Mutual action plan

A mutual action plan (MAP), sometimes called a close plan, is the shared checklist of dated steps from a verbal yes to a signed contract, built with the buyer rather than kept private. It names each step — proposal accepted, MSA reviewed, security questionnaire returned, final approver briefed, signature — with an owner and a date beside each, and it deliberately includes the procurement and paper steps where late deals slip. Agreed at the moment of highest goodwill, it is the rope on the descent: when the approver goes on vacation two weeks later, it’s a known step on a route both sides already committed to walk, not a crisis.

Source: Standard enterprise-sales practice, formalized in the MEDDICC / MEDDPICC qualification methodology (the “P” paper-process and the close-plan discipline). This course frames it through Blair Enns’ view of closing as facilitation and reassurance rather than pressure (The Four Conversations — PRACTITIONER). Not a course coinage.

First used in: 3.4 · Negotiation & close