Template · 8 min read
Mutual action plan template: one shared plan from first call to signature
A mutual action plan is the most useful page in a B2B deal and the one most often left in a spreadsheet nobody opens. Below is a template you can use today: the six parts with the reasoning, a filled-in example, a prompt that makes AI build it for you, and how to share it with the buyer as one link that stays current.
What a mutual action plan is for
A mutual action plan (MAP) lists every step between today and the buyer’s go-live: what happens, who owns it on each side, and by when. The seller usually drafts it, the buyer agrees to it, and both work from it until the contract is signed and the work begins.
It exists because most deals stall for boring reasons. Legal was never told. The budget owner first hears about the purchase a week before quarter end. The security questionnaire sat in someone’s inbox. A plan that names those steps, with an owner and a date each, turns “we’re still interested” into a sequence both sides can check.
One honest condition: a MAP only works when the buyer has a date that matters to them. If there is no reason to be live by a particular day, the plan has nothing to work backwards from, and it reads as the seller’s wish list. Find the date first. The plan follows.
The mutual action plan template, part by part
- Goal and date. One sentence in the buyer’s words: what they want to be true, and when. “Acme’s ops team running the new intake process by January 15, before the hiring wave.” Every date below is measured against this one.
- Who is involved. Both sides, by name and role, including the people you have not met yet: the budget owner, legal, IT, procurement. Writing down an empty seat (“security reviewer: unknown”) is how you find out who it is.
- The step table. Step, owner, due date, status. Owners are named people, not departments. Steps include the buyer’s internal ones (budget approval, legal review), because those are the ones that slip.
- Open risks. Anything that could move a date, and who is handling it. A plan with no risks listed is not believed by anyone who has bought software before.
- Next meeting. Date, attendees, and the one decision it needs to produce.
- Change log. A line per update: what moved and why. This is what lets a new reader on the buying side trust the dates without asking.
A filled-in example
| Step | Owner | Due | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery call and agreed success criteria | Both | Oct 6 | Done |
| Technical review with IT | Buyer: Sam (IT lead) | Oct 13 | Done |
| Security questionnaire returned | Seller: you | Oct 17 | In progress |
| Pricing and scope sign-off by budget owner | Buyer: Dana (VP Ops) | Oct 24 | Not started |
| Legal review of the contract | Buyer: legal | Oct 31 | Not started |
| Signature | Buyer: Dana | Nov 4 | Not started |
| Kickoff | Both | Nov 11 | Not started |
Notice what the table does that a call recap does not. The pricing sign-off has a named owner on the buyer’s side, so the champion can see whose calendar it depends on. Legal review sits a full week before signature, because that is roughly what it takes. And kickoff is on the plan, which reminds both sides that signing is a step, not the goal.
Share it as one link the buyer can forward
A MAP in a spreadsheet attachment forks the moment it is forwarded: the champion edits one copy, procurement reads another. The fix is to publish the plan as one page at one link, and update that page after every meeting. Everyone on the buying side opens the same current plan, and the change log says what moved.
With a tracked link you also learn something a spreadsheet never tells you: when the plan was opened, and when a new reader appears. A new reader often means the plan was passed on inside the buyer’s company, and with a verified email at the door (Solo and Team) you also see who it was. That is the moment to offer help, not a week later.
The honest limits: a link open tells you the link was opened, not that the reader agreed with it. And Pagelive is not MAP software. There are no task checkboxes that sync to a CRM and no automatic reminders; the plan is a page you keep current. On Solo and Team, if you switch them on for the page, the buyer can comment on a step or press Approve on the plan (after confirming their email, or straight from a recipient link). An approval is a decision recorded on the page, not a signature.
Build the plan with AI (prompt included)
Give an AI the structure above and the facts from your last call, and it will produce a clean, self-contained HTML plan in one pass. The prompt keeps the one rule that matters in a document the buyer relies on: never invent a date or a person.
