The 10 Types of Contracts Every Business Needs

Every organization should have a set of contracts that reflect the risks, obligations, and expectations of your regular business activities. And you should have a base contract template for each contract on hand, already worked out with your legal team, so you don't have to reinvent the wheel every time that type of contract is needed.

These contract templates are starting points that will save you time and energy when you need to draft a specific contract for a particular situation. Developing these templates in advance also forces your business to consider what it wants and needs from each type of business relationship before the clock is ticking on an actual deal.

Business contracts fall into three general categories, which is where you should start your contract template pre-planning: general business contracts, employment contracts, and sales contracts.

Your list of general business contract templates should include:

• Property and equipment lease templates
  Contracts that set the terms under which you rent real estate, equipment, software or intellectual property like music, videos, and images
  
  
• Non-disclosure agreement templates
  "NDAs" that prevent any party from revealing what was discussed, or what work was done, during a meeting or business relationship
  
  
• Partnership agreement templates
  Contracts that lay out the terms with which one or more individuals or businesses form a partnership with you
  
  
• Indemnity agreement templates
  Also called "hold harmless" agreements, which limit the scope of damages in the event of a lawsuit
  
  
• Assignment agreement templates
  These control how and when you can subcontract or sell off your contractual obligations and benefits to another party

This assumes you don't regularly enter into joint ventures, license intellectual property, or sell franchises, all of which would merit their own general business contracts.

Your employment contract templates should include:

• General employment contract templates
  A starting point for hiring every employee, which dictates their responsibilities, compensation, and ground for ending ongoing employment
  
  
• Contractor agreement templates
  A baseline for hiring contracted employees, including scope of work, pay rate, and ownership of work products
  
  
• Non-compete agreement templates
  These prevent employees from working in specific fields or for specific competitors for a set length of time after they cease working for you

Your sales contract templates should include:

• Bill of sale templates
  Also known as a sales contact, it's a base template for the standard sale of your goods and services
  
  
• Purchase order templates
  A basic agreement outlining what goods or services you are buying from another seller, so you can track the terms of sale as well as manage your own accounting of the transaction
  
  
• Service level agreement/warranty templates
  "SLAs" which govern what actions or circumstances on your part void a contract or violate its terms, and what compensation may be due your customer when that happens

With these contract templates in place, your legal team can work out specific contacts faster and more easily. 

If you'd like a contract automation solution that makes using contact templates even simpler -- and that employs cutting-edge artificial intelligence to make the entire contact management lifecycle more efficient -- look no further than LinkSquares Finalize. With the help of AI, LinkSquares helps you write better contacts in less time with less risk than ever before.

If you want to write your best contracts ever, in the shortest time ever, contact LinkSquares today.