Issue 14: How do you multi-thread?

Beware, the things you read on social media may be misleading.

A couple weeks ago one of my advisees asked how I might accomplish multi-threading a deal they were working. In enterprise sales, it’s important to engage all relevant stakeholders to ensure you’re not surprised by last minute detractors and dissent.

As he asked my thoughts, he sent over a LinkedIn post (see below) that had garnered nearly 700 likes and 60 comments. It was from a former salesperson suggesting a framework to use in multi-threading enterprise organizations. Multi-threading refers to the tactic in enterprise sales were you engage multiple stakeholders in an organization to get to a common vendor decision (hopefully putting you as the preferred vendor!).

Given he found my thoughts to be helpful, I’m sharing them now with you all. As you can see from the back and forth, although the framework in the post may have worked for this former rep, it won’t work for everyone and in fact, could have detrimental impact on champion building. So the next time you see a sales tip on LinkedIn or X, fact check it with someone who you trust in the field. Engagement on social media doesn’t necessarily mean it’s advice you should follow blindly!

Here is the back and forth on Slack that we had:

Startup founder: Curious to hear if you have any feedback on multi-threading post-group meeting? Most of the advice I’ve read online is basically like this

Me: This is interesting! So I think this is all helpful but I don’t agree with the following-up 1:1 with each person. I think you should see if a debrief could work with the 1 champion or sponsor who is tasked with leading the initiative. Were you able to gather that from the call?

If you email each person 1:1, I think it could feel manufactured and I think it’s more important to have a single point of champion and build on that relationship so that they can give you backchannel details that won’t be possible if you’re trying to build relationships with each person 1:1.

Startup founder: Thanks Peter - exactly the nuance I was looking for

Me: glad to hear it! Yeah I think the LinkedIn post’s author’s intentions are great and it’s comprehensive, but I’m not sure #3,#4, and #5 are worth the squeeze and I’d prioritize champion building 🙂 

Startup founder: For sure, and I’m thinking it could also risk setting a weird tone with the champion if we separately were hunting for these 1:1’s without their knowledge?

Me: 100% It might make them squeamish that there are backchannel discussions they aren’t involved with

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