Documents you need ... now!

Eleven Key Documents Your Company Needs Now!

Your company's success depends upon how well you communicate information -- and that depends on how well you prepare collateral items. Every business needs the following items on hand, ready to distribute. Draft and publish them today.

1. Company fact sheet.
Potential investors or employees, analysts and media people want to learn important facts about your business. A quick look at your fact sheet will provide the following information:

- What it is that you do
- A brief mission statement
- Date the company was founded
- Where it is headquartered and has affiliate offices
- Names and brief backgrounds of founders and upper-level management
- Contact information

2. Product or service fact sheets.
Keep a fact sheet on file for each of your products or services. A product fact sheet should include the following:

- The function of the product or service
- Differentiation statements - what makes each unique
- Comparison to similar products or services on the market
- Quality level - explain why the quality is there
- Reliability - if available, show use histories
- Cost - explain costs in terms of the value

3. Bios on founders and senior management.
Have a bio on hand for each founding member, every senior manager and each member of the board of directors. Each includes the person's education, relevant experience, awards or honors, and publications that featured the person or his/her work.

4. Mission statement.
The mission statement clearly and concisely states in simple terms what the company wants to achieve from its work. The mission statement for the U.S. at the beginning of World War II was "Beat Hitler." Everyone could understand that, and get behind it. Your mission statement helps everyone pull in the same direction by showing them the direction to pull. It can motivate and direct employees and give new hires an idea of how your company works. You can also show the statement to potential investors, lenders or members of the media.

5. Company background.
Your company fact sheet essentially just lists bullet-point facts -- while this is written in paragraph form and includes more detail.

6. Current list of clients/partners.
This information is interesting to investors or potential clients.

7. Press kit.
When you open your business or launch a new product, send out a press kit. Press kits are also handy when you promote your business at a trade show. Your kit should include the following elements:

- Folder showing your company's logo to hold the following elements
- Personalized letter promoting your company, product or service (for most applications)
- Company fact sheet (for all applications)
- Product fact sheet (for all applications)
- Press release (when sending a press release to the media)
- Articles written about your company (for all applications)
- Business card of the person presenting the kit (for all applications)
- Company background (for all applications)
- Photographs of key executive and employees (when sending a press release about key persons)

Keep a few press kits on hand, but not many. This will avoid distributing out-of-date materials. Keep each component of the kit on a computer file, and update as needed when you're distributing a new round of kits. Also, see number 11.

8. Clip file.
Let someone in your company be responsible for collecting and maintaining any articles written about the firm, or its employees. If you are mounting a PR blitz, hiring a firm to track where press kits were sent, make sure they are received and then monitor the press for mentions of your firm. You may also consider a clipping service to monitor and compile articles found throughout the nation, or the world.

9. A Disaster File.
Let's say something goes wrong with a product or service your company provides, and your team needs to react ... right now! You must do the thought and policy making well in advance of such events to save time when "stuff" hits the fan. The better you set policies for people to follow, and procedures for them to implement, the better your company will come through the disaster. Even the biggest corporations get caught off-guard when the unforeseen happens. Don't let this happen to you.

10. A Company Objectives Statement.
Unlike the very brief mission statement, the company's objectives can express in more detail what things will be done to achieve the mission. Like the fact sheet, the Objectives Statement is bulleted and as brief as possible while still conveying the top-level objective that every person in the company can adhere to.

To ensure this is communicated, a credit-card-sized piece containing the Mission Statement and Company Objectives should be printed and handed out to each member of your team. Everyone involved in the company's success will be able to keep those "big ideas" with them for easy reference at all times. Although this piece communicating company objectives is usually used internally, properly written, it is often useful to show investors, customers, prospects and job candidates the things your team is focusing on.

11. A Key Documents Update Report.
All of us get wrapped up in day-to-day matters forgetting how fast time moves by. To keep your key documents from growing stale or riddled with inaccuracies, circulate a quarterly report showing each key document and when it was updated. Have team members submit suggestions for changes to a central point and then bring the documents up to date. You always have the option to update key documents more frequently, but this system keeps you at the ready with current information.

If you could use help in putting your key documents together, contact us today.