15 Standard Operating Procedure Examples (Copy These)

In this guide:

• What makes a good SOP example?
• 15 SOP examples by department
• SOP examples for small business: where to start
• SOP examples by industry
• How to turn an example into your own SOP
• Common mistakes to avoid
• Frequently asked questions

The anatomy of every SOP: trigger, steps, endpoint.

The trigger tells your team when the procedure starts. The steps tell them exactly what to do, in order. The endpoint tells them how to know it’s done. Every example below follows this structure.

1. Sales: preparing and sending a quote

Trigger: Prospect agrees to receive a proposal after a discovery call.

1. Confirm the scope in writing from your call notes (one short email: “Here’s what I heard you need”)
2. Check pricing against the current rate card
3. Build the quote from the master template
4. If the value is above your set threshold, have a second person sanity-check the margins
5. Send within 24 hours with a personalised note referencing the conversation
6. Log the quote in your CRM and set a follow-up reminder for 3 business days

Endpoint: Quote sent, logged, and a follow-up scheduled.

2. Sales: weekly pipeline review

Trigger: Recurring calendar slot, same time every week.

1. Pull the pipeline report from your CRM
2. Update any deal with no activity in the last 14 days (contact them or close the record)
3. Flag at-risk deals and agree the save plan
4. Confirm the forecast for the month
5. Set one next action, with an owner, for every active deal

Endpoint: Every deal in the pipeline has a current status and a next action.

3. Marketing: sending the weekly email newsletter

Trigger: Content calendar shows the send is due.

1. Draft the email from the standing template: one story, one idea, one call to action
2. Proofread, then send a test to yourself
3. Check every link works, on desktop and mobile
4. Schedule for the agreed send time
5. Log opens and clicks in the marketing scorecard the following week

Endpoint: Email sent and results recorded.

4. Marketing: publishing a blog post

Trigger: Draft approved by the marketing lead.

1. Format the post in your CMS (headings, images, alt text)
2. Write the page title and meta description
3. Add 2-3 internal links to related content
4. Publish and check the live page renders correctly
5. Share to your social channels and email list
6. Add the URL to the content register

Endpoint: Post live, promoted, and logged.

5. Operations: daily opening procedure

Trigger: Start of the business day.

1. Unlock, disarm, and switch on equipment and systems
2. Check overnight messages, emails, and orders
3. Review today’s bookings or job list
4. Run a 5-minute team huddle: today’s priorities and any blockers
5. Flag anything unusual to the manager before it becomes a problem

Endpoint: Doors open, systems running, and the team knows the plan.

6. Operations: scheduling a new job

Trigger: Customer confirms the job.

1. Check team availability in the scheduling calendar
2. Confirm materials, equipment, or prerequisites are available for the proposed date
3. Book the slot, including travel or setup buffer
4. Send the customer a confirmation with date, time, and what to expect
5. Assign a job lead and add the job to the job board

Endpoint: Job scheduled, customer confirmed, team assigned.

7. Operations: handling a customer complaint

Trigger: Complaint received through any channel.

1. Acknowledge within 2 business hours, even if you don’t have an answer yet
2. Log the complaint with date, customer, and issue
3. Investigate with the team member involved (facts first, blame never)
4. Agree a resolution within your authority limits, or escalate to the manager
5. Deliver the fix and confirm the customer is satisfied
6. Record the root cause and review patterns monthly

Endpoint: Complaint resolved, customer heard, root cause captured.

8. Finance: invoicing and payment follow-up

Trigger: Work delivered or milestone reached.

1. Raise the invoice within 24 hours of delivery
2. Email it with payment terms clearly stated
3. Reconcile payments weekly in your accounting software
4. Day after due date: send a friendly reminder
5. 7 days overdue: phone call
6. 14 days overdue: escalate to the owner and apply the stop-work rule if relevant

Endpoint: Invoice paid, or in escalation with the owner aware. This one procedure does more for healthy cash flow than any spreadsheet.

