A mutual action plan, also called a mutual close plan, is a shared, dated list of the steps a buyer and seller take to reach a signed contract, with one owner per step. Forrester's State of Business Buying 2024 found that 86% of B2B purchases stall during the buying process. If your deals follow that pattern, 17 of every 20 in your pipeline will stall at some point. A plan shows which step stopped and who owns it.

What goes in a mutual action plan?

A mutual action plan has five parts. A header holds four: the buyer's goal in their own words, the date they need it working and why, a line in the signer's own terms, and the people on both sides. The fifth is the dated steps to signature, and most of them belong to people at the buyer.

Here is a filled-in plan for a 40-person sales team buying software. The data processing agreement (DPA) and the works council's approval come before the pilot runs on real calls.

Eight of the ten steps belong to people at the buyer. Forrester's State of Business Buying 2026 counts 13 internal stakeholders and nine external influencers in a typical decision, with procurement deciding in 53% of buying cycles. It also finds that more than 60% of business buyers use a trial. So the plan names IT, legal and procurement on day one, and the pilot gets two dates: start and review. Almost none of these dates are yours to set, which is why you build the plan with the buyer.

How do you create a mutual action plan with your buyer?

Ask when the buyer needs the result and what happens on that date, and work backwards from it together on a call. Send a draft plan built from your call notes and the email thread within a day, and ask them to correct it.

  1. "When do you need this working, and what happens on that date?" If there is no date, ask what waiting another quarter would cost them. "End of quarter" is your date, not theirs.
  2. "Let's work back from March 2. What has to happen on your side before you can sign?" Let the buyer name the steps you can't see: a board meeting, a works council, a spending limit that sends the contract to the CEO. Type each answer into the plan while they talk.
  3. "Who in IT signs off on security, and how long does that usually take?" A step owned by "IT" has nobody to ask when it slips. A step owned by Sofia in IT does.
  4. "Here is the plan as I understood it. What did I get wrong, and who else should see it?"

When in the deal do you bring the plan to the buyer?

Bring a mutual action plan to the buyer once they have named a problem worth solving and a date that matters, usually at the end of the first or second discovery call. If they say not yet, ask what they need to see first. Move the deal back a stage only if that gives you no next meeting.

Make it an offer: "Would it help to put the steps to March 2 on one page you can share with Claire and Sofia?" If Pieter says not yet, ask: "What would you need to see before we plan the steps?" His answer sets the agenda for your next meeting.

Without a named signer, keep the deal out of this quarter's forecast, and ask: "Who signed the last purchase this size?" The answer tells you who signs, how long approval took last time and which reviewers belong in the header.

How do you keep a mutual action plan current until signature?

Open every call with the mutual action plan, update it the same day, and treat a missed date as information. When a step slips, ask why, agree on a new date with its owner, and move the dates after it. A plan whose dates keep moving with no reason given belongs to a deal that has stalled.

SlipWhat it often meansWhat to ask
The signer won't join a callSomeone above her has to agree first"Who besides Claire needs to agree before she signs?"
Security approval misses November 6The answers sit in IT's queue behind other work"Can we book 20 minutes with Sofia this week?"
Pilot review moved twiceThe reps barely used it"Which of the two pilot reps used it less, and what got in the way?"
A new name joins the email threadThe buying group grew"What does your new colleague need to see before December 18?"
Lukas misses December 11The contract isn't a priority there"Is December 18 still the date, or has something changed?"

When a slip moves the signature date, say so on the same call and offer a choice: "Security approval moved a week, so signature moves past Christmas to January 8, unless we send Ana and Lukas the contract during the pilot. Which works better for you?"

Two days before a buyer-owned date, write to that step's owner and copy your lead: "Sofia, is the security approval still on track for Friday?" A direct question to the owner surfaces a slip while there is still time to move the steps after it.

Keep the plan in one place both sides can edit. Put its link, the next step and that step's date on the deal in HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive or Attio. After each call, send the updated plan with your recap, so every reviewer sees the current dates; our follow-up email template covers what goes in it.

Frequently asked questions

A close plan, without "mutual", is the seller's internal list of what has to happen to win the deal, and the buyer never sees it. A mutual action plan is shared, and both sides edit it. Keep both: the close plan holds the risks you won't show the buyer, such as a competitor still in the running.
In many companies, a mutual success plan is the customer success version: goals, success measures and dates for the months after signature. Start it from the goal and go-live date in the mutual action plan, add the rollout and training steps between signature and go-live, then add the measures customer success will track, such as the share of reps using the tool 30 days after go-live.
Copy the ten steps into a sheet with columns for date, step, owner and status. Add the plan header as the top rows. Share it with edit access for the buyer's lead.
Set the close date to the signature date in the plan, and move it only when the plan's signature date moves. A slip that moves signature then moves your forecast the same week. If the date passes and nobody moved it, the deal shows up in the weekly check for deals with a past close date.
AI can draft the plan for the rep to check. Spiich's starter Skills include a Mutual action plan Skill your team can start from and edit. See how Skills work.

How do you roll mutual action plans out to your team?

Each rep picks one open deal and fills in the mutual action plan header with the buyer on the next call. Each week in the pipeline review, list open deals with no buyer-owned step dated in the next two weeks. By the next review, each gets a plan or a booked next meeting, or moves back a stage.