If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my years as a solutions engineer, it’s that no deal ever follows the exact path you expect. You can build the perfect mutual plan, outline your decision criteria, and map out every stakeholder — and then one conversation, one reorganization, or one new face in the room shifts everything.
Change is the only constant in complex sales. The question isn’t if it will happen, but how you respond when it does.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately as my team has been working through several enterprise deals that, on paper, were running smoothly — until they weren’t. People changed roles. Budgets got reallocated. Priorities shifted. And yet, the teams that handled these changes best weren’t the ones who had the “easiest” deals — they were the ones who were prepared.
Preparation Makes Change Less Stressful
Preparation doesn’t mean predicting the future. It means being ready for it. When you’ve done the work upfront to deeply understand the customer’s business, to map stakeholders, and to build internal champions, change doesn’t feel like chaos — it feels like a course correction.
One of the practices I emphasize with my team is scenario thinking. Before every major meeting or milestone, we ask:
- What could change here?
- Who else might need to be involved?
- What if this stakeholder leaves, or a new one joins?
- What’s our plan if priorities shift mid-deal?
By having those discussions early, we’re not scrambling when change hits — we’re adapting.
Multithreading: The Best Insurance You Can Have
If you’ve ever lost a deal because one champion left the company or a decision-maker went silent, you know the pain of single-threaded selling. It’s like building a bridge on one support beam — it looks fine until that beam gives out.
Multithreading — building relationships across multiple stakeholders in an account — is the antidote. It not only helps you gain a fuller picture of the customer’s needs, but it also gives your deal resilience.
When you’re multithreaded, personnel changes don’t derail the deal. They just redirect it. If your main contact leaves, you already have others in the loop who can vouch for the value you’ve created. If new executives enter the conversation, you have advocates who can help you reestablish context and momentum.
A few ways I coach my team to build multithreading into their rhythm:
- Ask early: “Who else is impacted by this initiative?” — It’s a simple question that opens doors.
- Include multiple stakeholders in your communications: Recaps, emails, and follow-ups should go to the group, not just your primary contact.
- Create shared ownership: Make your champions look good internally. When they see you as a partner in their success, they’re more likely to introduce you to others.
Staying Calm in the Chaos
Deals rarely go in a straight line. But preparation and multithreading turn unpredictability into something manageable. When you’re ready for change, it doesn’t shake you — it just gives you a new angle to work from.
That’s something I’ve been reminding my team (and myself) lately: calm comes from clarity. When you’ve done the work to know your deal, your stakeholders, and your story, you can adjust with confidence instead of reacting with stress.
Because in the end, great selling isn’t about controlling every variable — it’s about being ready for when they shift.
How do you prepare your deals to handle unexpected changes? What tactics have helped you stay steady when things move sideways?
