First: What IS a standard operating procedure?

A standard operating procedure is a set of written/audio/video instructions that describes the step-by-step process that must be taken to properly perform a routine activity.

It’s intended that SOPs be followed the exact same way every time to guarantee that the company remains consistent - especially if you work in a highly regulated or monitored environment such as financial services, some health providers, and even for health and safety reasons…

One of the most frequent questions I get asked is ‘how do I grow my business’?

While businesses each have their own founder/owner strengths and opportunities, there are foundational steps to growing any business.

And, when I’m working with my clients, we look at where they are now and where they want to be. We look at what has worked in the past, what hasn’t and how we can use what’s working to fuel greater growth.

We reverse-engineer from where they want to be to hone in on the specific steps they need to take to get there.

What I’m sharing below is a guide so you can self-identify where you are and what next steps could benefit you in your business…

Thinking about the next 10 years or ‘when’ you’ll be ready to think about handing over your business to prepare for that event is like waiting until the day before you hand over your house keys to its new owner to paint the walls, fix the leaky faucet and renovate run down bathroom. It’s too much too late.

And, consider what you could be leaving on the table by doing so?

You could be passing up, with some adjustments, a beautifully run company that actually reduces your headaches.

You could be passing up additional value in the business by not having some of its functions running more smoothly with a little TLC. AKA leaving money on the table.

You could be passing over obvious headaches to the new owner but that existing employees and customers still have to deal with, jeopardizing retention.

The belief that ‘getting ready to pass’ down is reserved for the actual event is actually robbing you of more money, more joy and likely more stability now.

One of the secrets to being an attractive company to run and purchase? Read more here.

I was speaking recently with someone who had sold not one, but two businesses in the past several years.

I asked her what she found was the more challenging aspects of selling. She said that one of the biggest challenges was getting her processes in order. She didn’t build it with selling it in mind and certainly didn’t think about capturing her processes as they operated.

So, preparing to sell her business the first time was quite onerous because it’s something she had to start from scratch.

It wasn’t until this was in place that her business could be properly evaluated (along with other metrics).

Standard operating procedures are not only valuable when you’re trying to sell your business, they are actually very powerful to…