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Sales professionals, especially in project-based sales, understand the importance of keeping deals moving forward. Stalled deals are incredibly challenging to revive. Enter the Triple Double strategy—a team based selling method designed to keep deals in motion by building robust communication channels between your team and your client's team.
In this blog, we'll break down the Triple Double strategy and explain how it creates deal momentum, which is critical to closing deals faster and more efficiently.
What Is Deal Momentum and Why Does It Matter?
Momentum is essential to human psychology, and this applies directly to sales. The idea of momentum in deals refers to the positive forward movement of a conversation or negotiation. Deals that have momentum flow naturally, with both parties actively engaged, making progress toward a close.
In the video above, Darcy explains this through a powerful analogy: Imagine someone has $1 million in the bank but has been losing $400,000 per week. Despite still having $1 million, they’ll feel anxious, knowing their funds are dwindling. Conversely, someone with only $20,000 but a great business idea that’s attracting attention and investment will feel more optimistic because they have momentum on their side.
This concept translates into sales: a deal with momentum feels promising and active, while a stalled deal feels stagnant and in danger of falling through. Once a deal loses momentum, it’s difficult to reignite. In sales, you need to keep things moving—even if it’s in small steps—to maintain engagement from your buyers.
The Risk of Single-Threaded Deals
In traditional sales processes, a common pitfall is having only one person from your team engaging with one person from the client’s team. This single-threaded communication can become a bottleneck for the deal. If either individual gets busy, misses meetings, or becomes unavailable, the entire deal grinds to a halt.
As salespeople, we know that when communication stops, deals tend to lose energy and may even fall apart entirely. When conversations and negotiations lose momentum, it's much harder to pick up where you left off.
Enter the Triple Double Strategy
The Triple Double strategy is designed to keep deals moving by establishing multiple lines of communication between both sides. Instead of relying on one salesperson and one buyer, this approach involves:
Three people from your team
Three people from the client’s team
Three creative touchpoints between both teams (we’ll get into these later)
Having multiple people involved in a deal on both sides ensures that if one person is unavailable, others can keep the conversation going. This creates multiple layers of communication, meaning the deal can progress even if someone is absent for a day or longer.
This is crucial for larger, more complex project sales where deals can span weeks or even months. When you have three people from each side involved, there's always someone available to push the deal forward, discuss progress, or resolve any issues that arise.
How the Triple Double Strategy Works
Here’s how you can implement the Triple Double strategy for your project sales:
1. Three Team Members from Each Side
On your side, you'll want to bring in at least three team members. These could be from different departments—sales, leadership, technical, or finance. On the client’s side, aim to engage a similar mix of stakeholders.
By involving multiple individuals from each department, you're diversifying the conversation. For example, the technical people can discuss technical details, while leadership from both sides can discuss the strategic value. This way, you ensure that all aspects of the deal are being addressed.
Pro Tip: By using diversified communication, you create a “safety net” of sorts. If a salesperson or decision-maker becomes unavailable, the deal doesn’t stall out. Instead, momentum continues because other team members are still engaged.
2. Create Multiple Lines of Communication
The beauty of the Triple Double strategy is in its simplicity: instead of just one conversation happening between two people, there are now multiple conversations happening across departments and expertise levels.
For example:
Your Project Managers may be speaking with their Director of Operations.
Your technical expert could be discussing finer product details with their engineers.
Finance teams on both sides may be negotiating payment terms or budgets.
These multiple conversations keep the deal alive and moving, reducing the chance of it stalling out due to single-thread communication.
The Psychological Impact of Deal Momentum
As mentioned earlier, momentum plays a significant psychological role. Deals that are moving forward—even if slowly—feel alive and active. This creates a sense of urgency and importance in both the seller and buyer.
According to a famous war general, "I would rather find my army walking in the wrong direction than sitting still." In sales, this is particularly relevant. It's easier to adjust a deal's direction when momentum exists than to restart a dead deal. Keeping conversations moving is critical, even if you're taking small steps forward.
This is where the Triple Double strategy shines. With six active people involved, there’s less risk of the deal stalling. The more people are involved and engaged, the more momentum builds, creating a snowball effect that increases the chances of closing the deal.
Creative Touchpoints: Adding Value Along the Way
Another powerful aspect of the Triple Double is the concept of creative touchpoints. These are intentional actions you can take to keep the client engaged and add value throughout the sales process.
Creative touchpoints can include:
Sending personalized follow-up emails with useful information.
Sharing case studies that align with their industry.
Hosting a joint brainstorming session to ensure the client feels involved in the solution design.
By adding creative touchpoints, you keep the dialogue going while positioning yourself as a valuable partner, rather than just a salesperson. It also allows you to differentiate yourself from competitors who may be less proactive.
Maximizing the Triple Double for Big Deals
The Triple Double strategy is especially useful for large, complex deals. In these situations, there’s often a lot of back-and-forth, numerous decision-makers, and multiple steps involved in finalizing the contract.
For smaller deals or “bread and butter” sales, the Triple Double may not always be necessary—especially if resources are tight. However, for your biggest fish, the deals that can make or break a quarter, this approach is indispensable.
Bonus Tip: Cross-Department Collaboration Strengthens Deals
A key part of the Triple Double strategy is bringing in people from multiple departments. Sales talking to sales is important, but leadership-to-leadership or tech-to-tech conversations add an additional layer of credibility and trust. It shows the client that you’re invested in the deal from top to bottom and that your team is fully committed to the partnership.
Having leaders talk to leaders, finance talk to finance, and technical experts communicate directly with each other creates a sense of cohesion and partnership. Clients feel reassured knowing that every aspect of the deal is being carefully managed.
Boost Your Close Rates with the Triple Double
In project sales, where deals can take months to finalize, keeping momentum is critical. By leveraging the Triple Double strategy, you're ensuring that your deals stay on track by having multiple communication channels, engaging different departments, and keeping the client involved every step of the way.
Implement the Triple Double on your next big project and watch your sales momentum skyrocket. This multi-threaded approach will ensure you're not only driving deals forward but also closing them with more consistency and confidence.
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