Put the deal on paper: the mutual action plan

What the Paper move is

Paper is the seventh move in The Salecopy Method. You agree a short shared plan with the buyer: each step between today and the start date, who owns it on each side, and the date. Many sales teams call this a mutual action plan.

It is not a contract and it is not a proposal. It is one page that both sides can see and edit. The mistake it prevents is a verbal yes with no plan, and a signature that slips a quarter.

Why a verbal yes is not enough

When a buyer says yes on a call, they usually mean it. They may also not know what their own company requires before anyone can sign. Few people buy from a new supplier often enough to remember every step. So the yes is sincere, the signature is still several steps away, and nobody has counted the steps.

The plan counts them. Writing it takes one conversation, and the conversation is useful in itself. You learn the buyer's process while there is still time to fit your dates to it.

What usually belongs on the plan

Start from the date the buyer wants to be up and running, and work backward. Your plan will differ by sector and deal size. These steps come up often:

• Final scope and price agreed. Owned by your rep and their decision maker.
• Legal review. Their lawyer reads the contract, often an MSA (master services agreement, the main contract covering how the two companies work together). Name an owner on your side too, and have your lawyer review any change to the terms.
• Security or IT review. Their IT team checks how you handle their data. This is often a questionnaire, and it can take longer than anyone expects.
• Supplier setup. Their procurement team (the people who manage buying from suppliers) adds you to their system: forms, bank details, insurance documents.
• Budget approval. The budget holder signs off, sometimes at a meeting that only happens on a fixed schedule.
• Signature. A named person with the authority to sign, and a day.
• Kickoff. The first working session, with the people who will do the work on both sides.

How to write it with the buyer

Raise it as soon as the buyer says they want to go ahead. The line from the method is: Let us write down what has to happen between now and the start date, and who does each part.

Then go step by step. Ask who does this on their side, and how long it took the last time they bought something similar. Type the answers into a shared document while you talk. Send it the same day and ask the buyer to correct it.

A plan the buyer has edited belongs to both of you. A plan you wrote alone and attached to an email is a wish.

Keep it short. For many deals, eight to ten lines is enough. Every line has one named owner on each side and one date. A line owned by a team is owned by nobody.

How the plan exposes silent problems

The value of the paper is in the blanks. When you ask who owns legal review and your champion (the person at the buyer who wants the deal to happen) does not know, you have found someone missing from your list of people who can say no. When nobody will put a date on budget approval, the budget is not approved. When the security review alone needs more time than is left before the start date, the start date is wrong.

The plan did not cause any of this. The problems were already there. The plan shows them while you can still act: send the security questionnaire today, ask for an introduction to the legal owner, move the kickoff by two weeks and say so.

Watch what happens after the plan is written. A buyer who meets the first two dates is buying. A buyer who lets them pass without a word is telling you something the friendly calls did not. See a yes without a date is a maybe.

Keep the plan on the deal record

The buyer sees a shared document. Your team needs the same steps as a checklist on the deal in your CRM (customer relationship management system, the place your deals are recorded): step, owner on your side, owner on their side, due date, done. A manager can then see late steps across every deal without asking each rep.

An AI assistant can draft the first version from the deal's stage and what the buyer has said about their process, and flag any step that is past its date. The rep checks the draft, agrees it with the buyer and sends it. The assistant does not send the plan or promise a date.

The close date in your forecast (your estimate of what will be signed and when) should come from this plan. If the signature step says the 28th, the forecast says the 28th. If the step moves, the forecast moves the same day. For a quick weekly check, see deal review in 15 minutes from the CRM.

Try it on one deal this week

Pick a deal where the buyer has said yes and nothing is signed. Draft the steps you think are left, with your best guess at owners and dates. On your next call, share your screen and ask the buyer to correct it. Count how many lines change. Each change is something you would otherwise have learned later, when it would have cost you more.

What to add to your CRM

A prompt to try

You are helping me draft a mutual action plan for a B2B deal. Do not contact anyone and do not write messages for sending. I will review the plan with the buyer myself. You are not giving legal advice. Any contract step will be reviewed by my lawyer.

What I sell: [your product or service]
The buyer: [company, size, sector]
The start date the buyer wants: [date]
Today's date: [date]
What the buyer has told me about their buying process: [paste notes]
People involved on both sides, with roles: [list]

Do this:
1. Draft a plan as a table with these columns: step, owner on our side, owner on their side, due date.
2. Work backward from the start date. Include scope and price agreement, legal review, security or IT review, supplier setup, budget approval, signature and kickoff, unless my notes say a step does not apply.
3. Where my notes do not name an owner or a duration, write: unknown. Do not guess a name.
4. Flag any step that cannot fit before the start date, and say why.
5. End with a list of what is missing, written as questions I can ask the buyer.

Use only the information I gave you.