Mutual close plan

Late-stage deals rarely die because the buyer changed their mind. They stall because a step nobody mentioned turns up at the last moment, such as a procurement form or a legal review that takes three weeks. By then the quarter-end date has gone.

Writing the steps down together brings those hidden steps out while there is still time to plan around them. It also moves the deal from "the seller chases" to "both sides work to a date". A buyer who edits the plan has agreed to it.

The plan is also an early warning. A step that keeps slipping tells you the deal is stalling, or that a blocker has not been named, long before the forecast shows it.

• Introduce it after the buyer has confirmed the problem and the budget, usually once a proposal is on the table.
• Start from the buyer's desired live date and list the steps backwards.
• Give every step one owner and one date, on both sides.
• Ask the buyer what is missing from their side, since only they know their internal process.
• Review it in a short weekly call, in the same shared file.

A mutual close plan, also called a mutual action plan, is a shared timeline between seller and buyer. It starts from the date the buyer wants the solution running and works backwards to today. Every step in between gets a named owner and a date: security review, internal approvals, legal review, procurement, contract signature, kick-off.

The plan lists the buyer's tasks as well as the seller's, and the buyer helps write it.

• Listing only the seller's tasks.
• Ignoring a step that keeps moving. Repeated slippage means the deal is stalling or a blocker has not been named.