A shared list of every step from yes to go-live, with an owner on one side or the other.
A mutual action plan is the list a seller and a buyer keep together once both want the deal to happen: what has to be done, by whom, by when. The example is a made-up software sale with fifteen steps and a March go-live. One limit to know first: the buyer can't edit the page. They tell you what moved, you change it, and the link they saved shows the new version.
Who it's for
Account executives and founders selling something that needs a security review, a contract, a pilot or training before anyone uses it. Share it after the buyer has said yes in principle and named a date. Write the first draft with your main contact on a call, so the steps on their side are theirs.
Sent too early, it reads as pressure. If the buyer hasn't given you a date or said who has to approve, you aren't ready for one.
What a good one contains
- The buyer's date as the headline. "Live at the Harrisburg distribution center by Monday, March 1," with their reason beside it: seasonal hires start on March 15.
- Steps on both sides. Seven belong to the buyer, five to the seller and three are shared. A plan that lists only the buyer's tasks is a chase list.
- One named owner and one date per step. "Deepak Menon, Dec 4" can be followed up. "IT, early December" can't.
- The slow steps in plain view. Security review, legal comments and budget sign-off each get a row, with the constraint written down: counsel is out from December 21 to January 1.
- Honest status. The only late step is the seller's, and the page says so near the top. Buyers believe the other fourteen rows more for it.
- What the pilot has to show. Three measures agreed before it starts, each one a number: under 2 hours, down 10%, 37 of 46 people.
- A change log. Three dated lines saying what moved and why. It's the record of the buyer shaping the plan.
- A view for each side. One tap shows the buyer their own steps and the shared ones.
Keeping it alive
The plan is worth having only while it's current. Change it the day something moves, add a line to the log, and tell the buyer's lead. If two weeks go by with no change to the page, either the deal is running itself or nobody is looking. Ask which.
Work backward from the go-live date, and leave room around holidays and the buyer's busy weeks. The example books no training in the week the warehouse counts inventory.
How to send it
To named people. It names the buyer's security lead, their counsel and the date of a budget meeting. Open it to their domain and yours, so someone who joins either team later can still get in.
Every page you publish gets one link that opens in any browser. You choose who can open it: anyone with the link, anyone with the password, or only the people and company domains you name, who sign in with Google or Microsoft. Change the page later and the link stays the same.
