Streamline Your Business with Workflows and Standard Operating Procedures

Take time out to think about your business from the customer’s point of view. What would it be like to be one of your customers or clients? What are some pain points that your clients might experience when trying to work with your organization? is the entire experience fluid from start to finish or a bit clunky at a point or two in the process?

The answer to a better client experience may be making adjustments to your workflows and standard operating procedures (SOPs).

What is a workflow?

This deals with what gets done and when. A workflow is an overall view of how things work in your business. Think “big picture” here. For example, a business’s workflow might include receiving an order, processing payment, and shipping an item.

What is a standard operating procedure or SOP?

A standard operating procedure, also known as an SOP, is more concerned with who does something and how it will get done. SOPs focus on individual tasks. For example, your standard operating procedure might be to do the following: receive an order, send an email acknowledgement using a specific template that is used for all orders, send an estimate in Quickbooks for approval, convert the estimate into an invoice upon approval, etc.