Why Sales Multi-Threading Can Make or Break a Deal
You’ve been working on a sales opportunity for months, and it’s about to close.
But what!
Your main contact informed you that they’re resigning from their role. Not only that, but they’re unaware of who your new contact is, and you don’t have a direct line of access to the decision-maker.
This is called being single-threaded in sales. It’s when you only have a relationship with one contact within an account. Focusing on one contact poses a lot of risks to your deal, including it being stalled or lost.
How do you tackle this challenge? Use multi-threading in sales. It is a sales technique used to build multiple relationships with different stakeholders. It can accelerate a deal, improve win rates, and ensures your opportunity stays on the right track.
Read below to learn about multi-threading in sales, the benefits, and how to implement the technique in your process.
What is multi-threading in sales?
Multi-threading in sales refers to developing relationships with multiple stakeholders and decision-makers in the company you’re selling to.
This sales technique increases the chances of having more than one thread or contact within an opportunity.
Buying decisions in B2B sales are rarely made alone. Multi-threading is especially important in lengthy and complex sales cycles, or decision-makers need challenges to get a hold of. By connecting with multiple stakeholders, you’re increasing your chances of making a sale.
According to the bestselling book, The Challenger Customer, the standard B2B deal involves 6.8 stakeholders on the purchasing side. The number is usually even higher for companies selling enterprise and complex products.
With more and more people getting into a deal, sales reps should take a needs based selling approach to understand the desires of each stakeholder.
On the flip side, deals get risky when you’re single-threaded in an account.
The lesson here is that multi-threading can make or break a deal. So, build numerous relationships within an account as quickly as possible.
What are the benefits of multi-threading?
Multi-threading not only can speed up or save a deal. It also plays a key role for companies attempting to sell into enterprise companies and chase more significant, more complex deals.
There are several benefits of multi-threading in sales:
1. Your main contact goes dark
We’ve all been in a situation when we’re near the finish line, and our main contact goes dark on us. The second it happens, we know we either must push out the close date, or the opportunity is likely lost.
This common situation is why building multiple relationships within an account is critical. You can’t predict when or why someone will go dark.
You can engage other stakeholders through sales multi-threading if your main contact doesn’t respond.
For example, email or send a message on LinkedIn to another stakeholder to ask if they can ping your main contact. Or to get their feedback on your product or service.
2. Faster sales cycles
Multiple contacts can accelerate a deal, specifically when speaking with decision-makers and influential people.
According to Gartner, by 2026, B2B organizations that unify commercial strategies and leverage multithreaded commercial engagements will realize revenue growth that outperforms their competition by a whopping 50%
When you only have one contact, your deal can slow down significantly or entirely come to a stop. Your main contact must run through hurdles to find contacts who can approve contracts, legal, or budget.
When this happens, you’ll likely need to resell your product or service to every decision-maker during the buying process, even when you have already done so.
By multi-threading in sales, you can engage them earlier in a sales process rather than selling to each person individually at different times.
3. Improve win rate
Sales multi-threading increases the likelihood of making a sale because it allows you to engage with multiple decision-makers within an organization.
Multi-threading can help you improve your win rate by increasing your touchpoints with potential buyers.
4. The main contact leaves their job
Let’s say you’re running a sales process, and you’re right at the finish line. But then, your main contact abruptly tells you they’ve either accepted a job at a new company or a different department.
Well, now your deal is at risk of not closing at all. Unforeseen changes like this are why sales multi-threading ensures your deals are protected from resignation.
It’s no surprise since employee turnover can be up to 24% as more people look for different jobs.
You can still engage with other decision-makers within the organization who could move your deal forward.
Multi-threading vs. single-threading
Single-threading in sales is when you work with one stakeholder in the organization.
We’ve covered many advantages, but what are the positive traits of being single-threaded?
This works best when you’re selling high-volume transactional sales that don’t require an evaluation by other stakeholders.
Here are several advantages:
Stronger rapport and bond
Since you’re working with only one contact, your energy and time are focused on one person.
If you’ve established trust, being single-threaded can help you build a much stronger bond with the prospect than splitting your time amongst multiple stakeholders. Over time, it can create help create a loyal advocate out of the customer.
Simple and straightforward sales process
As mentioned, being single-threaded works best when it’s a transactional sale that only needs to involve one buyer.
Due to this simple process, closing a deal can be very fast and relatively straightforward. You don’t need to sell to multiple stakeholders or have conversations with executive decision-makers. Instead, it’s a straightforward process from the first meeting to close.
That said, there are many more disadvantages than advantages of being single-threaded. By relying on just one person, you risk overlooking feedback from other vital stakeholders.
