What are SOPs and Why are They Important in Your Business?
If you’ve ever worked in a corporate office, or any kind of business that has a higher-level structure, you’ve likely come in contact with various forms of documentation that describe how to do certain parts of your job, or give you step-by-step instructions on accomplishing specific tasks in your role.
If you’ve never been in that type of business space or seen such documentation before, then imagine a document that describes how to do something with clear, detailed instructions, and sometimes images or videos accompanying those descriptions.
This documentation is known as an SOP.
SOPs are super important for entrepreneurs because they can help their business become more efficient, save time on repeatable tasks and processes, and eventually help to scale a business.
So today, let’s dive into what exactly an SOP is, why it’s an important part of every business, some examples of SOPs, and how to start creating them for your business ASAP!
What are SOPs?
An SOP, also known as a Standard Operating Procedure, is a step-by-step instructional guide and documented procedure to clearly outline how a task or a project should be done to ensure it’s completed consistently and efficiently each time.
These instructional guides can be in written form, digital documents like Google Docs or Word Docs, videos, a series of images, or any combination of these.
No matter the form the documentation takes, the most critical aspect of an SOP is the clear and detailed instructions on how to complete a task.
Successful SOPs in a business are housed in one place and organized so that they are quick and easy to find when you need them. This could be inside a folder on your computer, a Google folder with sub-folders for each client or type of task, a dedicated space in your Project Management tool, etc. As with everything, the system that you use is dependent upon the unique needs of your business.
Why SOPs are essential to your business
So why are Standard Operating Procedures such a powerful tool to utilize in your business?
SOPs help to create a lot of structure in your business. Think about all of the repetitive tasks you do in your business on a regular basis – onboarding clients, following up with leads, posting on social media, running workshops, selling products or services, offboarding clients, running meetings, writing and posting blogs, and on and on.
How many times do you sit down to execute a task that you do maybe once a month and can’t remember exactly how you did it last time? Maybe you take some time and try to re-familiarize yourself with the task and the tools you use to complete it before you get started. But didn’t you do it a little differently last time? What had you done differently?
Before you know it, you’ve spent 20 minutes just trying to remember how you did it before, when the task itself only takes 15 minutes when finished efficiently.
This scenario is why creating SOPs in your business is incredibly useful.
When you have documentation of your processes, you can get those jobs done more quickly by streamlining your workflow and therefore increasing productivity, reducing the risk of errors because you’re following a checklist, and creating uniformity, efficiency, and professionalism in your deliverables to your clients (and yourself).
It also reinforces your business as a brand and helps you step into your CEO role.
When running a business, especially as a solopreneur, sometimes we can forget to view our business as, well, a business. We often run it by the seat of our pants and overlook opportunities for us to step into our CEO roles that can prepare the business to scale, or simply allow it to run more smoothly and effectively.
When you’re ready to grow your business and hire help, having established SOPs can ease the process of delegating and managing your new team member(s) and improve communication with them. And that is a game-changer.
Said and done, having SOPs in your business allows you to create better client experiences, experience more time NOT doing tedious things, and grow your business with minimal bumps and bruises.
Examples of SOPs I use in my business
Now you know what the heck an SOP is and why using it in your business can really take you to the next level, the next question you may be asking is, “So…what kinds of things can I create SOPs for?”
I’m so glad you asked!
Here are some examples of things I use SOPs for:
Internally managing my business, I have SOPs for creating blog posts like this one (how often do I do it, how do I brainstorm, what steps do I take to write it, create graphics for it, and post it).
I have an SOP for each time I create a new live training or workshop. There are so many moving parts that come with hosting a live training – creating a landing page, zoom link, sign-up form, tag in my email marketing platform, confirmation and reminder emails, slides, etc. Having a step-by-step process to look at each time I plan a training makes my stress level SO MUCH lower.
I have SOPs for creating and posting social media posts, making changes to my website, creating products in ThriveCart, creating a lead magnet, searching for and pitching to podcasts to guest on, and much more.
For my team members, I have SOPs to onboard and train them, on best practices to work with our clients, managing their tasks in the project management task board, and how to utilize all kinds of tech in my business. I even have an SOP about making SOPs (true story!).
And when it comes to clients, I have SOPs for my consultations, my proposal process, onboarding and offboarding clients, how I meet with them, how I take notes on my meetings with them, and more. And of course, being the kind of business that BizMagic is, we then have SOPs that correlate to specific clients to help us manage their work and accounts.
Basically, the SOPs at BizMagic are endless!
How to create an SOP
So now you’re sold on using SOPs in your business, but how do you actually go about creating them?
First things first, as I always recommend, stop and think about yourself and the way you take in and process information. Do you prefer to read instructions or watch videos? That is a good way to decide what your SOPs will look like.
In general, I do typically recommend both recorded videos and written documentation for as many processes as possible. As your business grows (even if you don’t expect it to right now), you’ll have visual walk-throughs for tasks, which can often be much easier to learn from.
A great place to start is by creating a Standard Operating Procedure template that you can pull up each time you’re ready to create a new SOP. If you’re looking for a template, I have one for you right here.
If you want to design your own, here are things to consider as you build it:
An effective SOP should be easy to follow, detailed, and consistent
Questions to ask before you start:
Who is performing this role?
What is the purpose of this SOP?
What is each step needed to accomplish that result?
Which tools/software/skills are needed to accomplish the result?
Which format is best for communicating this? (Diagram, checklist, document, or video)
Pro tip: Use Loom or something similar for the recorded portion of your SOP, as it allows you to share your screen and show your face at the same time.
Don’t forget to consider where you will be storing your SOPs (Project management tool, Google Drive, etc.). Be sure to keep them organized in a way that makes sense to you and the way you organize information in your brain.
I have a database in my Notion business hub that houses all of BizMagic’s SOPs. It makes it quick and easy for anyone on the team to find a process anytime they need it.
Your organization can be as simple or as complicated as you like. Just make sure it works for you and your business and you keep it as clean and updated as possible so that once you start creating Standard Operating Procedures, you actually use them.
And that’s everything you need to know about the what, why, and how of Standard Operating Procedures! Again, feel free to grab this free SOP template that you can use to begin documenting your processes ASAP, or as a starting point for designing your own.
As always, we are here to help. If you need help understanding SOPs better or coming up with a template and system for your very own SOPs, reach out to us and we would be more than happy to support you!
That’s it for now! Thanks so much for reading.
