Mutual Action Plan Template

Owned by the account executive, before the plan goes to the buyer. Enter the target signature date on the first task: every due date counts back from it in working days, and the kickoff counts forward. Write down what you know of the buyer’s goals and their own date, then draft the plan you will agree with them in Phase 2.

• Set up the plan: the buyer, the target signature date and the people — the buyer’s organisation, what they are evaluating, the date both sides aim to sign, and your account executive, solutions engineer, deal desk approver, contracts lead and implementation lead; the buyer’s champion can be added as a Guest; later tasks are assigned from these fields
• Write down the buyer’s goals and the date that matters to them — the problem the buyer wants to solve, the result they want, their own date (a launch, a contract ending, a budget or regulatory deadline, a new team starting) and why it matters, as you understand them before the plan is agreed
• Check the deal is ready for a shared plan — the buyer has agreed to evaluate, you have a champion who will work through the plan with you, and the target signature date leaves time for the buyer’s security, legal and procurement steps before their own date; if it does not, say so when you share the plan
• Draft the plan’s steps and dates from the signature date — a first draft to take to the champion: the evaluation, business case, security, legal, procurement, approval and signature steps, each with an owner on your side, the buyer’s contact where you know one, and a date counted back from the signature date; the due dates in this checklist are that draft

Walk through the plan with the buyer’s champion and change what they will not commit to. Their answers on the buying process add the tasks for a proof of concept, a security review, supplier set-up and data processing terms. The buyer’s steps name the buyer’s contact, and a champion invited as a Guest sees only their own steps.

• Map the people on both sides — on the buyer’s side the champion, the economic buyer who approves the spend, the technical evaluators, security, legal, procurement and the people who will use it; on your side who works with each of them; this map is for your team, so keep it off the buyer’s tasks
• Agree the buyer’s buying process and approvals — with the champion: who must approve the purchase and in what order, whether a proof of concept, a security review, supplier set-up or data processing terms are needed, and how long each of the buyer’s reviews takes
• Agree the evaluation steps and success criteria — what the buyer will test, how each criterion will be judged and who judges it, written so both sides can tell at the end whether it was met
• Confirm the plan with the buyer’s champion — walk through the buyer’s goals and their own date, then every step, owner and date, with the champion, change what they will not commit to, and record the day they agreed the plan and the target signature date; if the date moves, change it on the first task and every due date moves
• Give the buyer’s people their steps in CheckFlow — optional: invite the champion, and anyone else on the buyer’s side who will own a step, to your CheckFlow team as Guests; choose the champion in the field on the first task, and add any other Guest to their own steps in this checklist; a Guest sees and completes only the tasks assigned to them
• Set the meeting rhythm and the first check-in — a short call with the champion each week to go through what is due, who it is waiting on and what has moved, with the first date in both calendars

The buyer tests against the success criteria agreed in Phase 2. A proof of concept, where the buyer asked for one, adds its set-up, a mid-point check and the review of the results. The phase ends with the buyer’s own verdict against the criteria.

• Hold the discovery and technical deep-dive — with the buyer’s evaluators: their current process and systems, the data and integrations involved, how users sign in, and anything that could rule you out
• Give the tailored demo to the evaluation team — built on the buyer’s own process and the success criteria, to the people who judge them; record the questions you owe answers to
• Set up the proof of concept — the environment, the buyer’s sample data or test accounts, who takes part on each side, the start and end dates, and how the results will be judged against the criteria
• Hold the proof of concept mid-point check — with the buyer’s evaluators: progress against each criterion, problems found and what will be fixed before the end
• Arrange the reference calls the buyer asks for — customers who have agreed to speak to the buyer, matched to the buyer’s size and use; ask each customer first, and arrange only the calls they have agreed to
• Review the proof of concept results with the buyer — each criterion with its result, what the buyer’s evaluators concluded and anything still open
• Buyer confirms the evaluation result against the criteria — the buyer’s evaluators say which criteria were met, which were not and whether they will go on to the business case; if a criterion was not met, agree with the champion what happens before moving on

Build the business case with the champion from the buyer’s own figures, check the price with the deal desk before it goes into the proposal, and present both to the economic buyer.

• Gather the buyer’s figures for the business case — the current cost, time or risk the buyer wants to change, in their own numbers, from the champion; use only figures the buyer gives or agrees to
• Check the proposed price with the deal desk — the price, any discount from your list price and any non-standard term you plan to offer, checked against your discount rules before it goes into the proposal; the deal desk approves the final terms in Phase 7
• Draft the business case with the champion — what the buyer spends now, what changes, the cost of the purchase and when they would see the result, written in the buyer’s words for the economic buyer
• Send the proposal — the scope, the price checked with the deal desk, the term, the start date and what happens after signature, sent to the champion and the economic buyer
• Present to the economic buyer and confirm the budget — the business case and the proposal to the person who approves the spend; record whether the budget is confirmed, from which budget, and any approval they still need

Answer what the buyer’s IT and security teams need. A security review and data processing terms, where the buyer needs them, add their tasks here. They run alongside the evaluation, so start them early.

