Multithreading Flashcards
What is a key reason why deals die?
We think one person from the prospect company is enough to close the deal.
Most of the time, not enough or the right stakeholders are engaged.
What is multi-threading?
Bringing the right people, at the right time, into your deals.
What’s the relationship between size of deal and number of stakeholders / frequency of contact point?
Bigger deal = more stakeholders + more contact points
BUT not all the time, get the right people at the right time
What must you do with your champion?
Test them. After your first call, test if they will actually vouch for the product or not.
Do this by asking to invite the decision makers onto the next call. If they aren’t willing to do this, they aren’t your champion
How do you keep stakeholders engaged even if they aren’t in meetings?
Email them individually (1:1!) with a quick update of progress.
This will typically be with senior stakeholders who push you down. That’s fine, just make sure you keep them up to date over email, so they can rejoin talks when needed.
Do this for each of the stakeholders and align the emails to their priorities.
Why multi-thread deals?
The more people you have engaged + interested, the more likely you are to close a deal
How do the number of people on calls affect the outcome?
If there aren’t 3+ people on the second call, there’s 161% less chance of closing a deal.
What are the two types of buyer involved in any deal?
Functional buyer + Economic buyer (can be same person)
Functional = need for precision, expertise focus + departmental incentives
Economic = assess cost of inaction, business goal oriented + firm-wide incentives
Which 3 key stakeholders do you need to identify at the prospect company?
Functional buyer, economic buyer + champion
What should you expect from a champion?
Champion should be expected to:
bring other people into deals
sell your product internally
give you access to information
work with you on your pitch
What’s your secret weapon for multi-threading?
Giving context + information you’ve uncovered to the stakeholders that you want to be engaged.
What is a bad thing to say when setting up demos / on a cold call + trying to multithread?
‘I’ll leave the invite open so feel free to invite your team along.’
It’s nice but it isn’t results driven. Instead, ask who would be the buyer, ask what they care about + ask them to be on the call.
What do people get annoyed at during multi-threading?
Being emailed and asked to come to meetings without context.
With context, it’s great. No one ever get’s annoyed at being given information.
Red flags to look out for on multi-threading?
Low engagement (no questions being asked, no emails/calls etc)
Less than 3 stakeholders
Getting blocked to higher stakeholders
Getting pushed down
What should you always be with your Champion?
Demanding
Sceptical of their intentions
Ready to lose them if they aren’t the right champion
