Complex projects can quickly become overwhelming without a step-by-step plan to guide your actions. Whether launching a product, starting a new marketing campaign or optimizing processes, an action plan can make your job much easier.
An action plan is like a GPS for business success – it’s a roadmap that helps you navigate from where you are to where you want to be, with turn-by-turn directions and hazard warnings.
In this article, you’ll learn what an action plan is, why they’re beneficial and how to create an action plan template that drives results.
What’s an action plan?
An action plan simplifies complex projects by breaking them into manageable tasks and providing clear directions from start to finish. Action plans lay out every aspect of your project in advance, making the journey from idea to execution smooth and stress-free.
Here’s an example of a simple action plan template:
The main elements of an action plan include:
Objectives. Clearly defined and overarching goals that guide your project.
Tasks or action items. Specific actions to complete at each phase of the project.
Responsibilities. Who’s in charge of each task.
Status. How far along is the project to completion.
Timeline. Deadlines and milestones.
Resources. What you need (e.g., budget, tools or personnel).
KPIs. Key performance indicators to measure success.
If your overall objective is to increase sales by 20% in Q4, you might break it down into key tasks like conducting marketing research, improving lead generation and training your sales team.
Afterward, you can create an action plan for each key task. Here’s an action plan example for the first step:
| Objective 1: Perform market research | Example |
| Task | Identify potential new markets |
| Responsibility | Marketing team |
| Begin date | October 1st |
| End date | October 7th |
| Resources required | Market analysis tools, budget for focus groups |
| KPIs | Number of potential new segments found |
Breaking down each objective into actionable steps ensures that your team knows their roles and timelines, making it easier to stay on track. Regular monitoring allows you to make tweaks and handle any obstacles that come up along the way.
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Action plan template
An action plan template can help you organize, track and adjust your action plan more quickly than creating one from scratch.
If you use a CRM, we’ll cover how to streamline the creation and monitoring of your action plan using the tools you already have. Read on to learn how to maximize efficiency and automate action plan processes.
If you’re not yet working with a CRM, here’s an action plan template for Google Sheets (you can easily convert this to an Excel file if you prefer).
7 ways actions plans help streamline tasks
Action plans help create a more organized, focused and productive business environment. Here are the main benefits of creating action plans:
Increased efficiency. Action plans break down complex goals into manageable tasks, streamlining processes and reducing effort.
More consistency. They ensure all team members follow the same steps, maintaining standard procedures and consistent outcomes.
Better planning. Outlining tasks, timelines and resources with strategic planning helps achieve specific goals.
Simpler tracking. Action plans provide clear benchmarks and KPIs, making monitoring progress and identifying areas needing adjustment easier.
More accountability. Assigning responsibilities in an action plan holds each team member accountable for specific tasks.
Improved communication. Clear action plans enhance communication, define expectations and reduce misunderstandings within your team.
Proactive problem-solving. Action plans help teams predict challenges and develop contingency plans in advance.
5 key types of action plan template
There are several types of action plans, each focusing on different areas like sales, marketing, operations and more. Tailoring your plan of action template to your specific needs ensures effective results.
Here are the main types of action plans and how they work.
| Type of Action Plan | Definition and Example |
| Strategic action plan | A strategic action plan (also known as a business action plan template) is a high-level, comprehensive blueprint for achieving long-term goals and company strategies. These plans are ideal for large initiatives like entering a new market, launching a new product line or making organizational changes. |
| Operational action plan | An operational action plan focuses on improving day-to-day business operations rather than large-scale organizational goals. They specify actionable steps to ensure operations run smoothly and effectively. |
| Marketing action plan | Marketing action plans are strategic documents that help boost market presence, enhance brand awareness or attract new customers. The aim is to convert marketing goals into concrete tasks with responsibilities, time frames and performance metrics. |
| Sales action plan | A sales plan outlines how to increase sales, enhance customer relationships and drive revenue growth. It’s ideal for teams that need to meet specific sales targets, improve sales processes or launch new products. |
| Corrective action plans | Corrective action plan templates are a methodological way to fix problems within your business processes. While the other action plans we’ve covered are proactive, corrective action plans are retroactive – the goal is to identify problems, find the root causes and fix them. |
How to write an effective action plan
Writing an effective action plan requires keen attention to detail. With a structured approach, you can streamline your process and boost productivity. Here’s how to write an action plan:
1. Determine your goals
The first step is to clarify what you want to achieve. Start by brainstorming what success would look like for your project.
