MAP: The Well-Known Secret to Q4 Success
The one thing to do NOW that will lower your stress in December
What is the one thing you can do now that will lower your stress in December? The answer is simple to say but hard to do: Build a Mutual Action Plan for every Q4 Deal. Commonly referred to as a MAP. The idea is to create a project plan that defines everything that must happen between “Today” and “Results Delivered”. It’s not just from initiation to contract signature, but to the customer’s desired business outcomes.
Here’s a quick list of best practices in developing and using a MAP:
Qualify real interest
A Mutual Action Plan (MAP) helps you understand if the customer truly wants to move forward with you. If they engage and contribute, they’re serious. If they stall, you’ve got a warning signal.
Test your champion
A MAP is a great way to see if your internal champion has real influence. If they won’t collaborate or gather internal information, they may be a coach but not a true champion.
Uncover the Buyer’s Process (Or Lack of One):
Many customers don’t fully understand their own buying process. A MAP helps reveal if they know what steps need to be taken or if you’re heading into the unknown.
Identify Changes in the Buying Process:
Even if you’ve sold to this customer before, never assume their process is the same. A MAP ensures you’re aligned with any internal changes, avoiding costly missteps.
Build for the Desired Outcome
A good MAP is outcome-focused. Every step should point to delivering the value the customer wants—not just checking boxes.
Create Urgency
By outlining all the steps required to get to the desired results, a MAP often highlights more time required than the customer expected. This creates urgency and keeps the deal on track.
Expand Coverage of Stakeholders:
The MAP is an excuse to engage everyone in the buying coalition—operations, finance, legal, IT, HR. Learning about a key player late in the game can derail everything.
But, in reality, I find many MAPs are not really Mutual Action Plans:
Not Mutual - the seller creates and sends it, the buyer ignores it, and the seller does not keep it updated and continually bring attention to it in subsequent meetings
Not Action-oriented - or at least not based on valuable actions. They are often lists of tasks and events: “deliver demo”, “review findings with CFO”, “Infosec” — which ideally will occur but may not be important to the buying team.
Actions that create value or even intellectual property will make the MAP critical to the buyer. E.g. “Create Business Case”, “Define POC Success Criteria”, “Develop Rollout and Change Management Plan”.
Not a Plan - real project plans have gating activities, risk factors, and mitigations - elements that define criteria to ensure success and insure against failure. Build MAPs that include go/no-go activities and deadlines that - if missed - push the rest of the timeline out.
To lower stress in December, create stress now around MAPs. Push hard - very hard now to collaborate with your champion to create them. A MAP isn’t just a document — it’s a strategy to manage the sale and the customer’s internal process.
Here’s an example of a Mutual Action Plan. Click below, make a copy, and customize it for your business!
Click on the image to view the MAP example in Google Sheets — Make a Copy to make it your own.
