to your projects within a few clicks, check out this video to see how:
A sales one pager is a single page business document that summarizes the key selling points and benefits of your product or service. The main goal of a sales one-pager is to persuade prospects to take action, such as scheduling a demo or consultation, making a purchase or requesting more information.
This business template includes a brief overview of your company's features and benefits and a call to action. And it can be fully customized to add pricing information. Visme’s intuitive editor makes it easy to edit content, change images, input your fonts and logo and apply custom colors.
Salespeople use this one pager example to share information, promotional content and other information with customers or prospective clients.
A marketing plan or strategy is your company’s game plan for reaching its target audience and promoting its products or services. It helps you focus on your goals, allocate resources effectively and measure your progress. You’ll also be able to spot potential roadblocks and develop contingency plans to address them.
Use this marketing strategy template as a roadmap to guide your team and set them up for success. It features sections like marketing objectives, buyer persona, SWOT analysis, marketing strategy and implementation timeline.
Market research reports are valuable business documents for companies looking to gain a competitive edge and grow their market share. They provide valuable insights into the current market trends, customer behavior, demographics and competitors' activities.
With reliable insights, you can make informed decisions about your marketing strategies, product development and sales tactics. Use this captivating business report template to present your market research in a creative way.
Ensure this report and other projects reflect your branding with Visme’s Brand Design Tool . Just input your website URL and the tool will automatically extract your brand assets and save them in your brand kit. Plus it suggests templates that match your brand to take out the guesswork of choosing.
Brand guidelines , also known as brand style guides, are instructions and rules on how to communicate a brand effectively. They cover all the visual aspects of a brand, along with essential notes on the company's voice, tone and messaging.
Having a brand style guide helps ensure consistency across the board. On top of that, it builds brand strength, recognition and trust. Visme offers a wide range of brand guidelines templates to help you create your own. Here’s one of the many stunning templates in our library.
A marketing dashboard is a business document that compiles and visualizes marketing metrics in one centralized location. It helps you make data-driven decisions, optimize your marketing campaigns and improve your overall marketing effectiveness.
This marketing dashboard template is ideal for keeping track of marketing efforts.
And here’s another digital marketing dashboard designed to monitor social media engagement, website traffic, lead generation, customer acquisition costs, return on investment (ROI) and other relevant metrics.
Marketing one pagers are powerful marketing collateral for businesses of all sizes. They can help grab your audience's attention, prove your brand value and convince them to choose you. You can use them as leave-behind documents after a sales presentation or meeting.
In Visme’s template library, you’ll find templates for various marketing one pagers, such as infographics, newsletters, creative briefs, customer personas , press releases and one-pager case studies .
This article has a detailed list of marketing one pager templates to add to your marketing stack.
A board report is a business document distributed to board members before a meeting. It provides an overview of the company's performance, financial status and achievements. More importantly, it helps them identify potential risks to address and provides recommendations for future growth and success.
Keep your board members abreast of your company's performance using this striking board report template.
Due diligence reports are critical business documents you’ll need when negotiating terms for investments, partnerships, mergers and acquisitions and other business transactions. This is also helpful to have on hand when creating Business Continuity Plan (BCP).
This business report template helps you assess the overall health of the potential investment or acquisition target.
From an extensive due diligence report, investors can make informed decisions about whether to proceed with a transaction, negotiate terms, adjust the deal structure or walk away.
Put together a comprehensive due diligence report using this customizable template.
Without an agenda, meetings can easily become disorganized and go off on tangents. Keep your meetings organized with the help of this stunning meeting agenda template. This template from Visme comes with an excellent whiteboard-style design with sections arranged in a grid layout. It has sections for agenda, meeting details and experts.
The agenda section outlines the topics to be covered during the meeting, including the date, time and presenters. All the sections are editable, so you can tailor them to your meeting's needs by swapping the color, icons and content.
A nice alternative to meeting agendas would be an Amazon six-pager. You can use it to not only guide your meetings but help make faster decisions as a team. During the meeting, utilize Visme’s collaboration tools for real-time editing, making it easier for team members to contribute and stay updated.
An annual report details your company’s activities, financial performance and growth metrics over the previous year. The report includes key financial statements, such as income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements.
Annual reports document information about the company's management team, products or services and any major developments or challenges that occurred during the year. It’s typically shared with shareholders, potential investors and other stakeholders.
Use this modern annual report template to show investors and stakeholders how well your business has performed over the year.
Executive dashboards wield the power to provide concise insights into your organization's performance. It visually displays real-time business KPIs and metrics, helping executives make the best possible decisions.
With the help of real-time data visualization, executive dashboards empower leaders to:
This dashboard template provides a real-time snapshot of your business activities and performance.
