Sample template for a SLA contract

This article assumes that you own/run a Micro-Small business and have decided to outsource a portion of your business function. You may have also identified a partner organization to reward this work. Outsourcing is an efficient way to get routine tasks in your business accomplished by resources that are not necessarily on your payroll OR by parties that can efficiently get the work done for way cheaper than done in-house by your team. Sometimes, consultants are also utilized by organizations to achieve business objectives that are not necessarily your forte. Read more about this in our next blog here.

About us: GlobusSales.com has been providing International Micro – Small businesses with Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) services since 2011. Incorporated in Mumbai India, and offices in Bengaluru and smaller towns, Globus can help with your Chat – Voice – AI based  Customer service, Web presence, Social Media engagement, MIS, Lead generation and customized Business processes.

Now for the paperwork bit. Most times, the outsourcing organization sends you a bunch of documents regarding payment schedules, dates and terms for the work delivery. However, most of these documents do not cover two important aspects.

1. Non-Disclosure of your Trade secrets and business functions. This is routinely covered by signing an NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) by both parties. You can find a lot of samples for such a document by doing a google search. To know more on how to customize an NDA as per your business requirement, read this blog article.
2. Service Level Agreement (SLA): this is the most important document that you should draft as per the Business role / function that you are planning to outsource.

The SLA document is a contract that is prepared keeping in mind the objectives of the work,  parameters to perform them, reporting progress and the results that are desired of this activity. Below is a sample of an SLA document that has been drafted by a product company to engage a Freelancer who provides Digital Marketing services. Feel free to copy / modify as per your business requirements. We appreciate it if you can drop a few lines of feedback so that we can continue to share valuable insights for SMBs.

PS: An India based Service Provider has been included in this example to give you further insights on what documentation is to be sought in case of legal hassles in the future.

SLA for Brand Digital Marketing & Lead Generation Services

This memorandum of understanding is signed between

_____________, a Software Provider, having its registered office at ______________, INDIA, (hereafter referred to as 1st Party) which expression shall be deemed to include their executors, administrators and assigns where the context so admits. PAN# _____________, Aadhar#_____________

AND

YOUR ORGANIZATION, a <<product/service>> company having its registered office at ___________, MA – 01840, (hereafter referred to as 2nd Party) which expression shall be deemed to include their executors, administrators and assigns where the context so admits.

NOW THEREFORE the 2nd party has intended, agreed and consented to engage the 1st party into a working relationship to define and execute a digital marketing plan (hereafter referred to as Service) for their brand “YOUR BRAND” range of products (hereafter referred to as Brand) for the markets of North America (hereafter referred to as Geographies) to connect customers (hereafter referred to as Client) to the brand’s online platforms. All parties agree to the following terms and deeds in pursuance of common intents and goals:

1. Brand owner: 2nd party owns the exclusive rights to Market, On-board and Sell products & services using any marketing & distribution model as required – as per the requirement of the local laws.

1. Services provided: The 1st party will be legally bound with the 2nd party to provide the below mentioned services for the brand in the region:
   1. Marketing strategy definition
   2. Product label & packaging design for future range of products
   3. Web presence design, development, hosting, securing from malicious attacks
   4. Listing on various Marketplace & Online healthcare aggregators
   5. Content, Graphics & Video creations & publishing
   6. Running paid, remarketing & lead generation campaigns via SMS, WhatsApp, Email & Web.
   7. Organizing Vlogs and Video content, YouTube marketing for lead generation
   8. Website enhancements as required for every execution phase
   9. Content & Social Media Marketing

1. Organic: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and other popular platforms in the geographies
2. Paid advertising (Google, FB, Insta Ads)

iii. Influencer marketing – identify, negotiate, manage, harness best fit personalities

1. Search Engine Marketing

1. Performance marketing (Google, Affiliate & Marketplace)
2. SEO: On-page, Off-page optimization for all popular search engines

iii. Backlinks to content of the brand

1. Lead generation via landing pages, AdWords
2. Setup affiliate marketing partnerships with complementing digital platforms

1. Publishing & on-boarding resellers for Affiliate program
2. Any other services as deemed necessary to boost sales & brand reach

1. Reporting formats: The 1st party will be legally bound with the 2nd party to provide the below reporting on a weekly basis:
   1. Social Media Calendar plan for organic publicity
   2. Paid marketing plan (spend, CPA and conversion rate), PPC and ROI calculations
   3. Web enhancements performed and SEO activities planned
   4. Details of off-page activities including the webpages and sites where submissions are done
   5. List of all websites where backlinks are setup
   6. Step-by-step lead generation tasks performed
   7. Affiliate associations and links setup
   8. Detailed Marketplace, FB, Google & Heatmap analytics including eComm transactional values   

1. Duration: The duration for this agreement is __ months, from the date of signing. During this time, the following products & markets will be focused on:

1. Credentials & Confidentiality: The 1st party has been given access to various Social Media & Online servers which are the 2nd party’s business resources. These credentials will not be shared with other parties or tampered with during or after the course of this agreement.

1. Timeline & Service fee: The 1st party will be compensated for the service as highlighted in Appendix-A of this agreement. The timelines for each phase & activity have to be adhered to strictly. Any slippage in deliverables will result in withholding payment for the activity & a compensation of 150% of the respective Phase’s amount from the 1st party.

1. Operational roles & responsibilities:

1st Party:

1. All work items listed in clause #2

2nd Party:

1. Provide necessary business workflow details
2. Define an overall roadmap for the product range & marketing goals
3. Share product pricing range with a marketing budget for Samples, Discounts & Add-on giveaways

1. All parties agree to communicate the nature & scope of work, timeline, budgets and payment updates in written emails for clarity and computation of gains.
2. In addition, the 1st party will train, monitor & plan activities for resources hired by the 2nd party to achieve the scale and growth in sales as desired by the 2nd party.
3. Results of work: The 1st party acknowledges the scope of results expected in every phase by the 2nd party as detailed in Appendix A and any slippage will result in withheld payment & penalties.

This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws as set up by the <>,<>. Any and all disputes arising out of or in connection with this Agreement shall be settled by the courts in <>. Each Party hereby irrevocably waives all rights to trial by jury in any legal proceeding arising out of or relating to the Agreement.