Win More Deals With Multi-threaded Conversations

Multi-threading — having more than one stakeholder engaged during a meeting or sales process — matters.

The days of speaking with one person throughout the entire sales process are long gone. Not only do you need to speak with nearly seven people before a buy decision is made, you have to ensure you are speaking with the right people (and having the right conversations with the right people).

Many of our B2B customers realize the importance of getting the right people on calls, which is why we built an algorithm to measure whether reps are talking to “Decision Makers” and “Authority” early on in the sales process. It automatically identifies moments like “the last time you bought a software solution, who was involved in the process?” and “can you walk me through how the decision to bring on a solution like ours would look?” and “Tell me more about your role?”

A multi-threaded sales process is so important that People.ai has a built-in feature alert when a deal is only being single-threaded.

The Talk-Listen Ratio: The Next Evolution #

Chorus.ai separates the voices on sales calls.

Our research team developed a patent-pending framework that uses deep learning to automatically generate a “voice fingerprint” for each sales rep using a combination of vocal characteristics. Our software can even identify what different speakers are saying even if they are sharing the same meeting room.

But our customers demanded we go even deeper. They wanted to know how engaged every buyer is in the conversation.

The Power of Multi-Threading: Digging into the Data #

We analyzed the impact of having multiple prospects on over 18,000 B2B sales opportunities.

The results even surprised us:

1. On Closed/Lost deals, the average number of engaged prospects across all meetings is 1.002. On Closed/Won deals, the average number of engaged prospects across all meetings is 1.533. That’s a 50% increase!
2. 68% of all appropriately multi-threaded deals, have multiple people on the call.
3. On Closed/Won deals, each prospect must be “engaged.”*

*Engaged = speak for 5+ minutes in a 30 minute meeting; 10+ minutes in a 60 minute meeting

Ways to Multi-Thread More Effectively #

Let’s translate the above insights into what we can do differently in future meetings:

A few suggestions:

• Too many meetings with only a single stakeholder could spell the deal is at risk.
• Schedule meetings with multiple stakeholders when possible. Build this multi-thread approach into your “next steps” process when crafting the meeting agenda.
• In meetings with multiple prospects on the same call, ensure they are speaking with each other. Remember: As a sales rep, your job is to facilitate the conversation. Prospects are more likely to pull you into internal meetings if you are seen as a helper — someone who can solve their issue versus just talking about your product.
• Pay attention to who isn’t talking and look for ways to engage them in the conversation. Senior people often speak the least. They may not utter a single word. This does not mean they are not listening. Pull them into the conversation by asking direct questions. Use their name. For example:

—“Jennifer, how would you build on what Robert just said?”

—“Jennifer, which of your priorities would you add to the list?”

Every sales rep wants to win more deals. Every company wants their sales reps to be more effective. A key component of increasing closed/won rates is not only multi-threading accounts, but also ensuring all stakeholders are engaged during every meeting.