The best part? You can import data—from third-party tools like Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel and more—into the charts and graphs in this dashboard.
An organization chart or org chart, is a diagram that visualizes your company's structure, hierarchy and reporting relationships. It displays the roles and responsibilities of each employee, department or team within the organization.
By providing a clear understanding of who reports to whom, org charts remove ambiguity and improve communication. Not only do they enhance organizational efficiency, but they also ensure everyone is working towards a shared goal.
Create a visual representation of your team’s hierarchical structure using this organizational chart template.
An employee handbook is a crucial business document that every HR team should create. This guide or manual outlines your company's policies, procedures and expectations for its employees. It also provides clarity on employees' rights and responsibilities.
An employee handbook typically covers topics such as employee benefits, work hours, performance expectations, codes of conduct and disciplinary procedures. It’s helpful during the onboarding process for new hires; old employees’ can refer to it when they have questions or concerns.
Educate employees about your company’s culture, policies and expectations using this employee handbook template.
The good news is, there’s more where that came from. Visme has an extensive library of employee handbook templates inspired by real-life brands. Feel free to customize your favorite pick with your brand style and download, embed or share it with your employees.
We discussed contracts and agreements in the earlier part of this article. However, it’s imperative to mention that employee contract templates are a must-have for HR teams. They’re a legal safeguard for the employer and employee, ensuring both parties understand their responsibilities and rights.
Establish clear terms and conditions of employment with your new hires using this template. It defines the rights and obligations of both parties, including the job duties, salary, benefits, working hours, leave entitlements, termination clauses, confidentiality and other relevant details.
A performance review is a significant part of hiring. It helps supervisors analyze employees' performance and provide feedback on their strengths, skill gaps and areas for improvement. The primary goal of a performance review is to help employees grow and improve in their roles while also contributing to the organization's success.
Use this modern and visually appealing performance review template to evaluate employees’ overall performance. Customize it with headings, colors, icons, widgets and charts to make your content stand out.
Better yet, dive straight into our rich repository of performance review templates to find one that suits your unique needs.
A standard operating procedure (SOP) is a set of detailed instructions and clear-cut directions needed to perform a specific operation or task. It also details any safety precautions or quality control measures that must be adhered to.
By using an effective SOP plan, teams can stay consistent and efficient and maintain compliance with regulations and industry standards. SOPs can also be used for employee onboarding and preserving institutional knowledge.
Writing a standard operating procedure doesn't have to be complicated. Read on to discover how to create an SOP and take advantage of this template below for a smoother process.
Job aids are valuable business documents for any organization, big or small. That’s because they provide employees with information on how to perform their jobs in an effective and efficient way.
Job aids can come in many formats, including checklists, flowcharts, decision trees and instructional videos. You can use them to improve employee productivity, reduce errors and ensure consistency.
This HR job aid whiteboard template uses a flowchart to provide step-by-step instructions on how to complete the HR onboarding process. But you can easily customize it for various tasks, including customer service, technical support, sales and marketing.
A job aid doesn’t have to be bland; bring life to your design with the large repository of royalty-free icons , stock photos and videos available in the Visme editor. For example, you can use images and icons to highlight key points, actions, steps or responsibilities.
A design brief is a crucial piece of business documentation for design teams. Think of it as a roadmap to guide the design process. It includes information on the objectives, target audience, project scope, timeline, budget and any specific requirements or preferences from the client.
A clear design brief ensures that all stakeholders are on the same page and clearly understand what is expected from the design project.
Outline the key parameters of your next design project with this stunning design brief.
And if you’re looking to present the design brief to stakeholders, here’s a PowerPoint template to help you create one.
Mood boards are valuable resources for creative projects, as they help establish the visual direction of the project. They typically consist of a collage of images, colors, textures and other design elements assembled to visualize a specific style, concept or mood. You can deploy them in different contexts, such as graphic design, fashion, interior design and advertising.
Ultimately, mood boards give stakeholders an idea of what the project’s result will look like. It also streamlines collaboration across design and creative teams. So everyone on the team understands the goal and expectations.
Create a visual reference point for your creative project's overall look and feel using the template below.
Visme has a comprehensive library of mood board templates to help you visualize the idea, feeling or mood of your project or brand. And if you have images that need finessing, Visme’s AI Edit Tools are your best bet. Tap into the power of AI to edit, touch up, unblur and upscale images in seconds.
Wireframes and mockups are two important design tools used in the prototyping stages of product design and development.
Wireframes are simple, black-and-white diagrams that represent the layout, structure and functionality of a website or application. When creating a website or application, wireframes can help you plan the user interface and user experience before adding any design elements.
