All 284 SOPs
In number order, with the group each one belongs to.
- SOP 1 Pick the market before the offer
Use before building, pricing or rewriting an offer, or when a good offer isn't converting, to make sure the buyer group is worth entering.
- SOP 2 Set a price from the value gap, not from competitors
Use to set or reset a price: why to raise rather than cut, and how far above competitors to sit so buyers notice.
- SOP 3 Diagnose an offer on its value drivers
When an offer is in the right market at a fair price but still isn't wanted, rate and fix it on four value variables.
- SOP 4 Generate delivery options from a grid of choices
Use to turn what a buyer wants into a long written list of possible things to deliver, before choosing what to sell.
- SOP 5 Cut costly pieces from an offer and bundle the rest
Use to cut a long option list down to a high-value offer, pick where to start in the market, and test its margin.
- SOP 6 Build and present a bonus stack
Use to get a buying decision today without cutting price, by splitting the offer into a core plus bonuses and presenting each one well.
- SOP 7 Choose and condition a guarantee
When buyers believe you but won't sign because the risk is on them, pick a guarantee type and write conditions that push buyers to succeed.
- SOP 8 Stack, name and price a guarantee
Use after choosing a guarantee to combine two guarantees, give it a memorable name, and set pay-on-performance pricing.
- SOP 9 Split scarcity from urgency
When buyers say yes eventually but not today, use real limits on units or time to bring the decision forward honestly.
- SOP 10 Name an offer with the five naming slots
Use to name a program, promotion or bonus so the right buyer knows it's for them, what it solves and how.
- SOP 11 Refresh a promotion in order of operational drag
When ads that used to work have gone flat, make six changes in a fixed order, cheapest first, and stop once it works again.
- SOP 12 Run the four-channel grid
When you need more customers but can't say where the next conversation comes from, define a lead and pick one of four channels to work.
- SOP 13 Choose and build a lead magnet
When people can reach you but few show interest, build a free offer that solves one narrow problem and leads to your core offer.
- SOP 14 Reply with acknowledge, compliment, ask
When someone you reached out to replies, use three moves in order to keep the conversation going and walk it toward your offer.
- SOP 15 Decompose perceived likelihood
When a buyer wants the outcome but doesn't believe they'll get it, work through eleven kinds of proof to build their belief.
- SOP 16 Keep the referrer in the conversation when you contact their friend
When a customer names a friend, get introduced in a three-way message on the spot instead of contacting the friend cold.
- SOP 17 Build the warm outreach list
Use before sending anything to list everyone who already knows you, pick a platform to start on, and write a personalized opener.
- SOP 18 Work warm outreach end to end
Use to run warm outreach as a daily routine: volume, follow-ups, expected numbers, working free first, and when and how to start charging.
- SOP 19 Ask for introductions
When a warm conversation turns to what you do, ask if they know anyone who'd want your free offer instead of pitching.
- SOP 20 Build the content unit — hook, retain, reward
When you post publicly and can't tell why a piece worked, build each piece from three functions and scale short to long.
- SOP 21 Write the seven headline traits
Use to write a headline that makes someone pick your piece, by stacking as many of seven attention traits as you honestly can.
- SOP 22 Source content topics
When you can make content but have nothing to say, find topics through five lenses or the default do-then-tell method.
- SOP 23 Retain with lists, steps and stories
Once a hook has worked, keep people watching or reading by using lists, steps and stories, often woven together.
- SOP 24 Set the give-to-ask ratio
Use to decide how often to ask your audience to buy, where the ask sits, and what to ask for.
- SOP 25 Sequence platforms and widen a niche
Use to choose which platforms to post on and in what order, and how broad a subject you can credibly talk about.
- SOP 26 Set posting cadence and the message routine
Use to set how often you post, run a twice-monthly filming day to produce it, and track audience growth each month.
- SOP 27 Build a cold list
Use to assemble a list of strangers to contact one to one, choosing between scraping software, list brokers and building it by hand.
- SOP 28 Write a cold message
Use to write a message to a stranger: personalize it with one researched detail, then give a large, quick, free result, and keep it short.
- SOP 29 Set outreach volume
Use to decide how many people to contact, how often, by which routes, and how much to automate, with benchmarks for judging results.
- SOP 30 Leave a third-party-trust voicemail
When calling a stranger who won't call back a sales voicemail, leave a short message naming someone they recognize so curiosity gets the callback.
- SOP 31 Write at the right reading level
Use as the last pass on every script, email and ad: rewrite below a third-grade reading level (SOP 243 sets the bar at fifth grade), then make the call to action easy.
- SOP 32 Call out the audience four ways
Use to write the opening of a paid ad so the right person notices and others scroll past, using one of four call-out types.
- SOP 33 Call out without words
When an ad has pictures or sound, use contrast, likeness and scene so the visuals call out the right person alongside the words.
- SOP 34 Front-load the opening seconds
Use to decide where effort goes in making ads: most into the first five seconds, with many hook and body combinations tested cheaply.
- SOP 35 Choose the first paid platform
Use to pick the single platform to start advertising on, confirm it meets four requirements, and research its best-running ads first.
- SOP 36 Build the targeting ladder
Use to decide who sees a paid ad by narrowing from platform to look-alike audience to filters, with a lighter rule for local businesses.
- SOP 37 Lay out a landing page
Use to build the simple page people reach after clicking an ad, match it to the ad, and set how many steps to ask.
- SOP 38 Turn the best organic post into an ad
When a free post draws inquiries, run it as a paid ad, give it to sales for objections, and go back to giving.
