Targeting a relationship need
How do you successfully build deeper engagement with your target accounts and drive ABM opportunities forward?
Think of it like a relay race.
Each runner - each person in the decision-making unit (DMU) - takes the baton and pushes the deal forward.
But winning the race isn’t about how fast one person runs. It’s about how seamlessly the baton is passed between runners and how well they work as a team to reach the finish line.
Good ABM programs target accounts effectively by understanding the needs and challenges of each individual stakeholder.
They engage with key players one-on-one, ensuring each person feels heard.
But great ABM programs take it a step further.
They don’t just focus on individual runners. They focus on the handoff.
Multithreading is about creating a connected narrative that links the whole DMU together.
It’s about orchestrating conversations that align everybody involved so that each person not only understands your solution but sees how it fits within their team's broader goals.
The result?
Instead of isolated buy-in, you get a unified decision-making process that drives momentum and accelerates the deal.
In today’s complex B2B landscape, the real win comes from ensuring the entire team crosses the finish line together, closing the deal.
So, ready to get started?
Let’s multithread!
This play involves creating personalized, role-specific messages for each decision-maker, while simultaneously weaving these interactions into a broader, cohesive conversation.
A primary aim is to drive meetings with multiple stakeholders invested and actively participating in the conversation.
The goal is to ensure that each person sees the value of your solution, not just from their individual perspective, but in alignment with the collective priorities of the entire decision-making unit.
1. Establishing cross-functional influence: Building tailored messaging that resonates with the unique priorities of each key persona—whether they’re in IT, finance, or operations. The goal is to align their individual objectives with your solution, ensuring broader buy-in across the organization.
2. Creating cohesive conversations: Shift from isolated interactions to multithreaded conversations facilitating communication between stakeholders, so your solution becomes the common thread in their discussions and decision-making process.
3. Driving faster decision-making: Instead of waiting for individual stakeholders to raise concerns in silos, engage the entire decision-making unit in collaborative dialogue. This helps resolve conflicts and objections early, reducing delays and moving the opportunity forward faster.
This play is ideal for complex B2B sales, where decision-making involves multiple stakeholders across departments or regions, each with their own concerns.
It’s particularly effective for enterprise-level accounts undergoing significant transformations - whether digital or organizational - that require a more consultative sales approach to secure buy-in from a wide range of executives.
Given the depth of insights and personalization involved, this play works best for high-priority accounts with the potential for significant returns.
It may focus on a small number of One-to-one accounts or scale to 10-15 accounts in a One-to-few approach with a lighter touch.
To measure the success of the Multithreading ABM Play, it's important to look beyond surface-level metrics like engagement rates and dig deeper into how well you're influencing and aligning the decision-making unit.
Here are the key metrics that would indicate success:
Metric: Number of engaged stakeholders across the account’s decision-making unit (DMU).What to track: Monitor how many decision-makers (CIO, CFO, IT heads, etc.) you’re able to engage within the target account. Measure individual touchpoints such as email open rates, event attendance, content downloads, and social media interactions. The more people you engage, the stronger your multithreaded approach will be.(Tip: Make sure that you set up your CRM so that you tag and label relevant job titles so you can easily identify where you have gaps in your account engagement)
Metric: Depth of engagement with each persona.What to track: Assess how deeply each key persona is involved in the process. For instance, did they attend multiple meetings, participate in demos, or engage with technical content? Depth is crucial to moving stakeholders from awareness to advocacy within the DMU.
Metric: Degree of alignment within the decision-making unit.What to track: Qualitative feedback or insights from internal discussions between stakeholders. Look for signs that the stakeholders are talking to each other about your solution and aligning around its benefits. This can be measured through feedback from your internal champions or by noticing a reduction in objections or conflicts.
Metric: Change in deal velocity compared to accounts without multithreaded engagement.What to track: Measure how quickly deals move through the pipeline. Engaging multiple stakeholders and aligning them can accelerate the decision-making process, reducing the time from initial engagement to close.
