Infinite Processes: What Are SOPs? And Why Your Business Needs Them

What Is An SOP?

SOPs are essentially the core of every thriving business you can think of—Nike, PwC, Crayola, and so on.

That said, SOP is an acronym for “Standard Operating Procedure.”

Now, this can mean different things to different people depending on where and how they use it. It can be an internal document, ranging from guidelines, processes in a business, corporate charter, or a marketing strategy document such as an entrepreneur bio, branding, or a preamble. It boils down to one thing—SOPs meet the endless need to create insightful instruction that provides enterprises with clarity, quality control, and consistency via process documentation.

Integrating an SOP into the active business strategy enables clear communication in executing a process (macro), procedure (micro), or task (micro-micro). It involves transforming replicable practices, data, and ideas into a written guideline—serving to create structure and alignment to the documented, and often dreaded, “How do we do (and replicate) this?” side of your business.

Why You Need SOPs

Let’s explore how SOPs can help make you and your brand stand out from the competition. In the modern era, the aspects of businesses have changed drastically, and continue to at a rapid pace.

A successful business requires both a strong corporate and social commitment. From the jump, implementing and executing your business ideas and techniques play a crucial role in successful employee engagement, management, and motivation—whether they are a FTE, PTE, Contractor, Freelancer, in-office, hybrid, or 100% remote.

People, not just employees, THRIVE on clarity.

Further, it boosts the client experience (CX) which ties into the future growth of your brand.

In transparency, most businesses and enterprises lack in converting more leads, due to a vague client intake process. This should be one of the first items in the brand’s SOP Suite.

Without documented processes, the indication is that the brand truly lacks clarity, structure, and consistency, which should be foundational factors that every brand stands upon, otherwise the brand isn’t putting their employees or clients in position to be successful.

Who Should Use SOPs?

In general, SOPs are crucial for businesses, corporates, industries, or any sort of operational unit to maintain clarity and quality control in their operational processes.

This will show up both internally as well as on the CX (external) side. That said, SOPs is the evergreen clarity solution critical for both corporate enterprises and entrepreneurs to gain a strong position in today’s rapidly changing market. Mainly because a brand without clarity and structure lacks intention and purpose. It can be a disaster both internally as well as externally when you market your brand. Providing clarity and consistency in the operational/work processes to employees as well as your clients. Hence why SOPs are crucial for committed business owners and key stakeholders.

It allows businesses to prove that they’ve taken that extra time to review and interpret their business model from the inside-out.

So when you are documenting your brand or business, be sure to:

● Have a clean and clear document format and aesthetic. In short, this will entice people to actual want to read the SOP.

● Define the audience. This is where the audience will be defined—are you speaking to Software Engineers, Visual Artists, new entrepreneurs or C-suite Executives? This is crucial.

● Define the SOP’s Elements. These are the essentially the highlight heading elements that allow for optimized user reading flow and navigation—think Table of Contents, Overview, Scope, Key Systems etc.

● Match used language to fit the defined audience. This will optimize the defined audience’s understanding. If your SOP is not for highly technical users, don’t use highly technical language. To illustrate, if your audience is Visual Artists don’t speak to them like Software Engineers.

Final Thoughts

In closing, SOPs help business standardize and humanize the journey of what they do, and how they do it.

A business that lacks clarity is already behind the eight-ball—losing tons of prospective top-talent and clients while also decreasing existing employee and client retention rates.

Well-written SOPs highlight and frame your operations in aligned structure to help drive the business forward.

Established or new, corporation or boutique—regardless of industry—businesses must have these. Exceptional companies pour the financial resources into their SOP suite without blinking and eye, as they know what the value having a solid document suite entails for the company's long-term success.