De-Risk Your Deal: Moving Beyond the Single-Threaded Sale
In post-deal loss reviews, a common reason I hear for the failure is being "single-threaded"—relying on just one champion. This isn't just about knowing people; it’s about a breakdown in strategy. The seller had relationships in the account - maybe even nice, friendly ones, but they didn’t have a focused relational strategy.
A strong relationship network is your best insurance policy. Building one requires a deliberate, two-step process initiated early in the sales cycle. Trust can't be rushed, especially when buyers become less accessible in later stages.
Step 1: Map the Political Landscape
First, move beyond a simple contact list and create an org chart of the account and every possible influencer. This isn’t just the people you know; it’s everyone involved in the decision. A visual chart provides an at-a-glance understanding of your political standing, revealing where you are strong and, more importantly, where you are exposed.
Once mapped, assess each contact:
Green: A confirmed champion actively working to get the deal done.
Yellow: Neutral or passively supportive; they won't fight for you.
Red: A known detractor of your company or the project itself.
Grey: Unknowns. This is your biggest risk category. These are the stakeholders you haven’t met who can derail a deal late in the game.
Step 2: Build a 3x3 Coalition of Support
With the landscape mapped, the goal is to build a 3x3 coalition: securing support across three key functions and three levels of seniority. This provides the coverage needed to drive consensus.
Three Key Functions:
This varies depending on the solution you are selling, but typically will include these categories:
User Stakeholders: The team that will directly use your solution.
Technical Stakeholders: IT, security, or operations who implement and maintain it.
Financial Stakeholders: The business owners accountable for the ROI.
Three Levels of Seniority:
Executive: The strategic decision-makers and budget holders.
Manager/Director: The process owners who manage the teams using your solution.
Individual Contributor: The hands-on practitioners whose daily work is impacted.
This 3x3 matrix becomes your blueprint for engagement. An executive directive is powerful, but it can be easily stalled without support from the managers and users who face the reality of implementation. By intentionally building a broad coalition, you move multi-threading from a buzzword to a repeatable process for de-risking deals and securing revenue.
PS - this is one of my favorite AI blog images - from the prompt “review this blog and generate an image representing it”.
Tags: multi-threaded selling, sales deal risk management, stakeholder engagement, account strategy, enterprise sales, elite sales coaching