With Visme’s free wireframe software and customizable wireframe templates , you can easily build low-fidelity wireframes for your website, mobile app or brochures. Not to mention, you don’t need coding or design experience to use it or get things done.
Use this template to quickly create a wireframe for your next web development project.
Mockups , on the other hand, are more detailed visual representations of a website or application. They include design elements such as colors, typography and images to give stakeholders a better idea of what the final product will look like.
Mockups are usually created after wireframes and are used to test and refine the visual design of a product before development begins. Here’s an example of a design mockup for a music app.
Beyond websites and mobile and web apps, you can also create mockups for print material like business cards, brochures, banners, merchandise or digital assets.
Use this template to show what your business cards will look like after production.
Grab the attention of your prospective clients and win them over with the help of this merchandise shirt mockup template.
You might be wondering why we're bringing up style guides after discussing brand guidelines. Brand guidelines concentrate on a brand's overall vision and messaging, including its mission statement, target audience and brand personality.
In contrast, style guides focus on the nitty-gritty details of the acceptable way to use elements like logos, fonts, colors, grids and photos. They provide guidelines on grammar, punctuation, tone and voice, as well as formatting for various types of content, such as blog posts, social media and emails.
This template captures all the essential elements you need to capture in your brand style guide.
26. Design Presentation
Creating design presentations is a captivating way to share your vision, concept and solutions with clients or other stakeholders. This type of presentation is often helpful for promoting your design service to clients and getting buy-in from stakeholders.
Creating an impressive design presentation makes it easy for your audience to understand and appreciate your creative genius. It also makes it easy for you to receive feedback and make necessary changes to the design.
This interior design presentation template has a professional and captivating design, with options to add high-resolution photos , widgets and vector icons. Customize it with your branding, tailor each section to your needs and engage stakeholders.
Easily create visual aids, such as sketches, mockups, diagrams and images, for your next presentation with Visme’s AI image generator . You can even include explanatory text, audio narration and interactive elements.
Project charters are critical documents that set the stage for successful project execution. They serve as a reference document, outlining key aspects of your project, such as objectives, budget, scope, roles and milestones.
A well-crafted project charter serves as a blueprint for project planning . But you’ll also need it to secure support, funding and authorization to start the project.
With Visme’s project charter template , you can streamline the project planning process, ensure stakeholder alignment and obtain the necessary approvals to kickstart your project.
This template is designed to help you create a compelling project charter that covers all the essential elements of your project. The icons, shapes and whitespace enhance your document's visual appeal and readability, making it simpler for stakeholders to quickly grasp the key points of your project.
Make your next project plan a collaborative effort with Visme’s collaboration tool . Team members can edit the content in real time and leave feedback until everyone is on the same page. Use the workflow management tool to easily assign tasks, manage roles and track deadlines to ensure your project stays on track.
A project plan is a roadmap of the goals and objectives that should be achieved for a specific project. This document also provides information about the scope, tasks, timelines, resources and deliverables for all stages of the project lifecycle.
Project plans act as a roadmap for project execution. They help your team stay organized, on track and complete projects on time and within budget.
This compelling project plan template comes ready with everything you need to share your vision and make your next project successful.
It has a beautiful array of built-in icons, images, data widgets and other visual assets to make your content impactful.
Creating plans for multiple projects? You don’t need to write everything from scratch or replace information manually. Create Dynamic Fields in different sections of your document and auto-populate information like names, dates and project information.
Change is inevitable. That’s why you need a change management plan to help mitigate the risk or negative impact of changes to a project, product or service.
A change management plan ensures changes are implemented in an organized and controlled manner. The plan typically includes details such as:
With this template, you can move forward with a clear plan for managing change effectively in your organization.
Communication is a critical element of project management. A robust communication plan ensures everyone involved in the project is on the same page.
This document details what information should be shared, when that information should be delivered, who should receive that information, where communication will be shared (online & offline) and how those communications will be tracked and analyzed.
Create a robust communication plan to effectively communicate important project information to key stakeholders using this template. It includes a visual table that you can use to document your plan of action or ideal responses for different situations.
You can customize the template by adding your own content and using Visme's built-in icons and graphics. It's easy to add more pages or sections if needed and you can also use tools like data visualization, images and videos to make your plan more engaging and comprehensive.
Project status reports are an effective way to update stakeholders on a project's current status and overall health. They provide comprehensive information about crucial project elements, such as:
This particular project status report template has a professional dual-tone color scheme featuring high-resolution images, tables, creative icons, images and data widgets. You can customize it with your own branding to showcase the progress of your project .
