A close plan is the written path from where a deal is today to a signed contract: every step, who owns it on each side, and the date it has to happen by. The account executive writes it once the buyer has a reason and a date, usually between discovery and the proposal, and the first version takes about 30 minutes. The champion reviews it with the rep on a call.
Most close plans are wish lists. They list the steps the seller hopes will happen, in the order the seller's process expects, with dates that work back from the end of the quarter. The version below works back from the buyer's date and marks which steps the buyer has confirmed. The unconfirmed steps are what the deal is missing, and finding those is the core of deal coaching.
What a close plan is for
A close plan exists to expose the gap between what the seller assumes and what the buyer has agreed to. Its second job is to give the buyer a document they can use internally to get the purchase approved.
A close plan and a mutual action plan overlap. The close plan usually starts as the seller's own working document; a mutual action plan is shared with the buyer, who edits it. In our experience, the close plans that hold up start internal and become shared once the champion agrees to them. This guide covers both stages.
How to write a close plan in seven steps
Write a close plan by starting from the buyer's reason and date, then working back through every approval step with the buyer.
Write down the buyer's reason and date, in their words. Why are they buying, and what happens on their side if it is not done by a certain date? What good looks like: a quote from a call. "We need the new system live before the April audit" is a buyer's date. "End of our quarter" is the seller's.
Work backwards from that date. Start at go-live or the buyer's deadline and list each step that must happen before it: implementation start, signature, legal, security review, procurement, final approval, business case, decision meeting. What good looks like: seven to nine milestones, each with sub-steps only where needed, short enough that a senior buyer can read it in 30 seconds.
Name an owner on each side for each step. Every step has a buyer-side name and a seller-side name. What good looks like: no step owned by "the customer" or "procurement" with no person attached.
Tag every step "confirmed" or "assumed". A step is confirmed when the buyer has said it on a call or in writing: who approves, how long legal takes, whether security review applies. Everything else is assumed. What good looks like: the tag sits next to each step, with the quote or the email for each confirmed one.
Turn each assumed step into a question for the next call. "Assumed: CFO approves under $100k without board review" becomes "Who signs at this amount, and does it go anywhere after them?" What good looks like: a short list of questions, in priority order, for the next conversation with the champion.
Review the plan with the champion on a call. Share the plan, walk it from the buyer's date backwards, and ask them to correct it. What to say: "This is how we think it gets done by April. Where is it wrong?" What good looks like: the champion edits dates and names, and two or three assumed steps become confirmed. From here it is a mutual plan.
Book the next step before the call ends. Every review of the plan ends with the next dated step on both calendars. What good looks like: the next meeting exists before anyone hangs up.
The close plan block
Copy this into the deal record or a shared doc.
CLOSE PLAN: <account> Owner (seller):
Buyer's reason, in their words:
Buyer's date, and what happens if it is missed:
Step | Buyer owner | Seller owner | Date | Confirmed / Assumed | Evidence (quote, email)
-----|-------------|--------------|------|---------------------|------------------------
| | | | |
Assumed steps, turned into questions for the next call:
1.
2.
3.
Next dated step on both calendars:
Worked example (illustrative)
The company, people and dates below are invented.
- FirstVendor security assessment
- Six weeks, before legal
- Learned on Thursday's call
- ThenLegal, procurement, COO approval
- 25 AprilSignature
- 1 MayImplementation starts
- Rollout needs four weeks
- 1 JuneThe regulator's review
- Every branch trained
Jamie is selling a compliance training platform to a regional bank. On the last call the head of risk, Taylor, said: "The regulator's review is in June. We need every branch trained before it." That is the buyer's reason and date.
Jamie works backwards from 1 June. Training rollout needs four weeks, so implementation starts by 1 May. Signature by 25 April. Before that: legal review, a vendor security assessment, procurement and approval by the COO.
Jamie tags each step. Taylor confirmed on a call to own the budget line, so the business case owner is confirmed. Legal "usually takes two weeks" is Jamie's guess, so it is assumed. Nobody has said whether the bank requires a vendor security assessment for this category, so that is assumed too. COO approval came from Taylor in an email, so it is confirmed, but the timing is not.
The assumed list becomes three questions for the next call with Taylor: how long legal takes for a new vendor, whether a security assessment applies and who runs it, and when the COO meets to approve spend. On that call, Taylor says the security assessment takes six weeks and has to start before legal. That moves signature risk from April to May. The plan now says so, and Jamie and Taylor agree to start the assessment on Monday. Without the tags, that six weeks would have surfaced in April.
Where close plans go wrong
Built forward from the seller's quarter. A plan that ends on 31 March because the quarter does is a forecast wearing a plan's clothes. Start from the buyer's date.
No confirmed or assumed tag. A plan with every step written as fact hides the gaps. The tag is what makes the plan useful to a manager.
Left alone after the first draft. Dates move every week, and a plan nobody updates is wrong within two weeks.
Shared too early. Sending a 30-step plan to a buyer before the champion has agreed the shape reads as pressure. Review it with the champion on a call first, then share.
Working the plan every week
A close plan is a useful document in a late-stage deal review, because the assumed steps tell the manager and the rep what to work on. The deal review becomes a pass through the assumed list: which one matters most this week, and what will the rep ask on the next call to confirm it? The pipeline review template covers the forecast side.
Every late-stage deal raises the same question: which of these steps has the buyer confirmed? In Replicate Labs, deals are staged by buyer evidence, so the rep can see which steps are confirmed and which are guesses. The rep then talks the deal through with Caty on a call, by voice or video, to prepare the next conversation with the champion. Typing is the fallback. See bring a deal and drive deal execution, or talk to us about one opportunity of yours. For a deal that has already stopped moving, see how to coach a stalled deal.
FAQ
How do you write a close plan? Write down the buyer's reason and date in their words, then work backwards to list every step before signature: approvals, legal, security, procurement. Name a buyer-side and seller-side owner for each, tag each step confirmed or assumed, turn the assumed steps into questions for the next call, and review the plan with the champion on a call.
What should a sales close plan include? A close plan should include the buyer's reason for buying and their date, seven to nine milestones from today to go-live, a named owner on each side for every step, a date for each, a confirmed or assumed tag with the evidence for confirmed steps, and the next dated step on both calendars.
What is the difference between a close plan and a mutual action plan? A close plan usually starts as the seller's internal document, while a mutual action plan is shared with the buyer and edited by them. Both list the steps to signature. In practice a close plan becomes a mutual action plan once the champion has reviewed and corrected it on a call.
When should you create a close plan? Create a close plan once the buyer has a reason and a date, usually after discovery confirms the problem and before the proposal. Writing it earlier exposes the decision process while there is still time to work it. Writing it at the end of the quarter tends to produce a plan that works back from the seller's date.
How do you get the buyer to agree to a close plan? Build it from their date and their reason, then review it with the champion on a call and ask where it is wrong. Buyers engage with a plan that helps them hit their own deadline and get approval internally. Share it in writing only after the champion has corrected the shape.