Levi Olmstead
7 SOP Examples to Steal for Your Team
- Published: July 13, 2023
- Updated: February 8, 2024
In the fast-paced enterprise business world, consistency, efficiency, and quality are critical components of productive output. With diverse teams working across multiple locations, often in different time zones, the need for standardized practices becomes critical – and that’s why many organizations turn to SOPs.
Standard operating procedures (SOPs) are the blueprint for every business activity, from marketing to sales, customer support to HR, and provide an overview of critical business processes with detailed step-by-step guidance.
To showcase the importance of SOPs, this article will explore common corporate SOP examples. Each example showcases the integral role SOPs play in improving efficiency, maintaining quality, and driving overall success in an enterprise landscape, across business functions or tasks.
What Is an SOP?
An SOP (or standard operating procedure) is a type of process documentation that provides key information such as the scope and purpose of the process, step-by-step instructions on how to complete a process, and provide additional resources related to the specific task or procedure. SOPs help workers carry out routine operations, aiming to achieve efficiency, quality output, and uniformity of performance while reducing miscommunication and failure to comply with industry regulations.
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7 Examples of Effective SOPs
To help you create more effective standard operating procedures, we’ve outlined seven excellent SOP examples to draw inspiration from. By following the SOP format below, you can standardize your processes and extract ROI from your procedures quickly.
1. HR SOP for screening applicants
Scope: This SOP applies to the HR and hiring team members involved in the recruiting process who screen candidates who have applied for open positions.
Purpose: To ensure a consistent and unbiased review of all applications for open positions, as well as to make sure that all candidates are qualified for the position they’re applying for.
Process steps:
- Gather all received applications for the open position.
- Review each application against the minimum qualifications outlined in the job description.
- Shortlist applicants who meet or exceed the required qualifications.
- Use a standardized assessment (such as a scoring system or ranking criteria) for fair and equal evaluation.
- Prepare a report of shortlisted candidates for further interview rounds.
Additional resources:
- Job description
- Company description
- Interviewing policies
- ATS process documentation
- Require documents needed from candidates
- Sample of an offer letter
2. Marketing SOP for copy editing
Scope: This SOP applies to all marketing team members responsible for creating, editing, and writing customer-facing materials.
Purpose: To maintain a consistent, high-quality, error-free standard for all customer-facing content.
Process steps:
- The original content writer is responsible for the first round of edits with a complete reread post-writing.
- Send to copy editor.
- Copy editor reviews the content for grammar, spelling, punctuation, and syntax errors.
- Copy editor ensures consistency in tone, style, and language.
- Copy editor confirms all information is accurate and up-to-date.
- Copy editor checks that the content aligns with the brand’s messaging and guidelines.
- Get approval from the relevant authority before final publishing.
Additional resources:
- Brand guideline
- Publishing checklist
- SEO best practices
3. Design SOP for ensuring brand consistency
Scope: This SOP applies to the brand and design team, as well as any other departments contributing to public-facing content and design.
Purpose: To ensure all designs and web content align with the brand’s visual brand guidelines and identity.
Process steps:
- Review all new designs and web pages for consistency with brand color schemes, logos, typography, and imagery.
- Ensure that the content on web pages aligns with the brand’s voice and messaging.
- Confirm all designs are responsive and functional across different devices and browsers.
- Obtain final approval from the brand manager or designated authority before publication.
Additional resources:
- Brand guideline
- Library of branded assets
- How to export print and web assets
4. Content SOP for publishing new articles
Scope: This SOP applies to content creators, editors, SEO specialists, and anyone involved in the blog publication process.
Purpose: To ensure all blog articles are published correctly and consistently with the help of an SEO checklist, and the brand’s content strategy.
Process steps:
- Create an outline for your new blog.
- Write the blog article following the brand’s content guidelines.
- Sent to copy editor to edit and proofread for clarity, grammar, and spelling.
- Optimize the content for SEO, including relevant keywords, meta tags, and internal and external links.
- Schedule or publish the post using the content management system (CMS), ensuring it is correctly categorized and tagged.
- Interlink the blog with related content.
- Promote the article through appropriate channels, such as email newsletters or social media.