Metric: Increase in pipeline value and deal size.What to track: Track whether multithreaded engagement leads to larger deals, as more stakeholders are brought into the process, broadening the scope of the solution. Measure the growth in overall pipeline value from accounts where this play is executed.
Metric: Percentage increase in closed/won deals.What to track: Analyze the win rate for accounts where you’ve successfully implemented the multithreading play compared to those where fewer stakeholders were involved. More stakeholder engagement often leads to higher trust and a greater likelihood of deal closure.
Metric: Strength of relationships and willingness of stakeholders to act as advocates.What to track: Use relationship health checks or surveys to assess the quality of your relationships with key personas post-sale. A strong multithreading approach should result in stakeholders becoming advocates for your solution internally, helping sustain long-term partnerships.
These metrics give you a well-rounded view of how effectively your multithreading efforts are influencing the decision-making unit, accelerating deals, and ultimately increasing revenue.
By tracking both quantitative (engagement, deal size) and qualitative (alignment, relationship health) metrics, you’ll have a clearer picture of success.
Before engaging with your account, you need to deeply understand the decision-making unit. It’s not just about identifying the personas involved, but gathering insights that help you to understand their sphere of influence—who holds decision-making power, who influences who, and how each stakeholder interacts with the buying process and when.
Example: In a cybersecurity deal, the CIO might be the primary decision-maker, but they are heavily influenced by the CISO (for technical requirements) and the CFO (for financial approval). Meanwhile, the COO might care about operational uptime, while the Head of Risk Management focuses on compliance. Mapping this out visually shows you who to engage, how they influence each other, and who can help move the deal forward.
▲ Example DMU map
Once you understand the DMU, you need to align your value proposition to each stakeholder. Create personalized messaging pillars for each stakeholder based on their specific concerns, but also ensure these messages connect into a broader narrative for the whole team.
A great way of doing this is to think from a ‘if-this-then-that mindset’. For example - If the CISO can be assured that your solution will reduce ransomware recovery time and prevent breaches (a technical concern), then it makes the CFO’s job easier by minimizing financial risk and avoiding fines from regulatory non-compliance. This way, you show how solving one stakeholder’s problem benefits others within the DMU.
▲ Example content formats
To execute a multithreaded ABM strategy effectively, it's crucial to tailor content to each stakeholder’s relationship needs within the decision-making unit (DMU). Personalized content must align with both the persona’s specific challenges and their role in the broader decision-making process.
As shown in the image, different relationship needs require different content formats. Here’s how you can apply this in practice:
Building relationships with blockers: Use content like a personalised Stakeholder Manifesto to address concerns and demonstrate how your solution solves key pain points. This format can help overcome resistance by focusing on specific objections or blockers with a specific member of the DMU.
Influencing key decision-makers: Deliver Executive Briefings tailored to decision-makers, such as the CIO or CFO, that highlight the strategic benefits of your solution. This content should focus on high-level outcomes, such as cost savings or operational efficiency, that align with their priorities.
Engaging new decision-makers: To introduce your solution to new stakeholders, offer thought leadership content, such as a whitepaper or ebook. This can provide valuable insights into industry trends or demonstrate your authority in the space, while framing your solution as the answer to their specific concerns.
Accelerating stalled deals: If a deal is stalled, use an ABM Account Roadmap to show a clear, step-by-step path forward. This visual roadmap can align different stakeholders on the benefits and implementation timeline, helping to reignite momentum.
By crafting content that directly responds to each stakeholder’s unique relationship needs, you can create a connected, multithreaded narrative that keeps your solution top-of-mind and moves the deal forward.
Armed with your personalized messaging and content it’s now time to execute the play by engaging the account on multiple fronts.
Create visibility and awareness of your brand by surrounding your account with personalized content, messaging, and ads. Each persona should receive tailored content that addresses their unique challenges and demonstrates how your solution fits their needs.