Copy, fill in the brackets with the deal’s real names and dates, and paste into Claude or ChatGPT:
You are producing a mutual action plan (MAP) for a B2B deal as a single, self-contained HTML file. CONTEXT (replace everything in brackets): - Buyer company: [name] - Seller: [your name / company] - What the buyer is buying toward: [their goal, in their words] - The date that matters to them: [go-live or deadline, and why that date] - People on the buying side: [name, role, part in the decision; one per line] - People on our side: [name, role; one per line] - Steps from today to go-live: [step, owner, due date, status; one per line] - Open risks: [anything that could move a date, with who is handling it] - Next meeting: [date, attendees, purpose] - Brand: [primary hex color] + [logo URL, or "text wordmark"] REQUIREMENTS: - Open with one sentence: the goal and the date, e.g. "Goal: Acme's ops team live on the new process by January 15." - Then a "Who is involved" block with both sides, then the step table: Step, Owner (Buyer or Seller, with a name), Due, Status. Status is one of Done, In progress, Not started, At risk, shown as a small colored label. - Order the steps by date. Mark the next open step clearly. - Then "Open risks", "Next meeting", and a short "Change log" at the bottom (date + what changed). - Keep every name and date exactly as I gave them. If something is missing, write [TBD]. Never invent a date, a person or a commitment. - Self-contained HTML: inline CSS, no external scripts, readable on a phone, printable. Show "Last updated [date]" under the title. - Tone: plain and neutral. This is a shared working document, not a sales pitch.
- 1 Paste the prompt (with your details filled in) into Claude or ChatGPT. You get a finished, self-contained HTML document. Review it, correct anything, and iterate until it's right.
- 2 Publish it as a tracked link: with the Pagelive connector in Claude, say "publish this page" and the link comes back in chat. Next cycle, "update it" replaces the content at the same URL. Or upload the HTML file at app.pagelive.io.
The mistakes that make buyers ignore a MAP
- Seller-only steps. A plan full of “we send the proposal” and nothing the buyer owns. The steps that slip are on their side; leave them out and the plan predicts nothing.
- Department owners. “Legal” is not an owner. A name is. If you do not have the name yet, that is the first open risk.
- Dates you chose alone. A date the buyer did not agree to is a hope. Walk through the table with your champion before you treat it as the plan.
- Introducing it too early. Before the buyer has admitted a problem and a date, a MAP feels like a closing tactic. After, it feels like help.
- A stale copy. A plan last updated three calls ago is worse than none: someone will plan around it. Update after every meeting, and keep the change log honest.
Mutual action plan FAQ
A mutual action plan (MAP) is a short shared document that lists every step between today and the buyer’s go-live: what happens, who owns it on each side, and by when. The seller usually drafts it; the buyer agrees to it. Its job is to make the buying process visible to both sides, so a deal stops depending on one champion remembering what comes next.
Six parts: the goal the buyer is buying toward and its date; the people on both sides and their role in the decision; the step table (step, owner, due date, status); the open risks; the agreed next meeting; and a change log. The step table is the core. Everything else exists to make the dates in it believable.
After the buyer has agreed there is a problem worth solving and a date that matters to them, usually after discovery or the first demo. Earlier than that it reads as pushy. Propose it as a way to make their timeline realistic: work backwards from their go-live date and the steps fill themselves in.
Not to start. Sales room platforms add MAP checklists, CRM sync and reminders, which pay off for a team running many deals at once. For a consultant or a small team, a well-kept page that both sides open from one link does the job: you update it after every call and see when the buyer reads it.
As one link that never changes, rather than a spreadsheet attachment that forks into versions. Publish the plan as a page, send the link to your champion, and update the same page after each meeting. With a tracked link you also see when it was opened, and when a new reader appears, which often means it was passed on inside the buyer’s company.
Related: a digital sales room for small teams · AI proposal software · QBR template for after the deal is signed.
One plan, one link, current after every call.
Build the plan with AI, publish it as a page the buyer can forward, and see when a new reader opens it. Free for 2 public pages.