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9. Finance: paying supplier bills

Trigger: Supplier invoice received.

1. Verify the invoice against the purchase order or agreement
2. Code it to the correct account in your accounting software
3. Enter the due date and attach the invoice file
4. If above the approval threshold, get sign-off from the owner or manager
5. Add to the weekly payment run

Endpoint: Bill scheduled for payment and records match the paperwork.

10. Finance: end-of-month close

Trigger: Last business day of the month.

1. Reconcile all bank and credit card accounts
2. Chase missing receipts and unallocated transactions
3. Review profit and loss against budget
4. Update the KPI scorecard
5. Note anything unusual, with a one-line explanation
6. Send the summary to the owner by day 5 of the new month

Endpoint: Books closed and the owner has a clear monthly picture.

11. HR: screening job applicants

Trigger: Applications close (or a strong application lands).

1. Score each CV against 3-5 must-have criteria
2. Shortlist the top 5-8 candidates
3. Run 15-minute phone screens using the standard question sheet
4. Rate each candidate 1-5 and note key answers
5. Invite the top 3 to a full interview
6. Send a courteous decline to everyone else

Endpoint: Interviews booked and every applicant has heard back. (Once they’re hired, your employee onboarding checklist takes over.)

12. HR: processing leave requests

Trigger: Team member submits a leave request.

1. Check their leave balance
2. Check for clashes with other approved leave or peak periods
3. Approve or decline within 2 business days, with a reason if declined
4. Update the team calendar and payroll system
5. Arrange cover for critical responsibilities

Endpoint: Leave recorded, calendar updated, cover arranged.

13. HR: quarterly performance check-in

Trigger: Quarterly calendar reminder.

1. Send the team member prep questions one week ahead
2. Review their role scorecard and last quarter’s goals
3. Hold a 45-minute conversation: wins, challenges, and what they need from you
4. Agree 2-3 goals for the next quarter
5. Document the conversation and share the notes with them
6. Book the next check-in before you leave the room

Endpoint: Goals agreed, documented, and the next conversation is already scheduled.

14. Management: running the weekly team meeting

Trigger: Same time, same day, every week.

1. Use the standing agenda (don’t reinvent it each week)
2. Review the scorecard numbers first: on track or off track
3. Check completion of last week’s actions
4. Each area reports blockers in 60 seconds or less
5. Solve the top 1-2 issues as a group, park the rest
6. Capture actions with owners and due dates
7. End on time, every time

Endpoint: Every action has an owner and the meeting ran to schedule.

15. Management: weekly KPI scorecard update

Trigger: Friday afternoon cut-off.

1. Each number owner enters their metric for the week
2. Flag anything off track in red
3. Add a one-line comment for every red number
4. Circulate the scorecard before the weekly team meeting
5. Archive the previous week so trends stay visible

Endpoint: Scorecard current and ready to open the weekly meeting.

Tip: The fastest way to capture any of these for your own business is to record the task being done. Screen-record it, or film it on a phone, talk through the steps as you go, and turn the recording into the document. Don’t write from memory; capture from reality.

Real example: Ryan Stannard runs a $15M custom home building company in Adelaide. He didn’t systemise everything at once. His team documented the critical path first, then built out from there. Today the business runs on documented systems, and Ryan takes seven-week holidays.

Copying without adapting. An example is a starting point, not a finished product. If the document doesn’t match how your business actually works, your team will ignore it (and they’ll be right to).

Writing for the expert. The person who knows the task best doesn’t need the SOP. Write for the newest hire, the temp, or the person covering while someone’s on leave.

Documenting everything at once. Fifteen examples doesn’t mean fifteen projects. Start with one. The one causing the most pain right now.

No owner. Every SOP needs one person responsible for keeping it current. No owner means nobody notices when it drifts out of date.

Set and forget. Businesses change; documents don’t, unless someone updates them. Put a review date on every SOP and check it when the process changes.