Writing a One-Page SOP for Your Dealership Posting Process

Your posting "process" is currently a mix of a Slack thread from March, a laminated photo checklist that lives in the detail bay, and whatever the last manager said in a huddle. A new associate learns by standing behind someone for twenty minutes. A Saturday sold-unit sits live until Monday because the SOP, if it exists, is a twelve-page document nobody opens while a customer is in the booth.

A one-page SOP for your dealership posting process is not a summary of the product. It is the store's rules: who may post, what "ready" means, how work is assigned, how fast sold cars leave, and who to call when something fails. One page is a constraint that forces decisions. If it does not fit, you do not have a process. You have a wish list.

This article shows used-car managers and GMs how to write that page, what to put on it, and what to leave in training docs instead. It assumes you post vehicle inventory to Facebook Marketplace with a team. It does not replace Meta's commerce policies; tell staff to check the current rules, and do not write unofficial posting-count "limits" as if they were Meta's.

Why a One-Page SOP Beats a Binder

Floor reps will follow a page they can photograph and keep on their phone. They will not follow a binder. Internet directors will update a page when a rule changes. They will not maintain a wiki.

What the page is for

• Onboarding a sales associate without a full-day lecture.
• Settling arguments ("who was supposed to mark this sold?") without a meeting.
• Giving a GM something to audit: either the floor is following the page or they are not.

What the page is not for

• Chrome extension install steps (link to your setup guide, do not paste them).
• Photo shot lists (keep those on a second card in the camera bag).
• Policy essays about Facebook ranking.

If you need a longer onboarding path, use onboarding new sales reps on Marketplace posting as the training day, and keep the SOP as the permanent rules that day is supposed to install.

Eight Blocks of a One-Page SOP for the Dealership Posting Process

Write headings exactly like this so every store's page is recognizable. Fill the blanks in a planning meeting, then typeset. If a block is empty, you are not ready to publish the SOP.

1. Purpose (two sentences)

Example shape, not a script: "We advertise every retail unit we can show, at the real asking price, with photos of that VIN. We do not burst-post, we do not share logins, and we mark sold the same day."

2. Roles and logins

Name the PostToMarket roles as you use them in this store:

• Admin: who.
• Manager(s): who; they assign associate queues and watch the team queue.
• Sales reps: who may self-queue.
• Sales associates: who only work assigned queues.

Add the rule: one person, one login, one Facebook identity they are allowed to use. Shared passwords are a process failure, not a shortcut.

3. Definition of ready

A unit may be queued only when:

• VIN, trim, mileage, and retail price match the deal jacket.
• Photos are of this vehicle; lead image chosen.
• Title/condition notes the desk would say out loud are in the description.
• Status is draft until that pass is done.

If your store does not advertise units in recon, say so here. Ambiguity on this point is how associates post cars in paint.

4. How work is assigned

One paragraph:

• Managers assign to associates (associates do not pull from shared inventory).
• Sales reps self-queue from shared inventory after the unit is ready.
• Daily ceiling is our conservative operating standard (write your number as a store rule, not as a Meta limit). Spread posts; do not catch up with a dump.

Junior posting workflow is expanded in building a posting queue workflow for sales associates. The SOP only needs the assignment rule.

5. Cadence and tools

• Post through the Chrome extension, one vehicle at a time.
• Use the queue order; reorder on the mobile dashboard between customers if a unit sold or a hot unit should move up.
• If a post fails, do not retry blindly ten times. Fix the record or stop and tell a manager.

6. Sold-unit rule

Same-day: mark sold and archive from inventory or the queue. Check the team queue for leftover claims. If it already posted, pull the advertisement. Pending is not sold.

7. Exceptions (the 80 percent)

Bullet the five events that actually happen: failed post, duplicate VIN, buyer says the car is gone, photos missing at queue time, rep out sick with a full queue. Each bullet: who acts.

8. Where to get help

Manager names, info@posttomarket.com for product issues, and a reminder to read Meta's current commerce policies for listing rules. No unofficial "ban thresholds."

