How to write an SOP for a virtual assistant

The fastest way to write an SOP for a virtual assistant is to not write it yourself. Do the job once on a recorded Zoom or Google Meet call while your assistant watches, and your assistant writes the SOP from the recording. You review it and correct it.

You built your business by knowing how things should be done. The catch is that most of it lives in your head, and every job you want to hand over seems to need an hour of explaining you do not have. A recorded walkthrough turns that hour into a document your assistant can run without you.

Even Baklid, founder of Skale Bak, puts your part simply: "Your assistant is creating the systems in your business. You are simply reviewing them and making sure they are correct."

What is an SOP for a virtual assistant?

An SOP, or standard operating procedure, is the written step by step version of a recurring job in your business. For a virtual assistant, it is the document they open when that job comes up, so they can do it your way without asking you.

Every SOP describes a single system. Even's rule: "Every system needs 3 parts: a trigger, a process and a result. A lot of people forget about the result." The trigger starts the job, the process is the steps, and the result is what done looks like.

Triggers come in a few kinds:

• A set time: 8am every Monday, or 3pm on Friday to close the week.
• A recurring day: every Wednesday, or the 15th of each month.
• As it comes: a new client signs, or a client leaves.

How do you write an SOP for a virtual assistant?

You write an SOP for a virtual assistant by showing the job once and reviewing the draft. Your assistant does the writing in between. Here are the 5 steps.

1. Pick the job and name its trigger. Start with something that repeats and does not need your judgement. What to delegate to a virtual assistant first helps you choose.
2. Do the job live on a recorded call. Open Google Meet or Zoom, have your assistant join, share your screen and do the job exactly the way you want it done.
3. Explain why you do each step. Why this form and not another one. Why the file goes in this folder. Ask your assistant to stop you with questions as you go.
4. Your assistant writes the SOP from the recording. Step by step, with links to every template and folder, in your project management tool and a Google Doc.
5. You review and correct it. Point out the step that is wrong or the step that is missing. Your assistant updates the SOP, and it is ready to run.

Even's advice for step 2: "Get on a call with your assistant, look through it together and record it. Then your assistant starts learning it and creating the SOPs around it."

The recording keeps working after the call. When a step is unclear, your assistant goes back to the video before coming to you. It is your first line of defense against the same question twice.

What should a virtual assistant SOP template include?

A virtual assistant SOP template needs 7 fields: a video link, a title, who is involved, the purpose, the trigger, the process and the result. This is the template Skale Bak uses.

The result is the field a lot of owners forget. Write the finish line plainly. For a new client, that might be: the welcome email and the contract are both sent, and both match the linked examples. Then describe a great result, so your assistant knows the standard you want and not only the minimum.

How detailed should the steps be?

Detailed enough that someone who has never seen the job could do it from the page alone. Even's own example is a step like "click here, in the upper left corner of this website, and copy this information", followed by a step that says exactly where to paste it.

Keep each step to a single action. Link the template instead of describing it, and link the folder instead of naming it. If a step needs your judgement, say so in the step and say who decides.

What does a finished virtual assistant SOP look like?

Here is a system Skale Bak runs: social media marketing. Even: "One system we are incredibly proud of is our social media marketing system. The only thing the owner has to do is film the content."

The process, step by step:

1. Brand first. The assistant starts from the brand kit and the social media pillars, so everything looks the way the owner wants the company presented. With no brand kit yet, the assistant walks the owner through creating one.
2. The plan. The assistant builds the series and a monthly content calendar, with ideas, scripts and sample reels, and sends it to the owner.
3. The shot list. The owner gets clear instructions: the shots needed, the talking points and how the footage will be edited.
4. Filming. The owner films and uploads the footage.
5. Everything after. The assistant downloads the footage, edits it and writes the captions, descriptions and hashtags.
6. Scheduled and reported. The assistant schedules every post and reports back to the owner.

The result: posts go out on brand and on schedule, and the owner's only job is being on camera. In Even's words, it puts "your social media on autopilot."

How do you train a virtual assistant with SOPs?

You train a virtual assistant with SOPs by having them write the SOPs. By the time your assistant has watched you, asked their questions, written every step and fixed what you corrected, they know the job.

Stay close at the start. Even's view is systems first, then plug in the best talent: get the system and the foundation right, and an assistant can do so much for you. Hand someone a full role with nothing written down, and even a great assistant will struggle. Once the SOP is reviewed, step back and let them run it.

This is how a Skale Bak placement starts. Your assistant brings our SOPs and writes your versions as they learn the job, and you approve what they say. Your systems, written down and kept current, are included in the rate, as how it works and our pricing set out. If you are still deciding whether help is right for you now, is a virtual assistant worth it gives the honest answer.

How to write an SOP when you have never written one

You do not need to know any SOP format. Pick the job you did most often this week, record yourself doing it and talking through why, and hand the recording to your assistant to write up. Your first SOP will not be perfect, and it does not need to be. You will correct it in review.

No assistant yet? Record the walkthrough anyway and save it. That video is the start of the first SOP your assistant writes.

Where should you keep SOPs, and how do you keep them current?

Keep SOPs where your assistant works every day. Even recommends both a project management tool such as ClickUp or Asana and a written Google Doc copy.

When a job changes, record the change and your assistant updates the SOP. Over time, those documents become the knowledge base of your business. The next assistant, or the same assistant moving into a new role, learns from them.

Where should you start?

Pick a job you did this week that you never want to do again. Record yourself doing it tomorrow, and explain the why as you go.

Then see the documents our assistants actually follow. Our playbooks are free, and they are the actual step by step documents an assistant opens on a Tuesday and follows. Start with the Handover Playbook: what to hand over first, and the order the rest should follow. When you are ready to choose who runs them, here is how we vet a virtual assistant.