- SOP 39 Write what an ad says, who says it, and when
Use to write the middle of an ad by choosing a benefit or cost, whose eyes show it, and when on the buyer's timeline.
- SOP 40 Choose the next growth move
When some advertising already works, decide whether to do more of it, do it better, or try something new, and in what order.
- SOP 41 Run one test a week
Use to get more leads from advertising you already run: pick the funnel step to test by arithmetic, then run one test a week.
- SOP 42 Cost an engaged lead off payroll and set the learning budget
Use to work out what a lead costs when a team produces it instead of ad spend, and to budget for experiments that may fail.
- SOP 43 Document, demonstrate, duplicate
Use to hand one of your lead-generating jobs to a frontline employee so they can do it without you.
- SOP 44 Buy or build talent
When you need a skill, decide whether to train someone or hire someone who has it, and test them in the interview.
- SOP 45 Engage an agency as a teacher
When starting a new ad method or platform and you have money, hire an agency to teach your team on a deadline, then step down.
- SOP 46 Vet an agency with ten questions
Compare candidate agencies before you sign, using ten yes-or-no questions and a shopping routine that makes you a better-informed buyer.
- SOP 47 Price affiliate commission off acquisition cost
Set what you pay affiliates as a share of what a customer is worth paying for, then confirm the affiliate channel earns enough.
- SOP 48 Design affiliate activation gates
Write the terms of an affiliate agreement: the offer that attracts candidates, the entry and performance requirements, and how many affiliates to test with.
- SOP 49 Launch through a partner's audience
When an affiliate has agreed your terms, run a phased launch into their audience to get a big early win before long-term integration.
- SOP 50 Choose an affiliate integration model
Choose the long-run arrangement with each affiliate from three models, and find businesses whose warm audience matches your customers.
- SOP 51 White-label a lead magnet for a partner
When a partner wants to use your working lead magnet under their own name, confirm two agreements, strip your branding, and hand it over.
- SOP 52 Set daily advertising volume and keep going until the goal is hit
Make advertising a daily habit: commit to a hundred actions a day or an outcome goal, structure your day, and follow the five-step plan.
- SOP 53 Run the setter scripts
Call people who already responded, using one of two setter scripts, to set up a longer business call or a specialist appointment.
- SOP 54 Climb the seven levels of advertising
Place your business on a seven-level ladder of advertising capability and see what the next level asks you to spend effort on.
- SOP 55 Compute lifetime gross profit and the ratio that gates spending
Work out how much gross profit one customer brings over their whole time buying, divide by what they cost, and read the ratio.
- SOP 56 Define and compute what a customer costs to acquire
Put one number on what it costs to win a new customer: which costs go in, how to divide them, and which levers move it.
- SOP 57 Compute the payback period and shorten it
Work out how long a new customer leaves you out of pocket, compute it on margin, and bring the break-even date forward.
- SOP 58 Work the three levels of advertising and the thirty-day window
Grade your advertising against three tests of lifetime and first-thirty-day gross profit versus acquisition cost, and see what each level unlocks.
- SOP 59 Assemble a money model from four prongs
Arrange your existing offers into a deliberate sequence of attraction, upsell, downsell and continuity, judged on a customer's first thirty days (the page gives two readings of the target).
- SOP 60 Design a win-your-money-back offer
Build an entry offer where customers put money down against a goal and earn it back by reaching it, following instructions, or both.
- SOP 61 Run a giveaway as an acquisition offer
Run a contest where one entrant wins and every other qualified entrant is offered the prize at a discount, turning entrants into customers.
- SOP 62 Design a decoy offer
Promote a small free or low-cost version of what you sell, and put a premium version beside it as soon as someone responds.
- SOP 63 Design a buy-X-get-Y-free offer
Turn a discount you would give anyway into a buy-some-get-some-free offer, and meet the cash-handling conditions before running it.
- SOP 64 Design a pay-less-now-or-pay-more-later offer
Build an entry offer with two routes: pay full price later if satisfied, or pay less today with bonuses, then tune the balance between them.
- SOP 65 Convert a free consumption asset
When you give away something prospects must sit through, make that time break their buying beliefs and end in a sale.
- SOP 66 Run the classic upsell and choose the moment
After an attraction offer brings a customer in, make the next sale: choose what to sell next, avoid the three failures, run the classic upsell.
- SOP 67 Run the menu upsell
Help a customer who already bought leave with the right add-ons: unsell, prescribe, ask A or B, then offer the card on file.
- SOP 68 Run the anchor upsell
Show a premium version at five to ten times your main offer first, then present the main offer as relief, so more people buy it.
- SOP 69 Run the rollover upsell
Turn money a customer already spent, with you or a competitor, into credit toward something bigger, choosing who, what, and how to apply it.
- SOP 70 Work the payment-plan downsell ladder
When a customer wants what you sell but balks at today's cost, change when they pay, rung by rung, instead of lowering the price.
- SOP 71 Run a free trial with a penalty
When a customer refuses every paid option, start them on a free trial whose fees apply only if they skip the steps that get results.
- SOP 72 Generate tiers and downsells from the quality vectors
Generate more versions of what you sell, premium tiers, smaller or plainer ones, and do-it-yourself fallbacks, from eight value levers and the quality vectors.
- SOP 73 Feature-downsell customers before they cancel
When someone won't pay the price, or a customer pays for more than they use, remove a feature, lower the price, and ask again.
- SOP 74 Price continuity against upfront cash
When you sell an ongoing service, choose the bonus that gets people paying monthly and decide how much cash to collect up front instead.
- SOP 75 Apply a continuity discount and the three-plus-twelve rule
Attract customers to an ongoing service with free time in exchange for a commitment, placing that free time so it never eats the paid term.