A Filled Example You Can Adapt

The following is illustrative for a store with a used-car manager, an internet lead, four sales reps, and two associates. Change the names and the daily ceiling to yours.

Print it. The artifact is the page. If you cannot fill the table in fifteen minutes, the floor does not have agreement yet. Finish the argument before you laminate.

How to Write It Without Turning It Into a Novel

Draft in a room with the people who will be bound by it

Admin, managers, one veteran sales rep, one associate. If only the internet director writes it, the floor will treat it as optional.

Use verbs and names, not philosophy

"Jordan marks sold" beats "the team values accuracy." "Priya assigns associate queues before the first posting window" beats "work is distributed fairly."

Version it

Footer: "SOP posting v3 — 2026-10-30 — owner: used-car manager." When you change the daily ceiling or the recon rule, bump the version and reprint. An undated page is how two versions circulate.

Test it on a Saturday

Hand the page to an associate who has been there two weeks. Ask them to explain ready, assignment, sold, and failed. Where they hesitate, the page is still prose, not a rule.

Keep Meta language humble

Write "follow current Marketplace and commerce policies" and "we use a conservative store ceiling." Do not quote policy text you might have remembered from a forum. Policies change; your SOP should not become a stale legal document. This is not legal advice.

Rollout: One Week, Not a Campaign

1. Day 1: Fill the eight blocks. Argue. Decide.
2. Day 2: Print. Walk the floor for ten minutes. Answer "what about pending deals?"
3. Days 3–5: Managers audit against the page: shared logins, aged drafts, sold still in queue.
4. Day 7: Change the page if the floor found a real hole. Do not add a ninth block for a one-off.

After that, the SOP is the standard you coach to. Analytics and the team queue view tell you who drifted. You do not need a new document for every drift.

How PostToMarket Automates This

A one-page SOP only works if the software enforces the parts humans forget: whose queue a car is in, what status it has, and whether sold is a real state. PostToMarket is the system the SOP should name, not a second process beside it.

Map each SOP block to a capability

• Roles: admin, manager, sales rep, sales associate — the same four words that belong on the page.
• Ready / draft: inventory stays in draft until someone queues it; AI titles and descriptions are edited before posting; Facebook photo picker for the lead image.
• Assignment: managers assign to associate queues; sales reps self-queue; personal queues; team queue view to release claims.
• Cadence: Chrome extension posts one vehicle at a time with human-like delays; server-enforced daily limits and delays.
• Sold: mark as sold and archive from inventory or the queue.
• Exceptions: failed status; import history and row-level error log when the file was the cause.
• Mobile: dashboard on a phone's home screen to reorder the queue when the SOP says a hot unit moves up.

Do not put button novels on the SOP

The page should say "queue it" and "mark sold," not a tour of every dashboard area. Inventory, Import, Queue, Team, Leads, Analytics, Billing, and Settings exist; the SOP names the few that the floor uses hourly (Inventory, Queue, and for managers Team, Leads, Analytics).

PostToMarket is not affiliated with or endorsed by Meta. The SOP should say the same in one line if you discuss Facebook behavior, then get back to store rules.

Print the Rules, Then Make the Software Match Them

If posting quality depends on who is working and whether they remember last quarter's huddle, you do not have a process. Write a one-page SOP: ready, roles, assignment, cadence, sold, exceptions. Laminate it. Coach to it. Change the version when the store decides a new rule, not when someone has a feeling on a Thursday.

PostToMarket is what those rules run on: roles, queues, statuses, paced posting, mark-as-sold. Starter is $59 per month when the "team" is one person who still needs the rules in the product. Dealership is $299 per month for up to 13 logins, which is the plan that makes the roles section of the SOP real.

Start your 10-day free trial through secure Stripe checkout. Draft the eight blocks this week, run them on the trial, and reprint once. Cancel anytime. If a role on the page does not match what a login can do, email info@posttomarket.com.