The value of multi-threading and the human connection

In a sales call last week a CMO at a prospective customer said something insightful, yet obvious when she was talking about her lead tracking use case. She said ‘leads are humans’.

But even single leads or ‘humans’ are not likely to be the only one who makes the sole decision to purchase a product. Before a deal is all ‘said and done’ there is typically a committee of cross-functional individuals with various perspectives who are all involved in the decision-making process.

According to Gartner, the average complex tech purchase involves between 14-23 people, many of whom are in senior roles. And as the spend increases so does the size of the buying team. Clari broke it down by deal size:

• Deals below $50,000 require seven external stakeholders to close successfully.
• Deals between $50,000 and 250,000 require 10 external stakeholders to close successfully.
• Deals over $250,000 require 19 external stakeholders to close successfully.

So, this all got us thinking here at Lantern about the value of human connections, champions and multi-threading.

In B2B, multithreading is the act of identifying, seeking and influencing multiple stakeholders within one account to build broader influence.

Benefits of multi-threading

Reduce risk

At Lantern, we are all too familiar with the impact a champion changing jobs can have on a current or prospective account. By not relying on a single point of contact, sellers are hedging their bet and making sure if their champion leaves or goes quiet, it doesn’t result in the deal stalling or getting lost.

Larger deals

Multithreading can also lead to larger deals. As more specific needs are identified across the organization, it builds a stronger relationship with the customer and may uncover more users and even other use cases. More human connections ensure more advocates. This is also true for Customer Success teams who are charged with expanding a customer and reducing churn.

Quicker road to closed-won

There is an adage most B2B sales people know. “Time kills all deals'' and most deals are fluid. When new stakeholders come into the mix late in the game it can cause significant delays and potentially jeopardize the deal. The more team members who are aware early on and whose motivations are clear, the more likely the deal will stay on track and close quicker.

The new way

The old way of identifying buying committees required a time-consuming process of going through the main champion and convincing them to reach out. Today, AI powered revenue tools have opened up a new avenue for sales people to uncover and understand who has moved, who is in the buying committee, and what their interests are.

Who, what, why and how of the buying committee

Effective multi-threading takes into account:

• Who is on the buying committee?
• What are their needs and interests?
• Why are they exploring your solution?
• How does one engage the right people?

Sales teams who surface all the movements in an organization, especially their champions, explore buyer intent and enable a multi-threaded automation post initial meeting or demo based on relevant interests will be more successful. The same holds true for Customer Success teams who effectively map the account and leverage AI Health Scores.

Account Mapping feature in Lantern’s Customer Cloud

Lantern’s Workflow Engine within the Champion Chaser and Customer Cloud platforms.

Want to learn how Champion Chaser’s job tracking, Buyer Intent + Customer Cloud’s Account Mapping–all powered by a powerful Workflow Engine can help multi-thread? Book a demo with us.

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