Mutual Action Plan: How to Close Deals Faster
Sales leaders always look for new ways to improve their team’s performance. One tool that can be particularly helpful is a Mutual Action Plan.
It’s a document that outlines specific goals and milestones that both the sales leader and their direct report agree to. A MAP ensures that both parties know what needs to be done to meet objectives.
Not only does this process help to hold everyone accountable, but it can also help build trust and rapport between the sales leader and their direct reports. When everyone is working together towards getting a deal done, it can make a big difference in results.
Are you thinking about implementing a Mutual Action Plan?
This blog explains what it is, how to build one, and some common tips for planning for success.
What is a Mutual Action Plan?
A Mutual Action Plan (MAP) is a joint plan between buyer and seller that outlines the necessary steps to complete a buying process. This working document outlines the critical steps to close a deal, including milestones, deadlines, and roles and responsibilities.
By setting clear milestones, deadlines, and roles & responsibilities upfront, sellers and buyers know exactly who and what needs to be involved in closing a deal.
A successful plan places equal importance on all participants while improving communication and collaboration; ensure your next negotiation hits its target by mapping out your journey with a Mutual Action Plan.
Both parties have to be fully invested for this to work. This is why it’s essential to establish a plan with the right stakeholders and decision-makers.
Why Do Sellers Need a Mutual Action Plan?
Salespeople often find themselves in complex and complicated sales processes.
To make sure that each party has a clear understanding of their expectations, salespeople must create a Mutual Action Plan.
This plan ensures both the seller and buyer are on the same page concerning goals, processes, deadlines, and responsibilities.
Establishing a clear path to success is essential to creating successful customer relationships.
It keeps everyone on the same page so you can monitor progress, maintain momentum and set achievable objectives that will benefit both parties.
Here are several benefits that both a seller and buyer will experience when following a Mutual Action Plan.
Benefits for the seller:
- Accelerate sales cycles: Sales cycles can be faster and more effective with a MAP. By setting deadlines and milestones, both parties are held to account for their progress or any obstacles that arise in between – resulting in clear communication from beginning to end.
- Close more deals: a MAP guides the seller along a defined sales process. By committing to a MAP, the seller understands what they need to accomplish to close a deal.
- Accurate forecasting: Having a MAP gives sellers visibility into larger business goals, which helps them stay ahead of the competition by understanding how their sales efforts might best serve the company.
Benefits for the customer:
- Better buying experience: A MAP helps to ensure that the sales process is straightforward and organized, which can lead to a better overall experience for the customer. By working together to define specific actions and milestones, the customer can feel more in control of the process and better understand what to expect.
- Transparency between buyer and seller: For buyers and sellers to create a successful relationship, transparency is key. Building trust requires outlining both sides’ steps to help close a deal.
- Save time and reduce work for the buyer: A MAP can help to save time and reduce work for the buyer by keeping the sales process on track and addressing any obstacles that may arise. By working collaboratively with the salesperson to define and achieve specific goals, the customer can stay focused on their priorities while still making sales progress.
- By working together to define and achieve specific goals, the salesperson and prospect can develop a stronger, more collaborative relationship that is more likely to result in a successful outcome.
What to do if your buyer isn’t on board with a Mutual Action Plan
If you find yourself in a situation where your buyer needs to be on board with your recommended action plan?
When your buyer expresses reservations about an action plan, take some time and dive deep into the underlying causes.
Are there concerns of trust or feelings that resources are limited?
Whatever issues arise, get buy-in first and allow them to collaborate on the plan.
Come up with a solution that takes everyone’s needs into account. Doing this will ensure success down the line.
In doing so, you should eventually be able to establish a productive and positive relationship with your buyer and move forward together with an agreed-upon action plan.
How to Build a Mutual Action Plan
To create a MAP, the salesperson should first identify the key decision-makers and influencers within the prospect’s organization.
Next, they should schedule a meeting with those individuals to discuss the current state of the sales process and the specific actions that need to be taken to move forward.
During this meeting, the salesperson should work with the prospect to define clear and measurable milestones, such as scheduling a demo or obtaining a purchase order.
The salesperson should also ensure that the prospect is fully committed to taking the necessary actions by obtaining buy-in and alignment from all key stakeholders.
Once the MAP is created, the salesperson should follow up regularly to ensure that the prospect is taking the agreed-upon actions and to address any obstacles that may arise. This level of accountability and follow-up is crucial to keeping the sales process on track and closing the deal.
