SOPs, manuals and training binders

A written procedure is deliberate know-how: the routine your staff follow week in, week out. A solid manual explains that routine better than an inbox ever could, and it holds fewer personal details, so scrubbing is easier.

Procedures describe how work is meant to happen, while tickets, job notes and email record what really happened. We think the combination beats either one, which is why buyers usually want both.

Wikis and shared drives are simplest, and Google Drive, Notion and in-house knowledge bases get named specifically. Word and PDF files export without fuss. Paper binders must be scanned, so check if the buyer wants them and who covers the scanning.

• How you price jobs, if that is your advantage
• Documents prepared for a client under a confidentiality agreement
• Manuals borrowed from a franchisor or another firm, since you may not have the right to license them