- SOP 76 Design cancellation terms and the waived-fee offer
Decide before you sell what happens when an ongoing customer wants to stop: the cancellation fee, the exit interview, and the waived-fee offer.
- SOP 77 Run the ten pricing plays that add profit now
Get more profit from existing customers with small pricing changes that barely touch sales, choosing one or two of ten plays.
- SOP 78 Switch to twenty-eight-day billing and collect a second card
When you bill monthly, switch to billing every four weeks for a thirteenth billing, and trade a card fee for a second way to pay.
- SOP 79 Write an annual inflation increase into a contract
Write a fixed yearly price rise into every new contract, so prices climb on your schedule rather than falling behind rising costs.
- SOP 80 Sell the guarantee as a paid warranty
Once a customer agrees to buy, sell your guarantee or warranty as an extra paid item, priced against your cost to deliver again.
- SOP 81 Run a fast-cash campaign
Raise a lot of cash within a week through a short, capped, very expensive offer sent to existing customers and engaged leads.
- SOP 82 Set price from the pricing rules and the three models
Choose a price in the first place: which profit lever to pull, which pricing model to use, and the rules for setting and raising it.
- SOP 83 Write the price-raise letter with a vanishing discount
Raise prices on existing customers: follow the rules, test on new customers, send the five-part letter with an expiring loyalty discount, and roll it out.
- SOP 84 Score and route inbound leads
Decide which inbound leads get your best people's time, which come off the calendar, and what each type of lead hears before the appointment.
- SOP 85 Set availability as a show-rate lever
When too few leads schedule or attend sales appointments, measure the three rates and widen availability: more days, hours, start times and scheduling routes.
- SOP 86 Cap the booking window at seventy-two hours
Limit how far ahead leads may schedule a sales appointment, pull scheduled appointments earlier, ideally to the same day, and hand over to the closer.
- SOP 87 Lift a show rate with incentives
Give scheduled leads a reason to attend, with a gift sent in advance or an either-or choice collected on arrival, plus proof matched to them.
- SOP 88 Pay and rank reps on show rate
Get sales reps working leads daily: build a culture of execution, reward show rates with money and approval, and rank reps on three numbers.
- SOP 89 Run the seven-day follow-up cadence
Set how often to contact unresponsive leads, how to remind scheduled ones, and how to fix the next meeting before a call ends.
- SOP 90 Reach a new lead fast
Set how fast your team first contacts new leads and answers booked ones, with a five-minute standard and a daily test.
- SOP 91 Run the first-contact channel stack and the double dial
Set how you first contact a new opt-in lead: which channels, in what order, and what to do when the call goes unanswered.
- SOP 92 Measure brand as reach, influence and direction
Define a brand in terms you can act on, keep advertising and branding apart, and score any brand on reach, influence and direction.
- SOP 93 Choose a market direction
When a growing brand needs more customers: pick one of five market directions, judge the move by net audience, and recover from bad pairings.
- SOP 94 Pair the brand with what the ideal customer likes
Before spending on a brand: see how a pairing becomes a premium price, then pick the ideal customer and list what they like.
- SOP 95 Climb the three levels of authority
Once you know whom you serve and what they like, make content that ties the brand to it and climb the three levels of authority.
- SOP 96 Answer a discount request and capture payment
When a prospect asks for a lower price, or says yes and you need to take payment: hold the price, stop selling, and take payment even when their card is not on them.
- SOP 97 Get permission before getting real
When a prospect needs a blunt truth mid-close: ask permission first, then say it about someone like them, as a coach rather than a friend.
- SOP 98 Qualify with the four-letter test
Decide whether a prospect can be sold to at all with the STAR test, and what to do with prospects who fail it.
- SOP 99 Classify an objection
When a prospect gives a reason not to buy: confirm it is a real objection, sort what they blame, and find the page that handles it.
- SOP 100 Run the reason close
When a prospect says anything but yes: set up the close by repeating back and agreeing, then turn their objection into the reason to act.
- SOP 101 Run the general closes
When a prospect answers with anything but yes, whatever they blame: pick a general close that forces a decision or surfaces the real obstacle.
- SOP 102 Handle the competitor-price objection
When a prospect says they can get the same thing cheaper elsewhere: point out the difference in delivery and use one of three closes.
- SOP 103 Handle the it's-too-much objection
When a prospect can pay but says it costs too much: treat it as value too low and use a close that stresses value.
- SOP 104 Handle the spouse or partner
When a prospect says they can't buy until a spouse or partner agrees: head it off before the call, or run the four-step sequence.
- SOP 105 Handle time and resourcefulness objections
When a prospect says they have no time, or truly can't afford it: show they are choosing, then use the time or resourcefulness closes.
- SOP 106 Run the guarantee closes
When a prospect says they can't decide yet and you offer a guarantee: use closes that make not buying the riskier choice.
- SOP 107 Handle I need to think about it
When a prospect stalls with 'I need to think about it' or 'this is too fast': use the rushed-decision closes to get a decision.
- SOP 108 Drill a team on closing
When ads bring prospects in but the team isn't closing: find the gap, write one master document, and drill one obstacle at a time.
- SOP 109 Check proof against the thirteen comparisons
Test each piece of proof against thirteen stronger-versus-weaker comparisons so a customer result persuades harder in ads and sales.
- SOP 110 Claim your proof from the data
Before making an ad claim: collect your data, claim only what it supports, show it plainly, and fix the product if proof is weak.
- SOP 111 Handle I've been burned before
When a prospect says they've been burned before or already tried something similar: deliver with rapport and use the burn-you-twice close.
