Mutual Action Plan
Definition
A jointly-owned document — built collaboratively with the prospect — that lists every step, owner and date between the current sales stage and a signed contract: legal review, security review, procurement, internal approvals, contract signature. Reduces slipped close dates and surfaces stalled deals early.
The test of whether it is mutual
A genuine MAP has tasks owned by the buyer, with the buyer's names against them, agreed in a conversation rather than sent as an attachment. If every row is a vendor action, it is a project plan for your own sales process and it will not surface anything you do not already know.
What it is actually for
- Surfacing hidden steps. Security review, procurement thresholds, legal queues, board approval windows — the things that add six weeks and are never in the CRM.
- Testing the champion. Someone willing to put their name against internal steps is a champion. Someone who will not is an enthusiast.
- Making slippage visible early, while there is still time to react.
The most useful column
The date the buyer says a step must happen by — not the date you want it to. The gap between those two is the honest forecast.
Related terms
Further reading
- What to Know Before the First Technical Call
- The Sales-to-PreSales Handoff Is Where Deals Quietly Die
See how this works on a real deal
WinIQ turns RFPs, competitor data and account research into deal-specific output your SEs can defend.
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