SOP Examples for Consulting and Agency Firms

A good SOP is one page, starts with a trigger, and names a role for each step. It's written for the person doing the task on a busy day, not for an auditor. Use these parts in every SOP:

• Trigger: the event that starts it, such as a signed proposal.
• Owner: the role accountable for it being done.
• Steps: numbered, each beginning with a verb and naming who does it.
• Output: the artifact or state that proves it's finished.
• Exceptions: two or three situations where the steps change, and who decides.

Skip the philosophy. If a step needs a paragraph of explanation, it's probably two steps, or the explanation belongs in a linked reference document.

Trigger: the signed statement of work arrives. Owner: the engagement lead.

1. Finance creates the client and project codes and confirms the billing contact within one business day.
2. The engagement lead books the kickoff call and sends the agenda, which lists goals, scope, deliverables, stakeholders and communication rhythm.
3. The lead runs the kickoff and captures the client's definition of success in their own words.
4. Within two days, the lead sends a written recap listing scope, out-of-scope items, key dates and who approves what.
5. The delivery team sets up the shared workspace and weekly status meeting.
6. The lead logs any assumption that affects price or timeline where the whole team can see it.

Output: a recap the client has acknowledged. Exception: if the client hasn't confirmed the recap after three days, the lead calls rather than emailing a third time.

Trigger: Friday at noon. Owner: each consultant for their time, the operations lead for billing.

1. Each person enters their time against project codes by end of day Friday, with a short description a client could read.
2. The operations lead checks for missing entries Monday morning and messages anyone who is blank.
3. Project leads review their project's hours by Tuesday and flag any entry that exceeds the plan.
4. The operations lead generates invoices for hourly and milestone work by Wednesday, and the engagement lead approves each before sending.
5. Anything written off is recorded with a reason code, so you can see where scope is slipping.

The reason code is what turns billing housekeeping into information. If write-offs keep pointing at the same client or task type, that's a pricing or scoping conversation. For utilization targets by role, see resource utilization benchmarks for professional services.

Trigger: a client asks for work that isn't in the statement of work, or the team realizes something is out of scope. Owner: the engagement lead.

1. Whoever spots the request writes it in the project's change log within a day, in one sentence.
2. The engagement lead decides whether it's a clarification, a small favor or a change, using a rule set in advance, for example anything over four hours counts as a change.
3. For a change, the lead sends a short change note stating the added work, the effect on price and date, and what happens if the client declines.
4. Work on the change starts only after written approval, and email approval counts.
5. The lead updates the project plan and invoice schedule the same day.

Exception: a small favor can proceed without a note, but it's logged, so the total of favors per client is visible at renewal.

Write the first draft with the person who does the task, in about thirty minutes. Then have someone else follow it exactly and mark every step where they got stuck. Fix those, then publish it where people already work.

Assign each SOP an owner and a review date six months out. Stale procedures are worse than none, because people learn to ignore them. A tool such as SweetProcess can hold procedures with assigned tasks, and Trainual can attach them to onboarding training, but a shared folder is a fine start. Compare options in this process documentation tool comparison, and use the SOP template guide for the blank format.