- SOP 112 Handle I don't like this specific thing
When a prospect wants your result on their own terms or wants part of the product changed: isolate and solve first, then other answers.
- SOP 113 Remix and remake a proven ad
Once one ad beats the rest: remix its footage and remake its script into many versions, keeping 20 percent of effort for new ideas.
- SOP 114 Run the origin-story, prop-comedy, customer-story, show-don't-tell and long-term-result ad frameworks
When you need an ad that works: adapt any ad framework, run the first five of twenty, and hold the ad to the must-haves.
- SOP 115 Run the looking-for, new-versus-old, warning-signs, north-star and selfie ad frameworks
When you want ads that sell by teaching or naming a problem precisely: run the looking-for, new-versus-old, warning-signs, north-star or short selfie framework.
- SOP 116 Run the trend, value-anchor, bribe, underdog and prize-challenge ad frameworks
For offer-led ads: borrow a trending format, anchor a free offer, trade a gift for contact details, lead modestly, or run a contest.
- SOP 117 Run the flying-prop, bribe, rumors-are-true, being-lied-to and data-stack ad frameworks
When you need sign-ups or attendance for something: use curiosity-driven ads, from a flying prop to a board of striking numbers.
- SOP 118 Write hooks for each level of awareness
When ads stop scaling or you write a round of hooks: spread them across the five levels of awareness to reach colder, larger audiences.
- SOP 119 Assemble hook, meat and call to action
Set up a weekly ad day that turns fifty hooks, a few meats and a few calls to action into hundreds of ads.
- SOP 120 Use the five ad meat formats
When you have hooks and need the body of the ad: pick from five meat formats and make three to five meats at a sitting.
- SOP 121 Write a hook
Whenever you write the opening of an ad, post, email or outreach: build the call-out and the condition for value, in words and visuals.
- SOP 122 Split hook effort seventy, twenty, ten
Decide what goes into each new round of hooks: 70 percent proven, 20 percent variations, 10 percent untried, plus how many hooks to record.
- SOP 123 Run the standing proof streams
When your ads depend on you: install streams that turn what the business already does with customers into a steady weekly supply of ad material.
- SOP 124 Produce proof capture at an owned event
When you run an event for customers and want to leave with ads: capture stage ads, professional testimonials and man-in-the-street soundbites.
- SOP 125 Run the six-point testimonial script
When you record a customer testimonial or ask for one: take them through the six points in order, try a few hooks before the story, and have them say their name at the start.
- SOP 126 Run a testimonial competition judged as an ad
When you want many customer testimonials at once: run a contest where the entry that converts best as an ad wins.
- SOP 127 Cut delivery cost nine ways
When you want more gross profit per sale while leaving the price alone: choose from nine levers that cut delivery cost.
- SOP 128 Test price with a step size and a cadence
Find the price that makes the most money and keep finding it: measure, run a break-even price test, start low and step up, and set how often to retest.
- SOP 129 Derive the activation point
When customers leave sooner than you want: find what your best long-staying customers did, then change messaging and onboarding to drive everyone there.
- SOP 130 Separate revenue churn from logo churn
When you count how many customers leave but not how much money leaves: track revenue churn beside logo churn and watch for net negative churn.
- SOP 131 Run the keep-one and remove-one survey
Find which parts of what you deliver customers actually value, so you do more of those and cut the rest; keep in touch between surveys.
- SOP 132 Run the cancellation call
When a customer says they want to leave: get them on a call, let them vent, save them with a redo or upsell, then resell.
- SOP 133 Run the five retention habits and expect the first-month rise
When customers leave as fast as you win them: run the five retention habits, and warn people that churn rises in the first month.
- SOP 134 Set pay increases
Set how the business gives raises and hand it to every teammate: what earns one, the four bands, how often, and how to ask.
- SOP 135 Run the cross-department call review
Run a weekly review where sales, marketing and customer success leaders watch one customer call together and agree on a single fix.
- SOP 136 Grade a team's communication and raise its weakest part
When a growing team's communication slows it down: grade energy, engagement and exploration from 1 to 10, then pick the weakest one to raise.
- SOP 137 Run the weekly time-blocking ritual
Use to have every teammate plan the week on their calendar in one hour at the start of the week, so a manager can see the whole team's load.
- SOP 138 Keep value above price to hold customers
When customers leave faster than you want: learn why value above price, reading price against churn and cutting churn matter before picking a fix.
- SOP 139 Onboard customers to the activation point
When you know your activation point and want every new customer to reach it: plan onboarding, what it covers, its format and whether to charge.
- SOP 140 Incentivize activation and time unlocks past churn points
Use to reward customers for activating, place unlocks just past the points where people usually cancel (SOP 158 puts incentives before them), and catch paying customers who stopped using the product.
- SOP 141 Connect members to each other
When customers are held to you by a single thread: connect members to each other through group events, introductions, a podcast and member spotlights.
- SOP 142 Correct or remove bad customers
When some customers spoil the experience for others: delete bad posts, give three strikes, pin the best posts and set up post categories.
- SOP 143 Build the four-milestone customer journey
Use for a simple plan of what every customer should do after buying: activate, give a testimonial, refer and ascend.
- SOP 144 Hold support to five service standards and grade each rep
When you run support: hold every customer contact to five service standards, train reps on the moves, and grade each rep with a short survey.
- SOP 145 Run the business at level zero — improvise
When you are one person with nothing to sell yet: work each function from zero until people are trying your thing for free.
- SOP 146 Make the first money — monetize
When your free offer has users but no payers yet: fix the product, collect proof, step the price, and set up ways to get paid.