In 2021, 86% of reps said they’ve either lost or had a deal delayed because a champion changed roles.
The numbers don’t lie. Solely relying on one individual is a risky choice in sales.
How to implement multi-threading in sales
Multi-threading sales is an effective sales technique that takes decision and practice. When done right, it can help you close more deals.
Here’s how you can implement it within your company.
1. Research your accounts
As with any sales process, research is the first and most important aspect of sales multi-threading. Learn about your prospects, their goals, how their organization is managed, and who the right people to contact are.
As you research, you should find answers to these fundamental questions:
- Who are the decision-makers in the company?
- Who else can influence major buying decisions?
- What are their roles and responsibilities?
- What are their priorities?
- Why would they buy, and why now?
- What would prevent them from purchasing our solution?
Uncovering the answers to these questions gives you a better chance at sales multi-threading. Without research, you’ll find that the sales process becomes a guessing game.
2. Create an account map of key stakeholders and decision-makers
An account map provides an overall view of a company’s organizational structure, including key stakeholders, decision-makers, and the relationship between them.
It is a great visualization used to understand who you need to speak with and who they report to.
Additionally, an account map provides visibility into business areas that have yet to speak with. And it identifies key decision-makers that have existing relationships.
This information can improve your chances of making a successful sale.
3. Build relationships at different levels
With numerous stakeholders joining a sales process, building multiple relationships at different levels is essential.
Sales is a team sport, so you can get key players within your company to help build relationships. Important decision-makers or executives want to speak with their peers.
For example, offer to connect their VP of Marketing with your VP after a discovery call. Or connect their C-level executive with yours C-level executive.
Empowering people in your company to build relationships with others in adjacent roles will improve the chances of winning the deal.
To do so, ensure everyone on your team is on board with the plan. Ask your main contact early on about the idea of connecting executives together.
4. Empower your current contact
Many sales reps make the mistake of thinking they need to speak to the decision-maker to make a sale, but this is only sometimes the case.
Mobilizing your main contact to sell internally is often more effective.
By asking questions about who made a recent similar purchasing decision or who decided to buy the solution that your product will replace, you can gain valuable insights into the decision-making process. Provide your main contact with resources such as a presentation deck, one-pagers, and talk tracks so they can sell internally on your behalf.
Build a strong relationship with your main contact, and they’ll do their best to gather the right stakeholders and push the deal forward.
5. Incorporate sales multi-threading into training
Sales multi-threading is like any technique. It can be learned, coached, and trained.
Incorporate multi-threading in sales training programs to ensure that you and your team adopt the technique. Share how you or your team are using it during sales team meetings or one-on-ones with your manager.
By constantly reinforcing the habit, you’ll create behavioral change with your sales reps.
Tips for multi-threading in sales
Use LinkedIn for sales multi-threading
LinkedIn is a great sales prospecting tool.
Use LinkedIn to connect with multiple people within an account and research their roles and responsibilities.
Don’t go straight to the sales pitch when you connect with them. Instead, share valuable content consistently.
Connect to a company-wide initiative
When speaking with your main contact, they’ll tell you about their needs, goals, and pain points. Stopping there is simply not enough.
Effective multi-threading in sales means connecting their needs to a larger company-wide initiative or business problem.
Engage stakeholders before and after a meeting
When you see multiple people joining a meeting on a calendar invite, you must reach out to them beforehand.
Ask each person what they’d like to accomplish during the call to ensure their voice is heard.
After the call, send a follow-up mail to each stakeholder thanking them for their time and asking what feedback they have.
Additionally, connect with your main contact for a post-meeting review to get feedback from others.
Ask your champion to make an introduction
If you have a strong champion, they will be willing to introduce other business leads.
For example, if your product or service touches different departments, then ask for an introduction to each person to ensure that the entire solution sees a successful implementation.
Multi-thread early as possible
When trying to multi-thread, it’s essential to do so early in the sales process.
If you wait until the end, many deal risks can happen, such as employee resignation, ghosting or deals stuck in budget review.
Attempt to sell multi-thread in the initial part of the sale, such as the discovery call.
Final thoughts: sales multi-threading can make or break a deal
Multi-threading in sales is a powerful way to improve efficiency and increase your team’s sales.
Building multiple relationships with numerous contacts ensures that each customer interaction is handled with care and that no opportunity is missed. Additionally, you can avoid risks such as employee resignation, stalled deals, or budget cuts.
Understand the main contacts within your accounts, research, and build an account map. Then make it a consistent habit to ask for introductions or engages decision-makers in your organization to reach out to your prospect’s main stakeholders.
Sales multi-threading isn’t easy, but it takes practice and dedication.
The benefits of multi-threading in sales are clear, so start using this technique today and see improved results!
