An SOP is a page that says: when this happens, this person does these steps, and this is what exists afterwards. Coaching businesses usually have SOPs for marketing and none for delivery, which is why delivery depends on who is awake. Below is the set we install. Trigger, owner, output. The steps go on the page itself.
Which SOPs does a coaching back end need?
| SOP | Trigger | Owner | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| Onboarding | Payment received | Client success manager | Welcome sent inside 24 hours, access granted, onboarding call booked, client record created |
| First-week plan | Onboarding call completed | Client success manager | First milestone set, first two calls in the client's calendar, module one assigned with a date |
| Weekly check-in | Fixed day each week | Client success manager | Three-question check-in sent, replies logged, non-replies flagged |
| Missed call | Client absent from a scheduled call | Client success manager | Message inside 24 hours with the recording and one question, reply logged |
| Quiet client | No call, message or activity for 7 days | Client success manager | Two contacts on two channels inside 48 hours, escalation to coach if no reply by day 10 |
| Health score update | Fixed day each week | Client success manager | Every client scored, amber and red lists sent to the weekly review |
| Milestone log | Client reports or shows a milestone | Client success manager | Milestone recorded with date and evidence, proof request queued if the milestone qualifies |
| Testimonial request | Qualifying milestone logged | Client success manager | Request sent inside 7 days, permission form on file, asset stored with date and cohort |
| Renewal flag | 30 days before term end | Client success manager | Client listed with result hit, reason to continue and recommended offer |
| Resell hand-off | Renewal flag reviewed | Client success manager to closer | Conversation booked, outcome logged, dashboard updated |
| Refund request | Client asks for a refund | Client success manager, then founder | Record reviewed, call held inside 24 hours, outcome and reason documented |
| Coach hand-off | Client changes coach or stage | Client success manager | One-page note to the new coach: goal, progress, risks, last three interactions |
| Weekly review | Fixed slot each week | Client success lead | Dashboard reviewed, red list actioned, three decisions written down |
| Offboarding | Client completes or leaves | Client success manager | Exit reason logged, result recorded, alumni or continuity offer made, access schedule set |
Which five come first?
If you are building from nothing, write onboarding, weekly check-in, missed call, quiet client and renewal flag first. Those five cover the two windows where clients leave: the first 30 days, where churn is highest, and the run-up to term end, where a renewal either happens on purpose or does not happen. The other nine follow in the second month.
What does a good SOP page look like?
- Trigger, in one line. Something a person can observe, not a feeling.
- Owner, by role. Never by name, so the page survives a hire.
- Steps, numbered, each with a deadline relative to the trigger. Inside 24 hours, by the end of the week.
- Templates linked, not pasted. The message, the form, the sheet.
- Output, in one line. What exists when the SOP is done that did not exist before.
- Escalation. Who is told if the output does not happen by the deadline.
Where SOPs fail
- No trigger. An SOP that starts with when you think a client needs it is not an SOP.
- Steps without deadlines. A missed-call message sent five days later is not the SOP working.
- No output. If nothing gets written down, the weekly review has nothing to look at.
- Too long. A page that runs to four pages is a training document. Cut it until a new hire can run it on day two.
- Owned by the founder. Any SOP the founder owns past 50 clients is a queue.
How the SOPs connect
The outputs feed each other. The weekly check-in produces the health score. The health score produces the quiet-client and missed-call lists. The milestone log feeds the testimonial request and the renewal flag. The renewal flag feeds the resell hand-off. The weekly review reads all of it. Remove one SOP and the one downstream starves. That is why the set is 14 and not 30. Each page exists because another page needs its output.