- SOP 147 Make new customers consistent — advertise
When first sales are in but new customers arrive in fits and starts: make lead flow, sales calls, service and hiring consistent while still solo.
- SOP 148 Stabilize the business at one to four people
When the business has one to four full-time people and work outruns them: fix the biggest product problem, nurture leads, qualify buyers and hire well.
- SOP 149 Prioritize and niche down at five to nine people
At five to nine people, when you serve anyone who pays: niche down to your best customers, track sales and service numbers, and formalize hiring.
- SOP 150 Set up the finances stage by stage
Use to set up the money side stage by stage, from a first business bank account to payroll, bookkeeping, a P&L, cash-flow statement and insurance.
- SOP 151 Budget and forecast
When a 10-to-19-person business has little cash to reinvest: list coming big costs, save for them monthly, forecast from the run rate and track write-offs.
- SOP 152 Sell a second product at ten to nineteen people
When a 10-to-19-person business has nothing more to sell its customers: build a back-end offer, test the funnel, steady sales and promote on purpose.
- SOP 153 Fire without surprise and plan who covers the work
When you have to let someone go: make sure it is no surprise, plan who covers their work, time it well and follow up properly.
- SOP 154 Get granular financial data
When a 20-to-49-person business spends to grow but isn't growing: break numbers down by product, start a balance sheet, and build a financial dashboard.
- SOP 155 Set up employee technology and security
When staff work on personal devices, or leavers take data and access: provide company devices, onboard accounts on company email and install basic security.
- SOP 156 Insure against what could kill the business
When choosing insurance beyond the basics: ask what could end the business, then weigh cyber, business interruption and equipment cover.
- SOP 157 Optimize the business at twenty to forty-nine people
When a 20-to-49-person business is swamped by its own workload: fix problems one at a time, assemble ads at volume, train sales, and find activation.
- SOP 158 Diagnose churn by cohort
When churn has gone up: split customers by sign-up month, product and rep, read the month-by-month grid, and act before the drop (SOP 140 places unlocks just after it).
- SOP 159 Select and roll out employee benefits
When higher-level hires at 20 to 49 people expect a full package: choose a benefits provider and plan, roll it out well, and reappraise yearly.
- SOP 160 Build advanced compensation plans
When a 20-to-49-person business needs pay plans for senior hires: set goals, structure salary, bonus and benefits, benchmark the market, and roll out templates.
- SOP 161 Give customer service reps an empowerment wheel
When support reps answer from templates: decide what reps may fix alone, set a spending limit, and give them options to make things right.
- SOP 162 Build an ascension path with five points to ask
When you have a new product: decide the five points to ask customers to buy the next thing, and change how you ask each time.
- SOP 163 Head-hunt and interview for higher-level roles
When a 20-to-49-person business must fill senior roles beyond its network: head-hunt with outreach, split interviews across four people, check references, expect negotiation.
- SOP 164 Categorize the business at fifty to ninety-nine people
When a 50-to-99-person business feels disorganized: focus on one problem at a time, widen sales coverage, make service proactive, and centralize data and hardware.
- SOP 165 Pick a second acquisition channel
When a 50-to-99-person business gets customers one way: fund a second channel with referrals and segmented follow-up, pick the platform by risk, and staff it.
- SOP 166 Track candidates in one system and use specialist recruiters
When a 50-to-99-person business loses candidates because hiring is slow: install an applicant tracking system and pick specialist recruiters for recurring roles.
- SOP 167 Delegate spending with approval limits, department budgets and cards
When a 50-to-99-person team spends money you can't approve line by line: write a spending procedure, budget departments from real spend, and set card limits.
- SOP 168 Specialize the business at 100 to 249 people
When the business passes 100 people: prune the product, repeat one brand message, route best leads to best closers, and make performance visible.
- SOP 169 Blend the customer journeys across products
When customers can move through several products in different orders: map every path, give each its own handling, cut low-return paths and automate tags.
- SOP 170 Decentralize technology into the departments
When a 100-plus-person business's departments outgrow shared software: give each its own tools and tech staff, ticket requests, and set service level agreements.
- SOP 171 Cleanse expenses, re-shop vendors and move cash into yield accounts
When a 100-plus-person business still pays retail and holds idle cash: run a regular expense cleanse, re-shop every vendor, and move cash into yield accounts.
- SOP 172 Audit internally and review the financial statements each month
When a 100-plus-person business has money flowing that you're no longer close to: audit internally, review statements monthly with notes, and pursue tax mitigation.
- SOP 173 Choose a human-resource information system
When a 50-to-99-person team's records are scattered and performance is unclear: choose, test and negotiate an HRIS, and use it to run the culture.
- SOP 174 Standardize selection and the founder's final interview
When recruiters at 100 to 249 people hold different standards: use the same questions, panels, a short founder final interview and a simple scoring rubric.
- SOP 175 Capitalize the business at 250 to 500 people
When the business passes 250 people and growth plateaus: specialize sales reps and routing, update to enterprise software, and prepare to make a big bet.
- SOP 176 Install a compliance process for marketing
When a 250-to-500-person business advertises on many channels: rank the risks, set the rules, put someone on review, and require a compliance checklist before launch.
- SOP 177 Go brand-first, read blended return and cost a permanent customer
When leads can't be credited to channels at 250 to 500 people: shift to brand-first advertising, read return blended, and cost a permanent customer.
- SOP 178 Triage support to specialized reps
When a 250-plus-person business's support is swamped by new products and customer types: train reps by product, route customers to them, and standardize notes.
- SOP 179 Plan the workforce and map responsibility
When staff churn climbs past 250 people and nobody knows whom you need: plan the workforce from goals, color-map roles, and use a responsibility matrix.