Work smarter and generate professional reports within a fraction of the time with Visme’s AI Report Writer . All you need to do is input the right prompts and the chatbot will suggest a few suitable styles. Choose the best match for your report’s topic and brand style, then let AI create the text and layout. Then, you can preview, edit and customize the report to your liking.
Financial statements are essential documents that show your company’s financial health and growth potential at a specific time. Beyond providing insights into your company's financial performance, they also help stakeholders make informed decisions.
There are three main types of financial statements: the income statement, the balance sheet and the cash flow statement. Visme has beautiful templates filled with data visualizations and widgets to bring your financial statements to life.
Present your financials in style with the help of this balance sheet template.
Share a snapshot of your company’s cash flow using this attractive template.
Financial reports visualize and communicate your company’s financial activities and performance over specific periods.
Communicate your company's financial performance effortlessly with this polished and well-organized template. It includes an executive summary, report objectives and financial KPIs, including revenue, expenses and profitability.
This template includes various tables that are customizable. But you can use data visualizations like bar graphs, charts and widgets to break down complex information effectively. If you need an expense report instead, you can customize this template for that need or use an expense report template.
Ready to share your financial report with stakeholders? Download it in multiple format s— PDF, PPTX—and share offline. Better yet, generate a URL to share them online or an embed code to place them on your website. There’s also an option to share Visme projects via Slack.
If you're discussing your company’s financial performance with top executives and investors in a live setting, it’s best to use a presentation format . That’s because presentations incorporate multimedia elements such as images and videos to make your information engaging and memorable.
Share important financial information visually with stakeholders using this presentation template. It offers a professional and structured layout to display your financial data. It's equipped with sections for income statements, balance sheets, assets, liabilities, equity and ratios.
If you’ve created your financial table in Google Sheets or Excel, you don’t need to manually input your data. Copy and paste your table into Visme projects or connect your table to live data . There’s also an option to embed tables within your Visme project .
A financial plan is a document that describes your company's current financial situation, future goals and strategies to achieve those goals. It typically includes an analysis of income, expenses, assets and liabilities. A financial plan document may also include projections for future cash flows, investment returns and savings.
In addition to providing a detailed roadmap for achieving financial goals, this document can help companies track progress and adjust over time as situations change.
Once you’ve shared the plan with your audience, you can see how they are engaging with it. Visme Analytics gives you insights into metrics like views, unique visits, activity, completion and more information to help you make data-driven designs and choices.
A training plan is a detailed document that outlines a training program's objectives, activities and structure. It typically includes information about the learning objectives, the topics that will be covered, the training methods used, the resources required and the timeline for completing the training.
A training plan provides a roadmap for the trainer and the employees who will profit the most from the training's outcome.
Put together an effective training plan and ensure employees receive the training they need to succeed.
And if you’re running out of time and need to create your document quickly, you can tap into the power of Visme’s AI document generator . Just input your prompt and watch the tool unleash its magic.
A training manual is a document that teaches employees about the company and its processes. It serves as a guide where employees can get the assistance they need to understand their roles and execute tasks effectively.
Training manuals are a must-have resource for employee onboarding, training on new technology or procedures and general professional development. They typically includes information on the purpose and objectives of the training, as well as detailed descriptions of the topics covered and the activities involved.
A training manual may also include assessments to evaluate training effectiveness and may be used by trainers or instructors to guide their course delivery.
Select from one of Visme's professionally designed training manual templates to help onboard new employees and set them up for success.
Train your customer success team and keep them in tip-top shape with this engaging training manual template.
Easily create engaging content for your training manual with Visme’s AI text generator . You can also deploy it to proofread or optimize existing content. Download your training manual in SCORM and xAPI format and upload it to your preferred learning management system.
A training needs assessment form is a document used to gather information about the training needs of employees. It typically includes questions or prompts that allow participants to provide feedback on various aspects of their job roles, such as the skills and knowledge required to perform their tasks effectively.
The feedback collected can be used to identify gaps in employee knowledge and skills and to develop a training plan to address these gaps.
Visme offers a variety of feedback forms and assessment form templates that you can customize to fit your specific training needs. Simply choose a template, add your questions or prompts and share it with your training participants.
And that’s a wrap. In this article, we’ve rounded up 36 important business documents to streamline operations.
These documents span categories like sales, marketing, project management, design, human resources, executive/director, finance and training and development.
We’ve also shared customizable business templates to get you started. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg regarding what Visme offers.
Visme offers thousands of templates across 40+ categories , including infographics, presentations, charts, maps, documents and printables. You’ll also have access to our intuitive editor and powerful features that make document creation a breeze.
Sign up to create powerful business documents with Visme’s online document creator .