Do you want to launch a new project or increase social media engagement? Be specific and define measurable objectives for each goal.
For example, instead of setting a vague goal like “increase website traffic,” aim for something tangible like “increase website traffic by 20% over the next three months.” This precise goal-setting means you can effectively track web visitors and gauge success.
Using SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) is helpful.
Defining your goals with these criteria allows for precise tracking and evaluation of progress. It also ensures your approach is more structured and aligned with broader company objectives.
Here’s what SMART goals entail:
Write down exactly what you want to achieve for each goal and, if necessary, break it into smaller sub-goals.
Tip: Not all goals carry the same urgency. Assess the importance of each of your goals and prioritize them accordingly. This approach will help you focus on pressing matters immediately, ensuring better resource use. Consider categorizing your goals into short-term and long-term objectives to guide your work plan, too.
2. Break down key steps
Once you have a clearly defined goal, the next step is to break it down into actionable steps. This process makes the task easier to tackle. It’s like climbing a mountain – instead of focusing on reaching the peak, you’ll concentrate on reaching base camp and following checkpoints.
If your goal is to launch a new product, you could break the process into a list of tasks, including:
Conduct market research
Design the product
Test the prototype
Develop a marketing strategy
Launch the product
Be thorough in your breakdown, ensuring each step is clear and actionable. Each task should tell you exactly what you need to do so there’s no ambiguity when it’s time to act.
Tip: Make sure each task in your breakdown is measurable. To do so, you need to define what success looks like for each action. For instance, if a step involves conducting market research, you could specify that it will involve “surveying 100 customers and analyzing feedback by the end of the month.”
3. Determine dependencies
Dependencies are tasks that rely on completing other tasks before they can start. Identifying these is crucial if you want your project to run smoothly. In our product launch example, you can’t begin prototype testing until the product design is complete.
Mapping out these dependencies creates a logical flow to activities and prevents bottlenecks from arising.
Start by looking at how each task connects with the others. Ask questions like, “Does this task rely on another task’s completion before it can begin?” Document these relationships so everyone understands how to move successfully through the plan.
Tip: Use process mapping to determine dependencies. Process mapping involves laying out all the tasks from start to finish. Create a flowchart (or Gantt chart) that outlines the sequence of activities to identify tasks that rely on the completion of others. This detailed mapping makes it easier to see the complete picture and how each small task contributes to the larger goal.
4. Set milestones and add deadlines
Milestones are significant points that mark the completion of phases in your project. Referring to our earlier mountain climbing metaphor, these are the camps and checkpoints after the base camp and when you plan to reach them.
For example, you might set a milestone for completing market research within the first month, followed by the design phase by the end of the second month. These markers help you celebrate achievements, assess progress and maintain motivation.
You also need to set deadlines for each milestone to complete tasks in a timely manner. When setting deadlines, consider each task’s complexity, required resources and potential obstacles.
Avoid overly ambitious deadlines as they could lead to errors, but avoid deadlines that are too far in the future and might reduce motivation.
Tip: Leverage project management tools to help set, visualize and track your milestones and deadlines. Software like Trello and Asana make it easy to create project plans and enable better time management. They also integrate with systems like Pipedrive to provide a complete project management ecosystem for your marketing and sales teams.
5. Identify required resources
You can’t execute a plan if you don’t have the necessary resources, including time, money, tools or team members. After you’ve set milestones and deadlines, you need to make an inventory of everything you’ll need to complete the project.
For instance, if you’re launching a product, you’ll need resources like design software, materials for prototyping and sales tools. Knowing your requirements avoids last-minute scrambles and ensures you’re well-prepared throughout.
Assess your available resources and determine what’s missing. These could include human resources (skills and expertise), financial resources and technological tools and materials.
Create a detailed list or spreadsheet if you’re dealing with a more complex project.
Next, match each task or milestone in your action plan with its specific resources. When aligning resources, consider both quantity and quality. For example, a critical task might require a more specialized skill set and a higher time commitment.
