4-step guide to multi-threading sales deals

What multi-threading means in sales

Multi-threading means building and managing multiple relationships within the same account so your deal doesn't live or die with one contact.

Most sellers know multi-threading is important but they struggle with execution. Getting it right helps prevent deals from stalling when one contact disappears.

Why multi-threading is a challenge for most sellers

1. You're unsure who actually drives decisions, making it difficult to focus on the right people.

2. You don't know how to ask for intros or engage leadership without making your champion uncomfortable.

3. You struggle to tailor outreach to different stakeholders, especially executives. 

4. You worry that direct outreach might backfire, impacting trust.

The 4-step guide to multi-threading

Here's how to multi-thread in your sales process:

Step 1. Identify & prioritize the buying team

Start by mapping the decision-makers and influencers before engaging with the account. Use Sales Navigator to create a lead list for roles you sell to within the target account. For example, if your product sells to security teams, your lead list should include the prospect's CISO, VPs of Security Engineering, Directors of Privacy, etc.

Saber's account mapping feature imports contacts from Sales Navigator, allowing you to map them, assign tags (e.g., decision maker, influencer, or detractor), and leave notes for each contact.

Step 2. Confirm the org structure

After mapping, validate the org structure with your primary contact to confirm who drives decisions. Ask questions like:

"I'd love to understand how decisions like this typically happen here. Besides yourself, who else would be involved in something like this?"

"Is there anyone else with interest in this project that we should keep in the loop?"

"Who has final sign-off authority on projects like this?"

Your job in these conversations is to learn about three key roles:

• Who makes the final call.

• Who controls the budget.

• Who else influences the decision.

Step 3. Build multiple paths to a closed-won

Before engaging with stakeholders, focus on who to engage first. Start with the people most impacted by your solution - e.g. end users and managers. Then work your way up to executives once you have internal momentum.

Once you know where the power lies:

• Send separate, personalized LinkedIn connection requests to each stakeholder.

• Follow up with separate emails tailored to their role.

• Reference your main contact by name, not just title (say "Sam Smith" instead of "Head of Security").

Create a unique point of view with your champion

Build a shared, unique point of view with your champion that summarizes:

• The current situation and challenges.

• What your solution solves for.

• The ideal outcome.
  
  

Saber automatically builds these unique POV! 

This POV becomes your talk track to engage leadership with messages like:

Hi Sarah,

We've been working with Tom on addressing threat detection response times. He mentioned this has become a mission critical issue for [company] this quarter given the recent industry breaches.

Here's how our solution can help streamline your security operations...

You've now transformed cold outreach into a warm message that shows you understand their world.

Email templates that actually work

After a meeting with one stakeholder, email others without asking for time to meet:

Hi Stefan,

We're scheduled to connect with Alex this Thursday to discuss reducing your team's incident response time from 45 minutes to under 10 minutes per alert.

No ask of you here - just keeping you in the loop. I'll share a summary after our meeting.

Following up with an exec after talking to their team:

Hi Tarsi,

I just wrapped up a call with Michael from your SecOps team about:

- Reducing false positive alerts by 60% through our AI-powered threat assessment

- Automating response to common security incidents to free up your analyst team

Michael has built a solid foundation with your current security stack, and he's focused on taking your threat detection to the next level.

Next week, we'll show how similar financial services companies like North Bank and South Bank have used our platform to improve their security posture.

I'll keep you updated after our review.

After a group meeting, reconnect 1:1 with each attendee:

Hey Alex,

Thanks for today's security planning session. I found your thoughts on compliance interesting.

Before our follow-up meeting next week, I was hoping to better understand your priorities for the security automation project.

Any perspective you could share on the key metrics can make our next call more productive.

Do you have 15 minutes for a quick call to discuss?

Step 4. Don't send templated messages

Before reaching out to someone, take the time to research them properly. Look at their LinkedIn profile, check what they posted or commented on, analyze their communication style, and understand their priorities before messaging them.

Researching each contact takes time. Saber handles this automatically across each prospect, so you can focus on engaging the right people instead of spending time on LinkedIn.

Maximize your LinkedIn outreach:

• Add relevant stakeholders and engage with their posts & comments (without being annoying).

• Reply with useful info so they remember who you are.

• Use LinkedIn voice memos instead of text once you've built a relationship.

• Ask your existing contacts for intel on new stakeholders before meeting them.
  
  

Summary

To summarize, here are the 4 steps to multi-thread your sales deals:

1. Map decision makers and influencers - identify who you need to engage.

2. Confirm the org structure - validate how decisions actually happen.

3. Build multiple paths - create relationships at different levels of the organization.

4. Personalize your outreach – research contacts and tailor your messaging.

By improving your multi-threading skills, you'll never lose a deal because of a single point of failure again.