• Confirm the technical requirements — how users will sign in, the integrations and data the buyer needs, where data must be held and anything else that could stop the deal, with the buyer’s IT contact
• Send your security pack — the documents you share with buyers, such as your security overview, any certifications or audit reports with their dates and scope, your policies and a completed standard questionnaire if you have one, under an NDA where you require one
• Answer the buyer’s security questionnaire — with your security team: every question answered from evidence you can show, nothing promised that is not true today, and the date sent
• Close the security review with the buyer — the buyer’s security contact’s questions and findings, what you agreed to do about each, and their sign-off or the conditions they set
• Agree the data processing terms — where you will process personal data on the buyer’s behalf: the data, the purpose, how long, the subprocessors and any transfers, agreed with the buyer’s privacy or legal contact

Legal and procurement run on the buyer’s timetable, so send the contract as soon as the proposal is out. Supplier set-up, where the buyer needs it, adds its task. The commercial terms agreed here go to your approval step in Phase 7.

• Send the contract and your terms to the buyer’s legal team — your order form or agreement, your standard terms and any documents they refer to, with the contracts lead named as the contact for questions
• Buyer’s legal team returns its comments — the buyer’s legal contact sends their changes and questions by the date agreed in the plan
• Complete the buyer’s supplier set-up — the forms, bank details, insurance certificates, tax forms and any portal registration the buyer’s procurement team needs before it can sign with or pay a new supplier
• Agree the legal terms — each change accepted, refused or rewritten, escalated inside your company where it is outside what the contracts lead can agree, until neither legal team has an open point
• Agree the commercial terms with procurement — price, term, payment terms, start date and anything procurement asks for in return, with the buyer’s procurement contact
• Confirm who signs on each side and how — the buyer’s signatory and anyone who must approve before them, your own signatory, and whether signing is electronic or on paper

The deal desk approver checks the final terms before the order form goes to the buyer. Nothing after the approval can be completed until it is recorded. Not approved leaves the approval open, hides the signature and kickoff tasks, and adds a task before it to rework the terms. None of this phase is assigned to the buyer’s Guest.

• Prepare the deal desk request — the final price and any discount from list, the term and payment terms, the non-standard legal terms agreed, any condition from the security review, the expected close date for your forecast, and anything promised to the buyer, including any change agreed with procurement beyond what the deal desk checked in Phase 4
• Rework the terms after Not approved — after Not approved only: what the deal desk approver objected to, what you will take back to the buyer, and the target signature date moved on the first task if it has to; the approval task below stays open, so nothing after it can be completed; when the reworked terms are ready, the approver changes the decision and completes the approval task, and if the approval task was completed with Not approved, un-complete it first
• Approve the final terms for signature — Approved, Approved with conditions or Not approved for the final terms going to the buyer for signature, with the reasons, recorded by the deal desk approver alone. Complete this task for Approved or Approved with conditions. For Not approved, record the decision and the reasons and leave this task open: the task above it to rework the terms appears, and the order form, signature and kickoff tasks are hidden and stay locked until a new decision is recorded and this task is completed
• Meet the deal desk’s conditions before sending the order form — after Approved with conditions only: each condition met, with the evidence, before the order form goes to the buyer

Applies only when the final terms have not been turned down: a Not approved decision in Phase 7 hides this phase until a new decision is recorded. Once the final terms are approved, the order form goes to the buyer’s signatory. The target signature date on the first task is the day both sides aim to sign.

• Prepare the final order form from the approved terms — the approved price, term, payment terms and start date, the agreed legal terms and any purchase order number the buyer needs on it, checked against the deal desk approval
• Send the order form to the buyer’s signatory — through your e-signature tool or as the buyer asked, to the signatory confirmed in Phase 6, with the champion copied
• Buyer signs the order form — the buyer’s signatory signs; if signature slips, agree the new date with the champion and change it on the first task
• Countersign and send the signed copy — your signatory signs, the fully signed copy goes to the buyer and into your records, and the deal is closed in your CRM

Applies only when the final terms have not been turned down: a Not approved decision in Phase 7 hides this phase until a new decision is recorded. Signature is where this plan ends and the implementation begins. Hand over everything promised during the sale, then hold the kickoff with both teams.

• Hand over the deal to the implementation lead — the buyer’s goals and their own date, the success criteria and results, every commitment made during the sale, the security and contract conditions, the security review outcome, the data processing terms and the supplier set-up, so the implementation can mark those steps done, and the people on both sides; the implementation plan starts from this
• Book the kickoff with both teams — a date for the kickoff that suits the buyer’s champion, sponsor and project lead and your implementation team, with the agenda sent in advance
• Hold the kickoff and agree the first implementation steps — introductions, the goals and the buyer’s own date, who leads the implementation on each side, its first steps and when its plan will be agreed; the implementation then carries on in its own checklist
• Close the plan and record what you learned — what helped and what slowed the deal down, which dates moved and why, kept for the next plan