mutual action plan
Also called: mutual close plan, close plan, joint action plan
A short document agreed with the buyer that lists the steps both sides must take before signing (pilot, security review, legal check, budget approval), each with an owner and a date. It turns "we'll get back to you" into a schedule both sides can check.
A mutual action plan is a short document, agreed with the buyer, that lists every step both sides must take before the contract starts: security review, budget approval, legal check, pilot, evaluation, signature. Each step has an owner on the buyer's side, an owner on the seller's side where relevant, and a date. It turns "we'll get back to you" into a schedule both sides can see.
The plan only works if it is genuinely shared. The dates come from the buyer's own process (when budgets close, how long their legal review took last time), the seller's tasks are on it too (answers to the security questionnaire, the draft contract, the pilot schedule), and the champion can change any date that doesn't fit their company's calendar. A plan that lists only the buyer's homework is a to-do list for someone else, not a mutual plan.
Used honestly, the plan also shows risk early. If a step slips, ask what changed and replan together; a plan is not a lever for pressure, so it never contains expiring discounts or deadlines the seller invented. Sellers often keep the plan in a shared document and review it at every meeting, so the champion can show their own management exactly what happens and when.
Example
After the demo on 3 December, Klasna for Teams proposes this plan to Pavlo at Veloria. Two dates are Veloria's own: 2027 budgets close on 15 December, and last year legal needed three weeks for a contract, so the draft goes in on 18 December.
The pilot is 12 dispatchers × 2 lessons a week × 4 weeks = 96 lessons; at 800 UAH that is 76,800 UAH, credited to the contract. Pavlo said the plan helps him: he can show Yaryna exactly what happens and when.
Common mistakes
- Listing only the buyer's steps. If none of the seller's tasks are on it, the buyer reads it as homework set by a vendor.
- Dates the buyer didn't choose. Build backwards from their budget, legal and procurement calendars, and say where each date came from.
- Using it as pressure. No expiring discounts or invented deadlines; when a date slips, ask what changed and replan.
- Forgetting the people who aren't in the room. Budget approval, IT security and legal each need a step and a named owner.
- Writing it once and filing it. Review it at every meeting; a stale plan hides the risk it was meant to show.
Learn it in the course
- The demo and a mutual plan to close · Show each person on the committee only what solves their problem, then agree a shared plan with steps, owners and dates on both sides, from the demo to the first lesson.