Looking to get more in sync with your buyers?

Bored of sending next steps in email threads that get forgotten?

Mutual action plans are really becoming a core pillar for B2B sales teams.

These collaborative frameworks help align your team with buyers, ensuring everyone's on the same page throughout the entire sales journey.

By using a mutual action plan, you'll boost buyer engagement, streamline your workflow, and increase your chances of closing deals.

In this article, we'll dive into the world of mutual action plans and why they're crucial for your sales success.

You'll learn about the key benefits of using these plans, discover the essential features that make them effective, and get practical tips to create winning strategies.

So, let's get started and see how mutual action plans can transform your sales process in 2024 👇

Understanding Mutual Action Plans (MAPs)

A Mutual Action Plan (MAP) is a collaborative framework that outlines the steps needed to achieve a defined customer goal.

It's a strategic tool that brings together buyers and sellers, ensuring everyone's on the same page throughout the sales process.

mutual action plans go beyond a simple shared schedule; they're about creating a roadmap to your customer's desired outcome.

When you create a mutual action plan, you're not just listing tasks. You're mapping out a journey that leads to tangible results for your customer.

This approach transforms the plan from a project agenda into an actionable customer success document.

By framing the mutual action plan around core benefits, you help maintain momentum and reduce feelings of overwhelm that can slow down the sales process.

To make your mutual action plan effective, tie it to events or initiatives that are critical to your buyer.

This alignment with their priorities increases buy-in and commitment. Remember, mutual action plans are meant to be shared widely among all stakeholders involved in the sale or purchase.

This transparency keeps everyone working together smoothly, fostering trust and reducing the risk of miscommunication.

Benefits of using joint execution plans in 2024

Joint execution plans, or mutual action plans (MAPs), offer significant advantages for your sales process in 2024.

They speed up your sales cycle by creating a single source of truth, ensuring everyone works with consistent information.

mutual action plans foster accountability and urgency, connecting tasks to ROI and helping stakeholders prioritise. You'll see improved buyer engagement as mutual action plans reframe the conversation from closing a sale to delivering value.

They also enhance forecasting by flagging early signs of non-viable deals and providing checkpoints to validate buyer engagement.

By standardising mutual action plans, you prepare your team for various buying scenarios, potentially improving win rates and driving more revenue .

The key features of successful mutual action plans

Successful mutual action plans (MAPs) have several key features that make them effective. They create a collaborative framework between you and your buyers, outlining specific action items, responsibilities, timelines, and milestones.

A well-crafted mutual action plan includes clearly defined tasks with assigned owners and deadlines, ensuring accountability and urgency.

Using a digital sales room like trumpet removes the manual work from this process, letting you tag your buyers to steps and set deadlines in a few clicks.

To make your mutual action plan successful, involve your prospect in its creation and keep it flexible to adapt to changing deal dynamics. Regular updates and sharing with stakeholders maintain momentum and transparency.

Utilise mutual action plan software to streamline the process, offering real-time updates and automated reminders.

Remember, a good mutual action plan aligns with your sales process, helping you understand bottlenecks and take proactive steps to move deals forward.

It should also extend into the post-sale phase, guiding onboarding and adoption processes.

One of the exciting benefits of creating personalised mutual action plans in a deal room is that you can work together in a live space where your buyer can tick off steps and even add their own tasks to the mutual action plan.

👉Check out a live full cycle mutual action plan in a digital sales room

How to create winning Mutual Action Plans

To create a winning Mutual Action Plan (MAP), start by introducing it early in the sales process, we've found many customers are introducting mutual action plans as early as the discovery phase to kick off the journey with transparency in mind.

Sophie Ellis, Strategic Account Lead at Lunio shares how she uses mutual action plans throughout her sales process:

"We always have a mutual action plan page within each Pod. This allows us to assign buyers to their next steps and identify what needs to be done. During every call, I always share the mutual action plan by saying, "I've created this. Does it look reasonable for the time that we're working towards? Is there anything else we need to add?"

This way, they can collaborate on defining clear next steps.

Kicking off with a clear objective or value statement at the top to set the tone and engage buyers.

Work backwards from the customer's ideal go-live date, mapping out key milestones and deadlines.

Involve your prospect in creating the mutual action plan using their language and reflecting their voice throughout the document.

Identify and document all stakeholders, including their roles and responsibilities.

Outline specific deliverables and action items, assigning joint owners from both seller and buyer sides.

Finally, include projected outcomes and ROI estimates to demonstrate the plan's value beyond just closing the deal.

How can you do all of this and more in a digital sales room? 👇

The importance of mutual action plans: Key takeaways

Mutual action plans have emerged as a powerhouse tool for sales teams in 2024, offering a clear way to align sellers and buyers throughout the sales journey.

These collaborative frameworks have a significant impact on boosting buyer engagement, streamlining workflows, and increasing the chances of closing deals.

By using mutual action plans, sales teams can create a shared roadmap that leads to tangible results for customers, fostering trust and reducing the risk of miscommunication.

As we move into 2024, embracing mutual action plans will be crucial for sales teams looking to stay ahead in a competitive market and deliver real value to their customers.