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Download free invoice template in Microsoft Excel format.
Look Professional with a Sales Invoice Template
Are you the owner or manager of a product based business in need of some professional-looking invoices? Did you know that you could find a sales invoice template online—one that you could shape and customize to match your own unique business needs? Invoices are the very cornerstone of your business, the way you request payment from customers and the method by which you track your sales, but apart from being very functional documents, they are also a representation of your business. Consequently, you’ll want your invoices to look professional, even memorable, as they made lead to future sales. This is where a sales invoice template can be so beneficial. To illustrate this, in this article we will discuss some of the benefits of using a sales invoice template in your business, and outline some of the primary pieces of information these templates should always reflect.
The Benefits of Using a Sales Invoice Template
In a product-based business, whether the majority of your sales are delivered in-store or shipped, you must provide the customer with a written record of the sale. This is called an invoice—a document that describes the type and quantity of products sold, and indicates the amount paid, the amount owed and the payment terms. These invoice documents are indispensable to your business, not only as a method for requesting payment, but also in terms of recordkeeping, tracking sales and inventory and even calculating taxes.
To fulfill the responsibility of issuing invoices, many companies use hard-copy invoices—some customized and some not—and write each invoice out by hand. This not only takes up valuable time—time that could be better spent elsewhere—but it also looks extremely unprofessional. A more efficient and professional way to handle this task is through a sales invoice template.
Sales invoice templates, much like the name suggests, can be pre-formatted, using a variety of fonts and colors, to reflect the name of your business, as well as your address, telephone number and website information. You can also enter your entire inventory into the program, assigning product numbers to each of the products you sell. This way, when the product number is entered into the template, it will automatically bring up a detailed description of the product—a description that will appear on the invoice. This method not only saves valuable time, but it guarantees that each of the invoices you create will be crisp and professional-looking each and every time.
What Should Be Included on a Sales Invoice Template?
There are several key pieces of information that a sales invoice template should always include. Naturally, you’ll want the invoice to contain certain identification and demographic information, starting with the name of your business, the business address, telephone number and website information, along with similar contact details with regards to the buyer or purchaser. Each invoice should also have a clear and readable invoice number in the corner of the document. This way you’ll be able to track each invoice that goes out, and facilitate recordkeeping and inventory procedures.
The next portion of the invoice will deal exclusively with product information. Here you will offer a full product description, a product number (if applicable), the quantity of each product sold and the unit price. Finally, you’ll want to ensure that the sales invoice template you choose has the functionality to calculate the subtotal based on the quantity and unit price, and from that subtotal calculate the appropriate amount of sales tax to be charged. These two figures, when added to any related shipping and/or handling charges will reflect the grand total of the invoice, or in other words, the total amount the customer owes.
Technology has certainly made simple some of the laborious tasks of the past, and a sales invoice template is no exception to that rule. These templates are by far the best and most affordable method for issuing quality invoices that facilitate customer payment, streamline recordkeeping and inventory and demonstrate your company’s originality and professionalism.