- SOP 180 Decide whether to buy or build the next product
When your main product is a cash cow: sort products on a growth-share grid, pick the next bet, and choose to buy or build it.
- SOP 181 Recruit top talent as the founder
Use when the business has 250 to 500 people and the best candidates answer only the founder, to plan personal recruiting of top talent.
- SOP 182 Get the business sale-ready to reach new capital
Use when a 250-to-500-person business needs outside money for a big bet, to prepare it as if for sale without selling.
- SOP 183 Find your stage by headcount and see what graduates it
Use to find which of the ten scaling stages your business is in, what holds it there, and what readiness to move on looks like.
- SOP 184 Find the one constraint with six questions
Use when growth has stalled, to find the single constraint by asking six questions in order and stopping at the first that holds.
- SOP 185 Allocate resources to the constraint and use leverage
Use once the constraint is known, to decide where time, money and people go, raise leverage, and grade each use of resources.
- SOP 186 Pick the path up the mountain that fits your skills
Use once the constraint is confirmed, to choose among the many routes that could clear it by likelihood, return and your existing skills.
- SOP 187 Exhaust more before anything else
Use when nothing stops you doing more, to resist switching to new, size enough volume, and know when better or new wins.
- SOP 188 Apply the cost-of-change rule
Use before changing a process, sales motion or pricing, to weigh the sure performance drop against the possible lift.
- SOP 189 Get the numbers and decide fast on reversible bets
Use when you can't do more because you don't know what you spend or make, to track the basic numbers and decide faster.
- SOP 190 Check whether the market is really too small
Use when you blame a small market for slow growth, to test that claim and, for a local business, find ways to grow anyway.
- SOP 191 Keep the vehicle and stretch the timeline
Use when you doubt your current business can carry your goal, to test whether the vehicle, the build or the timeline needs changing.
- SOP 192 Hire for the smallest skill gap
Use when choosing between a candidate with attitude and one with skills, by hiring whoever's gap takes less time to teach.
- SOP 193 Treat hard as a skill you lack and chunk it down
Use when people given the same instructions get different results, or work stalls, to find the missing skill and break it into chunks.
- SOP 194 Count what it costs to become known
Use when leads are thin and you suspect your market is used up, to size how few people know you and what becoming known costs.
- SOP 195 Put the marketing principles ahead of the tactics
Use before choosing any lead tactic, to get the principles right first: reminders, volume, the buyer's words, clarity, cutting, proof and brand.
- SOP 196 Answer the money question, starting with acquisition cost
Use when money is why you can't do more, to tell whether leads, sales, profit per customer or cash flow is the problem.
- SOP 197 Solve a leads, sales or profit-per-customer problem
Use once you know the money problem is leads, sales or profit per customer, to pick the fix and the page that holds it.
- SOP 198 Accelerate cash flow when profit does not come fast enough
Use when leads, sales and profit are fine but cash arrives too slowly, to bring money in sooner through terms, prepayment, fees and financing.
- SOP 199 Build a compounding vehicle
Use once leverage is on the constraint, to build a business that keeps growing without more effort through retention, referrals and other compounding wheels.
- SOP 200 Treat a supply constraint as demand for talent
Use when demand is there but you lack the people to serve it, to recast the shortage as demand for talent and invest in hiring.
- SOP 201 Rerun the six questions for talent and weigh a redline
Use when a shortage of the right people holds you back, to walk the six questions for talent and decide whether to redline.
- SOP 202 Spot the seven sticking points and make the hard call
Use when you know the next move but keep stalling, to work through the seven sticking points and settle avatar, data and focus.
- SOP 203 Fix over-expansion, pay, underpricing and a single product
Use when the business stalls from too many locations, pay set wrong, prices too low, or a single product, to pick the fix.
- SOP 204 Run the influencer playbook, one constraint at a time
Use when organic content wins most of your customers, to choose between ads or sales, more or better content, and calls to action.
- SOP 205 Run the home-services playbook stack
Use when running a home-service business, to fix ads, website, sales and price in the right order and spend the extra cash on hiring.
- SOP 206 Run the B2B service and software playbook stack
Use when selling a service or software to other businesses, to work through the fixes in order for an ads-driven or referral-driven business.
- SOP 207 Build a video sales letter
Use when salespeople repeat the same things every call, to build a short recorded pitch that prospects watch before each conversation.
- SOP 208 Set prerequisites, raise lead quality and add friction
Use when you close too few leads or customer results vary widely, to set entry requirements, qualify applicants and add friction.
- SOP 209 Pick a lead bucket, starting with the offer and lead magnet
Use when costly leads hold you back, to pick the bucket of fixes to work, starting with a better offer and lead magnet.
- SOP 210 Set ad volume and harvest the ads you already have
Use when ads bring in customers and you need more ads, to set ad volume and turn everyday business moments into ads.
- SOP 211 Build status, power, credibility and likeness through content
Use when making personal content, to build the four things that raise your influence: status, power, credibility and likeness.
- SOP 212 Make better ad creative with hooks, permutations and assembly
Use when you make enough ads but want better ones, or more spend only raises lead cost, to strengthen hooks and assemble variations.
- SOP 213 Fix ad targeting and bid for return, not cheap leads
Use when ads reach the wrong people or you judge campaigns by cost per lead, to fix targeting and bid for return.
- SOP 214 Make more and better organic content
Use when organic content brings your leads, to make far more of it, make it better, and repurpose it from your easiest format.
- SOP 215 Put calls to action on every platform
Use when your organic posts should bring more leads, to place calls to action on each platform where people can act.