Here are the important steps when creating a Mutual Action Plan:
1. Value summary
Your MAP should provide value to buyers, allowing them to make informed decisions about their purchase.
With a succinct value summary at the top of each MAP, buyers can quickly learn how your product will benefit themselves and those who use it.
For example, increasing productivity and minimizing the manual effort to decrease production costs/
2. Write down all important stakeholders
To succeed as a sales rep, understanding the buying committee is essential.
Multi-threading in sales can help you uncover who’s involved in making decisions and give you invaluable insight into how to effectively present your product or service.
Even those across from you may only know some of the stakeholders first. It’s all about taking away any uncertainty – so research and ensure you’re building relationships with key decision-makers within that organization.
3. Document all deliverables
An effective MAP will ensure everyone is onboard with the project by centering around what buyers need.
This can be done by creating a list of deliverables that identify necessary tasks such as product demonstrations and prototypes, plus laying out approvable timelines for each stakeholder’s involvement in the process.
4. Create timelines
Creating timelines within your MAP process allows you to monitor progress and proactively adjust if needed.
For sales reps and management, it serves as a forecasting tool for upcoming deals.
To ensure objectives are shared by all parties involved in the sale cycle, conversations between seller and buyer should lead to agreement on deliverables/timelines.
Ensure your timelines are buyer-centric, which shouldn’t be used to solely help the seller. This way, sellers can map out their steps in meaningful ways that buyers understand – such as shifting from “qualification stage” language to “education & awareness” plus presenting proof of concept – making everybody feel heard, which helps close more deals smoother.
5. List each party’s role and responsibilities
Assigning owners for each project element and clearly outlining responsibilities is essential to ensure everyone is on the same page.
When assigning these roles, try pairing individuals from both sides – a buyer representative and someone from your team will do wonders in getting results faster!
And don’t forget to be specific: instead of just labeling something “legal” or naming an entire department/team as its owner – zero-in on individual stakeholders who can hold themselves accountable. That way, if any changes occur within teams down the line, there aren’t too many transferring issues either.
6. Customer outcomes and ROI
Make sure that you and your customers are clear about the objectives of their plan, so successful implementation leads to a tangible return on investment.
Go beyond ROI goals – set expectations for each deliverable’s performance too. Establish success criteria related to completing the project effectively and efficiently to maximize its impact moving forward!
Common challenges with MAP
Although implementing a Mutual Action Plan (MAP) can be a powerful tool for salespeople, it also comes with challenges.
Here are a few common challenges that salespeople may face when using a MAP:
- Getting the customer to agree to the plan: It can take a lot of work to agree to the steps and goals in the plan. Salespeople need to work hard to build trust and show the customer that the plan is good for them.
- Sticking to the timeline: Sometimes, things happen that make it hard to stick to the plan’s timeline. Salespeople need to stay on top of things and find ways to get back on track.
- Not being prepared: Salespeople need to be ready for the meeting and understand the customer’s needs. If they are prepared, it can be easy to make a good plan.
- Not following up: After the plan is made, salespeople need to check in with the customer to ensure they follow through on what they said they would do.
Even though making a MAP can be challenging, it’s still a good idea to have a plan. With one, you can avoid deal cycles getting longer and inaccurate forecasting.
Tips for getting the most out of your MAP
When making the plan, consider what the customer needs and wants. It’s important to make sure the plan is mutually beneficial.
Here are several tips to keep in mind when building your plan:
- Keep it simple: Make the plan simple. The simpler it is, the easier it will be to follow.
- Add information: Make sure to add enough information, so everyone knows what to do and when.
- Don’t stop at the signature: Just because the plan is signed, it still needs to be done. Keep checking in with the customer to ensure they follow through on what they said they would do.
- Update it: If anything changes, make sure to update the plan. This way, everyone stays on the same page.
By following these tips, salespeople can make an excellent Mutual Action Plan to help the sales process go faster and be more successful. Keep the customer in mind, make the plan simple, and keep updating it with new developments.
Final thoughts – ready for action?
A Mutual Action Plan can be the difference between closing a deal this month or next quarter. When done correctly, it can help specific goals, milestones, and timelines for both the seller and buyer.
If your sales cycles are getting longer or forecasts aren’t as accurate as you’d like, then a Mutual Action Plan is certainly something to explore.
Use this blog’s tips and best practices to build your plan.
Remember, get buy-in from your buyer and allow them to collaborate on a mutual plan. Although it’ll help you close the deal, it’ll also help your buyer address their pain points with your solution.
