Introduction: One Customer, One Focus
If you run a business, it’s tempting to believe you serve many people, dozens of clients, regulators, partners, and stakeholders. But in truth, you only ever have one customer at a time, the one right in front of you.
And that customer doesn’t care what you did yesterday or how perfectly you served someone else last month.
They care about what you can do for them right now.
That’s where SOP optimisation comes in. At Feldeluxe, we see Standard Operating Procedures not as paperwork, but as the heartbeat of how your business shows up for people. And when your SOPs are people-centred, every interaction, internal or external feels personal, intentional, and consistent.
Redefining “Customer”, It’s Not Just the Buyer
In every process, there’s always someone on the receiving end.
That might be:
- A paying client, customer, patient, beneficiary.
- A regulator waiting for your compliance data,
- A stakeholder reading your report,
- Or even a team member depending on the output of another department.
Anyone who is involved in, out or around the organisation, should be part of your process.
When you recognise that your “customer” changes from task to task, your mindset changes too. SOPs stop being generic instructions and start becoming relationship tools, guides for how your business serves people, not just how it operates.
People Don’t Care What You’ve Done, They Care What You Can Do for Them
Let’s be honest: customers are selfish.
Not in a bad way, just in a human way.
They’re not comparing you to your competitors’ history; they’re measuring you by how you meet their needs today.
That’s why your processes must be designed around relevance, not routine.
When you review your SOPs, ask:
- “Does this step add value to the person receiving it?”
- “Does it make the interaction easier, faster, clearer, or more personal?”
- “Would I be satisfied if I were the one on the receiving end?”
By optimising for their experience, you naturally streamline operations for yourself.
SOP Optimisation: The People-Centred Approach
A truly optimised SOP doesn’t just save time it strengthens trust, proves consistency and ensure value is delivered.
Here’s how we refine SOPs at Feldeluxe with a people-centred lens:
- Identify the “customer” for each process.
Who depends on this outcome? What do they need from it most? - Simplify communication touchpoints.
Make it easy for your internal and external customers to understand updates, approvals, and expectations. - Integrate empathy into workflow design.
Add checkpoints that ensure the customer’s experience stays smooth, even when things change or errors occur. - Review from the outside in.
Test your SOPs as if you were the customer, not the creator. What does the journey feel like?
This approach ensures every SOP isn’t just compliant or efficient, it’s meaningful. It creates a sense of consistency that builds reputation and repeat business.
The Hidden Benefit: Alignment Across Every Relationship
When you treat everyone your business interacts with as a customer, something remarkable happens alignment.
Your team starts thinking about outcomes, not just outputs.
Departments communicate with purpose, not procedure.
And clients, regulators, and partners feel the difference, because every touchpoint feels intentional.
Optimised SOPs also help prevent one of the biggest pitfalls of business growth: process drift.
When your procedures are built around people and regularly updated, they stay relevant, even as your business scales.
Bringing It All Together
Your SOPs are the silent voice of your business, the behind-the-scenes system that shapes how others experience your work.
So, whether you’re writing a client onboarding SOP, a compliance checklist, or a quality control routine, remember:
You only have one customer. And they only care about how you can serve them.
By centring your processes around people, you don’t just make your business run better you make it matter more.
Conclusion: The Feldeluxe Approach
At Feldeluxe, we believe that great systems don’t distance you from people, they bring you closer.
Our SOP optimisation process helps small businesses build structured, reliable operations that still feel human.
Because your business isn’t powered by processes, it’s powered by people.