- SOP 216 Make content for the customers you want and build a brand
Use when content gets views but the wrong leads, to aim it at your ideal buyers and build a brand that lifts every channel.
- SOP 217 Run outreach as an assembly process
Use when you do outreach yourself, to run it as stages: getting leads, personalizing, qualifying, contacting and preparing reps.
- SOP 218 Work conferences with the speaking fee, survey close and booth
Use when your high-value buyers gather at conferences, to trade a waived speaking fee for lists, emails or booths and sell without pitching.
- SOP 219 Find the right customers, screen for them and capture data
Use when you keep chasing cheaper leads, to find your most valuable customers, screen for them and collect data at every touch.
- SOP 220 Run two-round concept testing and promote to control
Use to run split tests weekly: pick the weakest step, test three concepts then three variations, and promote winners to control in stages.
- SOP 221 Move faster: run the five-step process, then commit
When a goal or process drags on, use it to question, cut, improve, speed up and automate the work, then commit to one thing.
- SOP 222 Script the upsell at each point of greatest deprivation
Use when happy customers don't buy the next thing, to time upsells at the five moments of greatest want and script each ask.
- SOP 223 Read the revenue ceiling off sales velocity
Use to size the most a business can reach as it runs now, and whether it is heading up or down toward that ceiling.
- SOP 224 Set fractal price tiers and read price off the close rate
Use when adding a higher tier or suspecting you're underpriced, to price each new tier, as a rule of thumb, at least five times the level below and read price off close rate.
- SOP 225 Pick your war and check lifetime value is the constraint
Use before trying to make each customer worth more, to confirm that value per customer is truly the constraint and choose your war.
- SOP 226 Set a gross margin goal and close the gap three ways
Use when you sell a knowledge-based service, to measure your gross margin against an 80 percent rule of thumb and close the gap by price, capacity or a better tier.
- SOP 227 Hold the margin line with targets, not industry averages
Set a margin target for each revenue line and hold leaders to it, instead of judging yourself by your trade's normal figures.
- SOP 228 Weigh a downsell against raising the core price
When some sales-call prospects cannot afford the main offer, decide whether a cheaper downsell is worth it or a higher core price does better.
- SOP 229 Sell to richer customers and rewrite what you measure
When customers are worth too little because they are small or unstable, move to richer buyers and judge it by metrics suited to pricier leads.
- SOP 230 Shape the front-end offer for lifetime value
When choosing what new customers see first and what the offer includes, make those choices raise each customer's worth over time.
- SOP 231 Build the next sale into the offer and anchor high
Plan the customer's next purchase into the offer from the start, or find out whether the top of your price range is set too low.
- SOP 232 Drill the eight ways to raise what customers are worth
Use to practice running the eight ways to raise customer value over any product, then over your own service, to find revenue openings.
- SOP 233 Become the most expensive and stop selling a commodity
Use when weighing a higher price for a people-delivered service, or when you think buyers will just compare you with the provider down the street.
- SOP 234 Audit delivery by who values what, then cut its cost
Make each customer cheaper to serve: survey which parts of delivery each kind of customer values, then cut the rest.
- SOP 235 Get customers to buy again: make it good, onboard, remind
Use when you want customers to buy more often and leave less: improve the product, onboard well, remind them to buy, and run promotions.
- SOP 236 Upsell more of it, more help with it, or better
Choose what to sell a customer after their first purchase, or test an upsell idea that sits far from what they bought.
- SOP 237 Mark a script for tonality
Write a sales script, or coach those who say it, so the voice is right and its rises and pauses are marked on the page.
- SOP 238 Open every call the same way and keep the script short
When you close sales on calls with no script, or one only you can close with: set the opening, build a first script, trim it.
- SOP 239 Build pain before the ask and clarify why they came
Use when prospects hear the offer before feeling their problem, or a good offer is not selling and the timing may be off.
- SOP 240 Label the problem and run the pain cycle
When on a sales call the prospect has named where they are and want to be, surface, label and stack their pains.
- SOP 241 Pull teeth until the answer is specific
Use on a sales call when a prospect's answer about their problem comes back vague, to keep asking until they give a concrete detail.
- SOP 242 Map each pain to the offer and name the price
When discovery is done and the prospect agrees with your read of their problems, tie each to the offer, then ask and name the price.
- SOP 243 Control the conditions, keep every step congruent and clear
Use before reaching for any single sales tactic: control the conditions around the buyer, make every step fit, move fast and write plainly.
- SOP 244 Sell to what the buyer knows and lengthen the runway
Use when cold ads or outreach are not converting, or when judging how much selling a buyer needs before deciding.
- SOP 245 Check sales is the constraint and fix the worst part first
Use before working on your selling: confirm sales is what holds the business back, compare your close rate to benchmarks, and pick the weakest area.
- SOP 246 Write a why-people-buy document from the calls that closed
When ads, the sales pitch or the script talk mostly about the promised result, find buyers' real pains in closed calls and use their words.
- SOP 247 Put a video sales letter before every conversation
When reps repeat explanations to every prospect, or sales take several conversations, put a VSL before each conversation and make sure it is watched.
- SOP 248 Prep every call with notes and proof matched to the prospect
Prepare for a sales call: fill in call notes, pick proof matched to the prospect, and send what answers the objection you expect.
- SOP 249 Keep asking with the general closes, then book the next meeting
When a prospect gives anything short of a yes, keep asking for the sale with a short loop of closes, then schedule the next meeting.
- SOP 250 Memorize the script, then drill it in role play
Use when teaching reps a script: get it memorized, then run daily role play that stops, models and repeats until each part is locked in.
