Its 2018, and I'd just landed five new clients in one week. Amazing, right? The kind of "problem" most entrepreneurs dream of having. A good problem!

Except it quickly turned into a nightmare.

All the clients were different work. All of the work was doable but it meant I was being pulled in 5 different directions.

Different onboarding processes. Different deliverables. Different communication styles.

A whole mess of different priorities and deadlines. Chaos basically.

And of course it all came crashing down. As tends to happen with these things everything went wrong at the same time. One client’s site went down. Another’s social media got blocked. Another’s paid ads hit a brick wall.

Again, all manageable problems. But not at the same time. And not when all so disparate and diverse.

We’re instead going to be sensible and deliver ONE service. In this Part we create our single delivery plan so that we can keep everyone happy! (Including yourself and your team!)

Let's get started:

Find Alignment

In Part 3, we created a highly focused service offer. Now we need to align our delivery processes to ensure clients get exactly what they paid for—nothing more, nothing less.

This alignment is critical. When your delivery matches your offer precisely, three magical things happen:

1. You deliver consistent results

2. You protect your time and energy

3. You create happy clients who refer others

Without this alignment, you'll find yourself constantly underdelivering or overdelivering, dealing with scope creep, or disappointing clients who expected something different.

Instead we’re saying “this is what we do, this is the price, yay or nay?”

And then delivering what we promised, for the price given. No variation. No surprises. Just steady meeting of expectations.

The Three-Phase SOP System

Every service delivery can be broken down into three distinct phases:

1. Pre-Production: Everything that happens before you start the actual work

2. Production: The core work of delivering your service

3. Post-Production: Wrapping up, reporting results, and collecting testimonials

Yes I worked in TV and film in a past life - I’m stealing from this world!

Creating detailed SOPs (standard operating procedures) for each phase ensures nothing falls through the cracks. SOPs is basically a fancy acronym for checklists. And checklists are amazing - read Atul Gawande’s book the Checklist Manifesto on the subject if you need convincing! Yes…it’s a whole book about checklists. But I promise it’s interesting! 😂

Creating SOPs can be a BIG task. But we’re smart. We’re going to distil our three SOPs from i) our offer documentation from the last Part and ii) one of my Playbooks. Smart.

Here's the prompt to generate your three-phase SOP system:

You are an expert systems developer who helps consultants create detailed service delivery processes. Based on the following playbook and service offer, create a comprehensive three-phase SOP system.


Using the Playbook and Offer documentation at the end of this prompt create three detailed SOP documents:

1. Pre-Production SOP:
   - Client onboarding checklist
   - Required information gathering
   - Account setup steps
   - Kick-off call agenda and script
   - Timeline establishment
   - Expectation setting documentation
   - Payment processing

2. Production SOP:
   - Step-by-step implementation process
   - Quality control checkpoints
   - Progress tracking method
   - Client communication templates
   - Troubleshooting common issues
   - Managing scope boundaries
   - Timeline management

3. Post-Production SOP:
   - Results documentation
   - Client handover process
   - Training materials preparation
   - Final report template
   - Testimonial collection process
   - Referral request script
   - Follow-up schedule

For each SOP, include:
- Detailed checklists with specific action items
- Time estimates for each step
- Required tools or resources
- Responsibility assignments (even if it's just you for now)
- Quality control measures

Format each SOP as a practical, ready-to-use document that follows a logical workflow. Focus on creating processes that deliver exactly what was promised in the service offer—nothing more, nothing less.

Playbook content begins: [PASTE FULL PLAYBOOK TEXT HERE]
==Playbook content ends==
Service offer: [PASTE YOUR CORE SERVICE OFFER FROM PART 3]
==Service offer ends==

Again use as advanced model as possible for this prompt - a reasoning model ideally.

This prompt will generate comprehensive SOPs that align perfectly with your service offer.

The AI-generated SOPs will be a solid starting point, but you'll need to refine them based on your real-world experiences! Here's how:

1. Question and simplify You know best. Question the AI, have a dialogue as required to refine. Don’t just take it as gospel.

2. Add Time Buffers Whatever time estimates the AI provides, add 25-50%. Something always takes longer than expected.

3. Add Personal Touches Where does your unique expertise really matter? Mark those areas and add your specific approach - you can “build in” personality.

4. Remember this is a first draft Your SOPs will be living documents. I personally keep ours in shared Notion documents for my teams. They can (and should!) be adjusted based on the realities of delivery.

The Client Experience Map

Once you have your SOPs, create a simple "Client Experience Map" that shows clients what to expect at each stage of working with you.

This isn't your internal SOP—it's a client-facing document that builds trust by showing you have a proven process. It typically includes:

• What they can expect at each stage

• What you'll need from them and when

• Key milestones and deliverables

• Communication frequency

Here’s a quick prompt to spin up a map:

You are a client experience designer. Based on my service delivery SOPs, create a client-friendly experience map showing what clients can expect at each stage.

My communication preferences: [DESCRIBE YOUR PREFERRED CHANNELS AND FREQUENCY]

Create a simple client experience map that includes:
1. Timeline with key phases and touchpoints
2. What clients receive at each stage
3. What's required from clients
4. Communication expectations
5. Milestones and results measurement

Make it professional yet reassuring, setting clear expectations while building confidence in my process.

Use this below the previous work in order to pull in the offer and delivery details.

Setting Boundaries

One of the most powerful aspects of having clear SOPs is that they help set and maintain boundaries. When a client asks for something outside the scope of your service, you can confidently refer to your process.

You’ve been up front about it in the offer and the map you’ve provided.

So there’s no uncertainty, no lack of clarity into which extra (free!) works falls. Instead you can refer them back to prior communication and honestly say:

"That's actually outside the scope of our current project. According to our process, we're currently in the X phase focusing on Y. I'd be happy to discuss how we might address that need in a separate project."

This isn't being difficult—it's being professional. It ensures you can deliver what you promised without burning yourself out. You said you’d do a certain task and you’re doing it. The new ask is a new project, simple as.

What's Next?

In our final part, we'll cover how to launch your service, find your first paying clients, and potentially partner with others (including myself, hi, Kyle) for distribution.