Additional resources:
- Brand guideline
- Content brief template
- Content style guideline
- WordPress process guide
- CTA guideline
- SEO best practices
5. Sales SOP for cold-calling scripts
Scope: This SOP applies to all sales team members conducting cold-calling activities.
Purpose: To standardize the cold calling process, helping to improve the effectiveness of cold calling and sales pitches.
Process steps:
- Research the prospect to understand their needs and how your product or service can benefit them.
- Prepare a script or talking points based on the brand’s sales strategy.
- Make the call, introducing yourself and the company clearly and concisely.
- Pitch the product or service, tailoring the message to the prospect’s needs.
- Record the call’s outcome in the customer relationship management (CRM) system, noting any follow-up actions needed.
Additional resources:
- Sales process template
- Sales pitch template
- CRM workflows
“Whatfix reimagines our training. It supports in-app guidance across almost any platform. It’s so easy to update materials, we can finally keep pace with the system changes. Whatfix is an ideal platform for renewables and energy companies looking to improve the adoption of JD Edwards, CRM, or other applications. It dramatically reduces the time spent training and onboarding our employees and supports our environmental stewardship. Looking back, Whatfix was one of the best decisions we have made.”
Abby Essing, Sr. Manager, Operations Services at Renewable Energy Group, Inc.
6. Support SOP for resolving a customer issues
Scope: This SOP applies to all customer support representatives handling customer issues.
Purpose: To provide a consistent, efficient, high-quality process for resolving customer issues.
Process steps:
- Receive the customer’s issue via the appropriate channel (phone, email, chat, etc.).
- Acknowledge the issue and empathize with the customer’s situation.
- Investigate the issue, utilizing any necessary tools or resources.
- Provide a solution or escalate the issue to the appropriate team or individual.
- Follow up to ensure the customer is satisfied with the resolution.
Additional resources:
- Common support responses
- Escalation procedure
- Support ticket prioritization and tiers
- Brand voice guideline
- Customer service training and handbook
- Incident report instructions
7. Onboarding SOP for a new hire’s first-day
Scope: This SOP applies to the HR team, the new hire’s manager or team lead, and anyone involved in the onboarding process.
Purpose: To provide a structured and welcoming experience for new employees on their first day, ensuring they have the necessary resources and information to start their job.
Process steps:
- Prepare the new hire’s workspace and equipment.
- Welcome the new hire and introduce them to their team and other key individuals in the company.
- Provide a company orientation, covering essential policies, procedures, and company culture information.
- Review the new hire’s job description and immediate responsibilities.
- Set up initial meetings or training the new hire must complete in their first week.
Additional resources:
- First-day welcome checklist and agenda
- Employee onboarding SOP and checklist
- Company procedures and handbook
- Company directory and org chart
- Benefit sign-up
- Direct deposit template
FREE TEMPLATE
Download our free SOP template to start building your own standardized processes.
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Enable your employees with step-by-step guidance and self-help support integrated into your enterprise applications and digital workflows with Whatfix
SOPs are often inaccessible, stored in a random Google Drive folder, or are too generic and don’t provide the context to specific to individual situations and tasks.
With a digital adoption platform like Whatfix, organizations can create in-app guided flows, smart tips, field validations, task lists, pop-ups, and more, that provide contextual support for your employees, in the flow of work, that directly overlays on your digital applications.
With Whatfix, provide your employees with a searchable self-help wiki that embeds on your digital workplace. Whatfix Self Help automatically crawls your knowledge repositories (knowledge base, internal wiki, process documentation, SOPs, Google Drive, Intranet, etc.) to aggregate your processes, training, and help documentation in one easy-to-use wiki.
Whatfix also provides analytics on the effectiveness of your guidance and self-help, allowing you to identify process inefficiencies and spot areas of friction that require additional or new process documentation.
What Is Whatfix?
Whatfix is a digital adoption platform that provides organizations with a no-code editor to create in-app guidance on any application that looks 100% native. With Whatfix, create interactive walkthroughs, product tours, task lists, smart tips, field validation, self-help wikis, hotspots, and more. Understand how users are engaging with your applications with advanced product analytics.
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