- SOP 251 Set sales comp and a career path for reps
Decide how salespeople are paid and how they move up: commission versus salary, on-target earnings, pay by skill, and a stepped career path.
- SOP 252 Market for salespeople the way you market for prospects
Use when you need more salespeople and cannot find them: treat recruiting as marketing, do the hiring math, and work every channel for candidates.
- SOP 253 Run a group interview for high-volume roles
Use when hiring for a role many people hold and many leave, such as outbound reps, and one-at-a-time interviews cannot keep up.
- SOP 254 Nurture by email and book the next meeting months out
When a prospect leaves a call without buying, or you never email your customer or lead list, schedule a later meeting and email steadily.
- SOP 255 Onboard a new rep in phases, with a test to pass each
Use when a new salesperson joins, to take them from the first morning to real calls through a first week and phased tests.
- SOP 256 Run ongoing daily and weekly training for sales reps
Use once reps are through onboarding and taking calls, to lay out their day and keep training them daily, weekly and one-on-one.
- SOP 257 Name the rules your sales culture reinforces and tolerates
Use when salespeople know the process but will not follow it: name the rules your culture really rewards and tolerates, then change them.
- SOP 258 Build culture in layers from behaviors up, then audit it
When written values are not what people really do, or before writing any, build culture in four layers from behavior up, then audit it.
- SOP 259 Sort the team by values and performance, and act on each box
Use at quarterly reviews, or when keeping someone only for their numbers: place each person on a values-and-performance grid and act on their box.
- SOP 260 Make your values non-negotiable and find the ones you really hold
When values sit on paper but breaking one costs nobody their job, or you doubt your listed values are the real ones.
- SOP 261 Build a recognition rhythm that rewards values, not results
Set recognition at every interval from daily to yearly so the behaviors your values describe show up every day, not only the numbers.
- SOP 262 Write a vision so big your team's own visions fit inside
Use when good people decline or leave while you offer only pay and a revenue goal, or when writing or reworking your team's vision.
- SOP 263 Find where you are the ceiling, then fix what your team mirrors
When growth stalls and every explanation points elsewhere, find where you as founder cap the business and which team habits copy yours.
- SOP 264 Rate yourself layer by layer on a pyramid of leadership traits
Use to find the leadership trait to work on next, starting with yourself: score each trait on a five-layer pyramid and work on the weakest.
- SOP 265 Find which corner of functions, people and operations breaks first
Use when hiring adds no capacity or growth stalls without a clear reason: find which of functions, people or operations is breaking for your size.
- SOP 266 Set each role's level of ownership and train people up the dial
Use when your team keeps handing you decisions they could make: set the ownership level each role needs and train people up it.
- SOP 267 Build a hiring funnel as strong as your customer funnel
Use when you have customers and demand but cannot bring in good people fast enough, or hire fast and watch quality fall.
- SOP 268 Gate each interview step, then sell at the close
Use when applicants are arriving and you need interviews that turn away the wrong people early and win the best ones at the end.
- SOP 269 Test a candidate's values live instead of asking about them
Use when asking about values in interviews only gets the answers candidates think you want: make each value something they must show.
- SOP 270 Onboard every hire against a written plan, then keep them growing
When a new hire accepts, onboard them against a 30-60-90 plan, then keep them with a skills path, regular feedback and recognition.
- SOP 271 Score your management system and fix its weakest practices
Use when the business has good culture, leaders and people yet still feels chaotic: score five management practices and fix the weakest one or two.
- SOP 272 Score your leadership system, and use rest to test it
When the business still leans on you and growth has stalled, score five leadership practices, fix the weakest, and take time off to test.
- SOP 273 Score every customer red, yellow or green each week and act on the color
When customers leave faster than you want, give every account a red, yellow or green color each week and run the response that color calls for.
- SOP 274 Prune what returns least and move it to what returns most
When hires, processes or product lines soak up money and time without paying back, find what returns least, cut it, and move what it frees to what returns most.
- SOP 275 Judge each ad against your target cost, then cut it or scale it
When ads are live and you must decide which to switch off and which to fund: test apart from scaling, judge each ad against a target cost, and back the winners.
- SOP 276 Turn customer delivery into a daily stream of content
When you need more content than you could ever film yourself, turn the calls, sessions and events of serving customers into a daily stream of clips judged by leads.
- SOP 277 Give one action and many reasons to take it
When you ask people for many things and few act, ask for one action and stack reasons and proof behind it, in content, copy and instructions to staff.
- SOP 278 Prune the email list: ask who still wants it, then remove the rest
When email brings in less than it did, ask the whole list in three short emails whether they still want it, remove everyone silent, and compare a week later.
- SOP 279 Map a process as actions someone can be seen doing
When only you or one employee knows how a job is done, write it down as actions someone could be seen doing, then test the map on a learner.
- SOP 280 Build a talk around one problem and one named solution
When you have a talk, webinar or workshop to give, build it around one problem and one named solution, in the order why, what, how, now, with proof throughout.
- SOP 281 Climb from earning to owning, one rung at a time
When you earn well but build no wealth outside the business, find your rung on the ladder from earning to owning and climb the next one. General terms only; no investment advice.
- SOP 282 Place each sales video in the journey and match it to the buyer
Once a sales video sits before your calls, put one before every conversation that repeats, place it by the problem you have, and match it to each kind of buyer.
- SOP 283 Find or attach a compounding vehicle to a one-time sale
When what you sell is bought once, look in four places for something that keeps paying: the product, something next to it, who sells it and who buys it.
- SOP 284 Earn more referrals by giving more value
When customers are happy but few refer, raise the value they get until referring is natural, then ask for referrals the way you would make an offer.