Guide Templates
Educational or reference how-to documents.
Instant downloads • Fully editable • Export to Word, Excel or PDF
286 templates
Includes Operations Manual, Product Management Lifecycle, Executive Summary and 283 more.
At a glance
What it is
Guide templates are structured, instructional documents that walk teams, candidates, or stakeholders through a defined process, concept, or set of best practices. Businesses reach for them whenever a task is repeated often enough to warrant a written reference — from onboarding interviewers to standardizing a brand voice.
When you need one
Operators typically need a guide template when institutional knowledge lives only in someone's head and needs to be made transferable. They're also the right tool any time a process changes — a new marketing channel launches, an advisory board forms, or a financing round begins — and everyone affected needs a reliable, current reference.
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Which template fits your situation?
The right guide depends on what knowledge gap you're closing. Use the scenarios below to match your situation to the most relevant starting point.
How to write a business guide
A useful business guide does two things: it captures the right knowledge and presents it in a form the intended reader can act on without additional explanation.
Define the audience and purpose
Name exactly who will use the guide and what they should be able to do after reading it — this single decision shapes every section that follows.
Select the right template
Choose a guide template whose structure matches your subject — an interview guide has a different skeleton than a brand style guide or a financing guide.
Outline the process or concept
List the major steps, sections, or topics in logical order before writing prose, so the structure is sound before the detail is added.
Write each section in plain language
Replace jargon with concrete terms, and explain the 'why' behind each step so readers can adapt the guidance when situations vary.
Add examples and decision criteria
Ground abstract guidance in real scenarios — a worked example in a sales funnel guide or a sample question set in an interview guide dramatically increases practical utility.
Review with a subject-matter expert
Have someone who regularly performs the process read the guide and flag anything inaccurate, missing, or unclear before it is distributed.
Record the owner and review date
Assign a named owner responsible for keeping the guide current, and set a review cycle so outdated guidance doesn't get followed uncritically.
Glossary
- reference guide
- A document designed to be consulted at the point of need rather than read cover to cover — organized so users can find specific information quickly.
- how-to guide
- An instructional document that walks a reader through a process step by step, including enough context to handle common variations.
- brand style guide
- A reference document that defines how a company's visual and verbal identity should be applied across all communications and materials.
- interview guide
- A structured set of role-specific questions and evaluation criteria designed to keep hiring interviews consistent and comparable across candidates.
- sales funnel
- The staged progression a prospective customer moves through from initial awareness to a completed purchase, often visualized as a narrowing funnel.
- change management
- A structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams, or organizations from a current state to a desired future state with minimal disruption.
- growth hacking
- A data-driven approach to rapid business growth that prioritizes low-cost, high-leverage experiments over traditional marketing spend.
- advisory board
- A group of experienced individuals who provide non-binding strategic advice to a company's leadership, distinct from a formal board of directors.
- revenue model
- The mechanism by which a business generates income from its products or services, including pricing structure and billing cadence.
- quality management
- The set of processes and standards a business applies to ensure products or services consistently meet defined performance or compliance criteria.
- marketing automation
- The use of software to execute, schedule, and track marketing tasks — such as email sequences or lead scoring — without manual intervention for each action.
- workplace culture
- The shared values, behaviors, and norms that characterize how people interact and make decisions within an organization.
Guide Templates by department
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Frequently asked questions
What guide templates are available?
286 guide templates, including Operations Manual, Product Management Lifecycle, Executive Summary, How To Develop A Marketing Plan, Business Process Mapping.
What is a business guide template?
A business guide template is a pre-structured document designed to deliver instructional or reference content on a specific business topic. Templates in this category cover a wide range of functions — from interviewing candidates to registering a trademark — and provide a ready-made format so you don't have to design the document from scratch. You fill in or adapt the content to match your company's specific processes, tools, and context.
How are guide templates different from policy or procedure templates?
Guide templates are educational — they explain how to do something or why something works a certain way. Policy templates set rules and requirements that must be followed. Procedure templates are more rigid step-by-step instructions often used in operations and quality management. In practice, a business may use all three: a policy sets the rule, a procedure defines the mandatory steps, and a guide provides the context and rationale that helps staff apply both intelligently.
Can I use a guide template for employee onboarding?
Yes. Several guides in this filter — including the Team Building Guide, Employee Retention Guide, and role-specific interview guides — are directly relevant to onboarding and talent management. A guide used during onboarding gives new hires a structured reference for processes, expectations, and tools, reducing the time a manager has to spend explaining things one-on-one.
Are the interview guide templates suitable for different roles?
This filter includes interview guides for accountants, accounting technicians, administrative assistants, computer technicians, executive secretaries, file clerks, marketing assistants, marketing managers, office clerks, Java programmers, .NET programmers, receptionists, and treasurers and controllers. Each template is structured for that specific role with relevant, job-specific question sets.
Do I need any special software to use these guide templates?
No. Every guide template in this filter is available as a Word download that can be edited in Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or any compatible word processor. You can also edit templates directly online within Business in a Box and export the finished document as a PDF.
How often should I update a business guide?
As a general rule, review any guide whenever the underlying process, tool, regulation, or market condition it describes changes materially. For high-frequency processes like interviewing or social media marketing, an annual review is a reasonable minimum. For guides tied to legal or regulatory topics — such as trademark registration or business insurance — review them whenever relevant rules change in your jurisdiction.
Can a guide template be used as a standalone client-facing document?
Some guides in this filter — such as the Brand Style Guide or the Revenue Models and Metrics Guide — are routinely shared with external parties like agencies, investors, or partners. Others, like interview guides or internal operations guides, are primarily internal. The template you choose and how you customize it will determine whether it is appropriate for external distribution.
What is the difference between a guide and a report?
A report presents findings, data, or analysis about something that has already happened or a situation that currently exists. A guide is forward-looking and instructional — it tells the reader what to do or how to think about a process going forward. A market research report, for example, describes what the data shows; a guide on search engine marketing tells you how to run campaigns.
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How our templates are made
Every template is written by the Business in a Box editorial team and published by Bruno Goulet, CEO & Editor-in-Chief. Business in a Box has published business and legal templates for more than 20 years. Each document page explains what the template covers and how to fill it in; for legal documents, have a qualified professional review the final version when the stakes warrant it.
