Crafting SOPs with Preparation, Personality, and Passion

Creating Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for customer interactions that feel natural can be challenging. SOPs need to ensure a consistent customer experience while allowing team members to be authentic.

I was reminded of this balance while listening to Bert Alper on the Think Fast, Talk Smart podcast hosted by Matt Abrahams (Abrahams, 2024). Alper highlighted three key ingredients for successful communication: Preparation, Passion, and Personality.

Alper’s point was clear: to communicate successfully, you need to internalize your content, feel passionate about it, and express it with your own personality.

These three "ingredients" are crucial when designing SOPs for customer interactions:

1.? Preparation: Help Your Team Internalize SOPs.

Preparation is as important in customer service as it is in public speaking. Just like preparing for a presentation, you need to train your team to engage effectively with customers.

Many business owners say, “I just hire people who know how to interact with customers.” While hiring people with strong interpersonal skills is important, it’s not enough.

Without training, even the best hires can create inconsistent customer experiences, driven more by mood than by clear processes aligned with your brand’s values.

SOPs should equip your team to deliver consistent, on-brand interactions. This requires providing clear guidance and specific examples, not just vague expectations.

A well-prepared team can deliver a reliable and branded experience every time.

2. Personality: Build an Authentic Interactions.

Your customer interaction SOPs should act as a guide, not a rigid script.

Customer interaction SOPs should act as a guide, not a rigid script. They need to be structured enough to reflect your brand’s core values but flexible enough to allow employees to be genuine. No one wants to feel forced into acting unnaturally.

Your SOPs should emphasize core values like gratitude, attentiveness, and eagerness to help. They should also set expectations for communication etiquette, such as maintaining eye contact and greeting customers with a smile.

Scripts in SOPs should demonstrate the desired tone, attitude, and objective of customer interactions, helping employees remain authentic while embodying your brand’s values. This includes scripting clear calls to action, like inviting customers to join a retention program.

Scripting a clear 'call to action' for the employee not only provides guidance on what to say but also sets a clear expectation to fulfill that touchpoint.

In certain situations, it can be beneficial to require specific scripted phrases, especially when conveying a key brand value. For example, Chick-fil-A uses phrases like “my pleasure” to reflect its commitment to enjoyable service.

Though scripted, it captures the brand's essence—employees genuinely enjoy serving customers.

3. Passion: Help Your Team Love What They Do.

While passion can’t be mandated, it can be nurtured. When employees understand and align with your company’s mission, their passion for serving customers naturally increases.

To encourage this, train your team to see the customer experience from the customer's perspective. Customer journey mapping can help them anticipate and respond to customer needs with empathy. Then celebrate and reward actions that reflect your company’s mission and values, as this reinforces a sense of purpose among your staff.

Well-designed SOPs enhance both the customer’s experience and the employee’s, which is a core goal of service design. Reducing friction and improving efficiency can make customer service more enjoyable for your team, creating a sense of fulfillment.

The Role of Service Design

Service Design can help create SOPs that equip your team to be prepared, personal, and passionate about serving customers. With the right framework in place, your team can deliver interactions that are consistent, meaningful, and genuinely reflective of your brand.?

At Nacre Consulting LLC , we specialize in integrating customer experience strategies into SOPs. Our collaborative approach involves working with your team to design tailored SOPs and building a custom Service Blueprint to organize and visualize your procedures.

f you're ready to create effective SOPs or need guidance on where to start, we’re here to help. Let us help you design SOPs that empower your team to deliver exceptional customer experiences.

Reference:

Abrahams, M. (Host). (2024, April 30). 140. Best of: How to Handle a Skeptical Audience [Audio podcast episode]. In Think Fast, Talk Smart: Communication Techniques. Stanford Graduate School of Business.