Example: In your ads, you could target the CIO with content about boosting security resilience, while simultaneously targeting the COO with messaging about minimizing operational downtime. You could also link stakeholders by running an ad that highlights how the CIO and CFO need to align on security investments to drive long-term business stability, demonstrating cross-department collaboration.
Work closely with your internal champions (e.g., CIO or IT manager) to personalize engagement strategies for other members of the DMU. Co-create a value-led business case with your champion, ensuring they have the tools to communicate the value of your solution to other stakeholders.
Example: Enable your champion by working with them to co-create personalized internal memos and scoping documents they can share internally. These documents should connect the dots between departments, showing how your solution benefits not only their team but others across the organization. This ensures they can advocate for your solution when you're not in the room.
Identify and arrange opportunities to get multiple members of the DMU in the same meeting. This helps foster internal alignment and allows different stakeholders to hear how your solution addresses their unique challenges while solving collective problems.
Leverage your champion or a well-connected stakeholder to organize a meeting with other decision-makers. For example, propose a joint executive workshop, a Lunch and Learn or an innovation workshop strategy session where the CIO, CFO, and CISO can openly discuss your solution and how it impacts their respective departments. These meetings not only address individual concerns but align the entire group on a unified approach.
Don’t let the momentum stop after one meeting. Regularly follow up with each member of the DMU to continue nurturing the relationship. Keep the communication mindful and relevant—provide value in every interaction.
After your initial meeting, send personalized follow-up materials to each stakeholder, such as additional case studies, insights into competitors' strategies, or updates on new features that specifically address their concerns. Continue to monitor the internal alignment and make adjustments to your strategy as needed.
By following these steps, you can execute a Multithreading ABM Play that engages multiple stakeholders, aligns their interests, and drives them toward a unified decision.
This structured approach not only creates deeper engagement but also accelerates the buying process in complex B2B sales environments.
Team Resources
Tools & Technology
Time & Effort
ABMer: To map the DMU, create personalized messaging, and coordinate campaigns.
Content Creators:For crafting tailored content that speaks to each stakeholder's needs.
Sales Alignment:Sales teams must collaborate with ABMers to ensure insights are shared and actions are aligned.
Client Success Managers:For relationship management and consistent follow-up with stakeholders.
CRMs and MAPs:Tools like Salesforce or HubSpot are essential for tracking interactions and automating personalized outreach.
Account Intelligence: Platforms such as LinkedIn Sales Navigator or ZoomInfo will enable you to gather insights on decision-makers.
Content Personalization: Tools like Folloze and Turtl can enable the creation of tailored content experiences for each persona.
Ad Platforms: ABM platforms like DemandBase, 6Sense and Terminus, along with LinkedIn, enable the delivery of account-based campaigns targeting specific personas.
Persona Research: Invest time to deeply understand the DMU and stakeholder needs.
Content Development: More time is needed for creating personalized content for different personas.
Coordination: Align marketing, sales, and customer success teams to ensure cohesive outreach.
Success in multithreading isn't just about initial engagement - it's about building sustained, cross-functional alignment within the account.
Track which stakeholders are responding most actively, and identify where conversations are stalling.
Use these insights to refine your approach: scale up personalized outreach to high-engagement personas and adjust your messaging for those less involved.
Continuous feedback loops with sales and marketing teams will help optimize the process, ensuring that you’re deepening relationships, improving deal velocity, and uncovering new opportunities to expand within the account.
The success of the Multithreading ABM Play lies in its ability to go beyond surface-level engagement.
By deeply understanding the decision-making unit, aligning your value proposition to each stakeholder, and developing personalized content that addresses specific relationship needs, you create a cohesive narrative that ties together the entire buying team.
This strategy ensures that no stakeholder is left behind in the relay race of building the business case for your solution, helping to foster alignment across departments, accelerate decision-making, and ultimately drive larger, more strategic deals.
By approaching ABM with this level of precision and coordination, you not only increase your chances of winning new opportunities but also build stronger, more lasting relationships within your accounts.
The multithreading play is about more than just engagement—it’s about creating alignment and momentum that leads to long-term success.
