How To Create a Team Template

Overview

If you aren't starting from an existing Mutual Action Plan (MAP), then the first place to start developing your MAP is to brainstorm and plan it with your team. 📝 

You should be able to answer all of the questions below before you try creating your first MAP template in Align.
 



 

How to Create a Template

1. Create a prototype MAP, either from a previous template or from an Empty Plan
2. Edit your new MAP to reflect your existing Sales process (guidelines above)
3. Save it as a Template to be used as a repeatable process for Rep and Buyer

Step 1: Create a Default Value Proposition

Every MAP has a default Value Prop. The default Value Prop should be general enough to address a pain point you may identify in early discovery, but you should set expectations with your sales team to update each MAP with a custom Value Prop that reflects the individual needs of your customer.

Tip: Many companies will make one template per business initiative they solve or market vertical they serve. We also recommend creating additional templates from a base template to create consistency amongst your different teams.
 

Step 2: Create MAP Milestones

Target major milestones from Discovery through to at least Implementation and ideally all the way to Value Realized. We recommend starting with a simple tactical MAP with 4-5 Milestones, and then building to a more strategic MAP with 8-10 Milestones.

Try not to end on Close Date or commercial conversations (in a Clari Opportunity) as this demonstrates you are more focused on the business outcome than solving your customer’s problem. Exceeding 10 Milestones makes your MAP's status more difficult to view at a glance by a senior stakeholder.

1. Click Add Milestone or select an existing Milestone to edit
2. Edit Title, Description, Start Date, End Date, Roles, Resources, and Actions
3. Click Save to publish changes

Step 3: Save MAP as a Template

Before you save your MAP as a template, review your MAP by and make sure:

1. The MAP does not reference a specific customer name in the Value Prop, Milestones, or related fields
2. The relative dates of each Milestone adhere to your sales cycle

Tip: Any Files in the original MAP will be copied with the Template. Buying and Selling Teams, Comments, Customer Logo, and Important Dates will not be replicated in the Template as they are always unique to a specific opportunity.
 

After you've reviewed your MAP, select Save Map as Template and add a name to save your new Template. Once saved, the template will appear as a plan option for all Sellers when creating a MAP.

Assign Templates to a Hierarchy Node

When enterprise organizations are setting up Align, they often want to use different templates for different teams. For a team of 1,500 sellers, there can easily be 40 templates or more created.

Org Admins can organize templates according to the Clari hierarchy. So that, for example, the eastern team will only see the 3 templates that the eastern team needs — not templates for all the other teams. This helps admins keep templates organized, and reps streamline the decision-making when choosing a template for end users. Read our article on how to assign templates to a hierarchy node to learn more.