How Consultants Lose Deals Without Knowing Why

30 Jan 2026 · 1 min

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In this segment, the speaker explains the sales concept of “multi‑threading,” which means engaging multiple stakeholders within a client organization. Citing Gong’s analysis of 1.8 million opportunities, he notes that 77 % of won deals involve multi‑threaded engagement. He shares a personal story of losing a deal after only securing approval from a primary contact while neglecting key parties such as IT and the CFO, whose concerns later blocked the proposal. The speaker concludes with a concrete recommendation: before submitting a proposal, proactively build strong relationships with every stakeholder who will be impacted by the project.

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In sales jargon, engaging multiple people inside the client organization is called multi-threading. And according to Gong's analysis of 1.8 million opportunities, the vast majority, 77% of successful deals, are multi-threaded. I learned this the hard way. Early on when I was learning sales, I'd get an A+ from my main point of contact and then the proposal would get rejected. I later would find out that IT or the CFO had not been consulted and had concerns we never addressed. So before sending the proposal, build strong relationships with all stakeholders who would be impacted by the project you're proposing.