Being consistent in your business is one of the critical factors in ensuring long-term growth, and one of the ways to ensure consistency is to create systems. Everything you do in your business, from answering emails to working with clients, should be systematized and documented, so it’s very easy to create a repeatable process in your business.

This consistency is what creates the like, know, and trust factor with your customers, thus ensuring that you continue to build your customer base.

When you don’t have proper, well-thought-out systems in place in your business, mistakes happen. One area where I see this happening is in sending your email broadcasts, whether you’re a DIY business owner or have a virtual assistant do it for you.

Some of the errors that can occur are:

• Bad links in emails: go to the wrong page or don’t work.
• The wrong email template is being used.
• Emails that go out at the wrong time.

If you’ve experienced these, or any other errors, in your email transmissions, you know how frustrating it can be. And once that email has gone out, there is no way to get it back!

So to prevent these errors from happening in the future, create a checklist of what needs to happen when sending an email broadcast. Here are five areas where you can create a checklist to ensure that when your broadcast is sent, it is sent with the RIGHT information:

1. The Content. Who is writing the content? What will the content be about? Who needs to receive the content (team member)? When do they need to receive the content to prepare the broadcast on time? These are just some of the critical areas you need to be aware of and clear about so that the right information is sent at the right time.

2.Look and feel. Some people have a different HTML template for their solo streams than they do for their newsletter. Therefore, specify which HTML template will be used for which stream. And in some cases, a simple text-only stream is relevant. With all list management services, you have the option of sending your broadcasts in HTML, Plain Text, or MIME (a technical term for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions), and basically this means sending your broadcast in both HTML and in plain text. Text versions. I always recommend using the MIME format, yes it’s more work, but it means your email has a better chance of being delivered and is less likely to be classified as spam, because you’ve taken the time to create both formats.

3. Check any links and other relevant information. If the broadcast is for a teleclass or other event, are the phone numbers listed correct? If it’s your ezine or other broadcast, are all the links correct? There’s nothing worse than sending a broadcast with the wrong phone number or a bad link, and then having to send it again because you made a mistake the first time. It doesn’t look good for your business.

4. Proof reading. If you’re giving your broadcast to a team member, ask them to proofread it for spelling or grammatical errors as well. If you are doing it yourself, ask a family member or friend to proofread for you. A fresh set of eyes can spot any mistakes you may have missed.

5. Submit a proof. Many of the list management services give you the option to send a test broadcast beforehand. This is a great way to check layout, formatting, links, and other relevant information. So make sure that sending a test transmission is part of your system.

Creating a streaming checklist is just one of the ways you can start systematizing your business, and therefore start building that all-important Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).