What is a mutual action plan?
In the context of complex sales a salesperson’s job goes beyond engaging with clients, evaluating their needs and pitching a fitting solution. Even with clients that signal their interest a deal still has a long way to go until it is “closed”. Over the duration of this sales process the salesperson is the face of the company whose behaviour and competence are taken as a reflection of the companies. Furthermore, in complex sales the relationship and trust between a buyer and a seller becomes stronger over time and requires that a salesperson is also there for his clients after the sale is closed and until the customer is satisfied with the results.
Advantages of Mutual Action Plans
A Mutual Action Plan assures just that. By definition it is an agreed on set of actions that supports your buyer to efficiently evaluate and successfully implement your solution. Together with your customer you set target dates and responsible persons to assure alignment and efficiency. This may sound like a small piece of the puzzle, but don’t underestimate its strength:
Using a Mutual Action Plan involves the buyer into the sales process. This gives the buyer a sense of control and allows you to get unprecedented insights into the buyer’s internal processes. It helps to identify necessary stakeholders early in the process, getting them easier onboard and involved in making the deal happen. By removing roadblocks deals can be closed faster and closing forecasting becomes much more reliable. This professional sales process ensures that you as a salesperson come across as organised, transparent and trustworthy.
But, you say, what if a customer doesn’t want to be involved? Well then it is time to rethink whether this deal is really as qualified as you think it is. When the willingness to close the deal from the buyer’s side isn’t really there, you should invest your time in either reviewing whether your solution is actually what the client is after or focus on other deals that are more likely to close.
Setting up a Mutual Action Plan
Setting up a Mutual Action Plan manually can be difficult and time-consuming. This is where Stageset comes in: Simply get started by creating a free account with Stageset and define your typical customer journey to a successful close in a template. Once done you can create new sharable mutual action plans in seconds and discover and invite all the necessary stakeholders. Together you can then coordinate the evaluation process by setting target dates and responsible people for each milestone. Furthermore you can upload any documents or files and track the engagement of your buyer in real time. Mutual action plans were never easier. When will you get your unfair advantage?
