It would be fair to say that we have all been conditioned to think that customisation is key and that templates couldn’t possibly cater to the many diverse businesses that exist in the market. This is not true, and how could it be when there are so many fantastic templates that have spelled success for many different businesses? No one is suggesting you use a templated business plan or sales script – but you should be exploring some useful templates that can assist with your daily operations and accounting responsibilities. Today we are going to talk about the benefits of templates and some which you can start using today.
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So, why templates in the first year of business?
It might feel like using templates is going against your entrepreneurial spirit, but it’s actually going to allow you to do what you want to do. Why bog down your highly skilled team with setting up administrative functions, when they could just take a great payslip template for small business or any kind of template, and start using it with your logo now affixed. Don’t overthink it – but if you have to, tell your team that you will use a templated approach initially and then see if you can make any optimisations in a year or two when your business has the rhythm of a mature organisation. What it comes down to is whether you are going to look back on your first year of business and remember the creative pursuits of the invoice and payslips you laboured over.
Accounting templates
It’s really the accounting templates that are going to be most useful to you in the early stages of your business. Not only are they universal in nature, but they are also what your customers and clients are used to interacting with. So what are we talking about when we say accounting templates? Play slip templates, invoice templates, expense tracking templates and statement templates. From here you can add some brand flavour – fonts, colours and logos. One thing to watch out for is that the accounting templates are relevant to your country and state, as there are all sorts of resources available online and you want to be using ones that are compliant for your circumstances and location.
Sales and marketing templates
Your sales and marketing function is entirely bespoke, but there are a few templates you can leverage to make quick strides in the beginning. You specifically want to be looking out for some quality sales contract templates and client tracking sheets, both of which can be used for clients and team members. For your marketing mix, look to find a content plan template, marketing plan, partnership agreement template and whatever else you believe will be useful to your team. You might also want to find a photo release form and a testimonial form for you to gather and re-use feedback.
Human Resources templates
Another area of your business that issues and receives a lot of paperwork is Human Resources (HR). This includes police checks, reference forms, position description templates, probation and employee reviews, and so many more. You should probably resist securing these templates before you have an HR manager in the position, as they are going to be best placed to know what is most effective for your business. If this is a role that you outsource from the start, you can actually lean on their own templates and bring them in-house when you eventually build your own HR team.
Templates can really help in the first year of business, allowing you to move faster and achieve what you want without having to re-invent the wheel every time you need to create a form or document.