Tip: It’s important to try to anticipate shortages and plan accordingly. Create backup plans in case resources become unavailable. List alternative resources you could use and cross-train team members to handle different tasks. Building flexibility into your action plan prevents delays and helps you quickly adapt to unexpected changes.
6. Assign tasks
Task assignments outline each team member’s roles and responsibilities throughout the project. When assigning tasks, consider each team member’s strengths, skills and expertise.
Setting roles based on your employees’ preferences and capabilities helps you maximize productivity and satisfaction, ensuring the project runs smoothly.
For example, you might assign your marketing specialist the responsibility of developing the marketing automation strategy while the product designer focuses on the design phase.
Communicate the task details, objectives and deadlines to each team member. Outline your expectations for performance and provide any background information they’ll need to get the job done.
Tip: Empower team members by giving them a sense of ownership over their tasks. Make it clear that their contributions are crucial to the project’s success. Alongside your employee’s action plan template, create a communication plan and let team members know they can reach out for support if needed.
7. Review progress
Regularly reviewing your project’s progress is essential for staying on track and meeting goals. Ongoing assessment helps find problems early and enables course corrections that prevent minor problems from becoming major setbacks.
To track progress, schedule regular meetings to discuss task status, upcoming deadlines and potential roadblocks. Use the specific metrics and data you outlined in the goal-setting phase to make your progress reviews as objective as possible.
For instance, if your goal is to increase sales, examine metrics like monthly sales figures, conversion rates or customer acquisition numbers.
Tip: Seek feedback from your team members and stakeholders. Encourage open dialogue during progress reviews, allowing team members to share insights or concerns. Make sure to act on feedback quickly, adjusting your action plan to maintain alignment with objectives.
How to create an action plan with Pipedrive
Pipedrive is primarily a customer relationship management (CRM) system. However, you can easily use Pipedrive’s customizable features to create a powerful project action plan that drives results.
Here’s how to do it in seven simple steps.
1. Define your goals and create pipelines
Clearly define each of your project goals. Once you have a list of attainable goals, create a new pipeline in Pipedrive for each major project.
Pipelines represent the workflow of stages your tasks will move through to finish that goal.
2. Set up stages for each pipeline
Within each pipeline, set stages for key phases in your project.
For example, these stages might include “Planning,” “Execution,” “Review” and “Completion.”
3. Add deals or tasks to your pipelines
Instead of using Pipedrive’s deals for sales opportunities, you can repurpose them to represent specific tasks in your action plan. Create a new deal for each task (like “conduct market research”) and align them with the appropriate pipeline.
4. Assign responsibilities and deadlines
Use the “Person Responsible” field inside each deal to assign tasks to team members.
You can also set start and due dates for each deal to keep all relevant information in one place.
5. Use activities to stay on top of tasks
Pipedrive’s Activities feature can help you schedule meetings, calls and deadlines for each task in real time. You can add notes to each activity for details, instructions or updates.
6. Track progress with filters and dashboards
Pipedrive lets you track completion rates using filters and reports. Use Pipedrive’s filtering options to view tasks by person, priority or due date.
Generate custom reports to review progress and monitor the project’s status.
7. Regularly review and adjust
Keeping everyone in the loop enhances collaboration across tasks. Use Pipedrive’s calendar feature to schedule regular check-ins and review plans as needed.
Encourage team members to update progress on their assigned deals and share updates using integrated apps like Slack, Trello or email.
Improve your action plan with Pipedrive’s Projects add-on
Use Pipedrive’s Projects add-on to add even more powerful project management features to your action plan.
Here’s what it looks like to outline your project from kick-off to closing in Projects by Pipedrive:
Using the Projects add-on, you can:
Create Projects and populate them with relevant tasks, details, responsible team members and timelines
Track progress with the calendar or timeline view, making it easier to spot overlaps or bottlenecks.
Use Pipedrive’s commenting feature within projects and tasks to discuss updates, add notes or make changes
Take advantage of Pipedrive’s CRM analytics to evaluate project performance
Final thoughts
Crafting an effective action plan is the backbone of any successful project. You can set the stage for success by determining your goals, breaking them down into steps, assigning tasks and reviewing progress.
Ready to streamline your process even further? Give Pipedrive a try and transform your action planning process today.
