# De-escalation Sequencing: the Order of Operations When an Account Is on Fire

Escalations are lost through sequence errors — the right actions in the wrong order (discount before diagnosis, exec call before facts, promises before feasibility). This is the order of operations.

## The sequence

**1. Stabilise the human (hours).** Before any solution: the frustrated stakeholder needs evidence they've been HEARD by someone senior. The acknowledgment call has three beats — reflect the problem in their words, own the impact without weasel phrasing ("I know this cost your team a weekend"), commit to a specific next update time. No fixes promised yet; premature promises are the #2 killer.
**2. Establish the facts (same day).** The internal timeline: what actually happened, when we knew, what was said by whom. The account team's narrative and the ticket history routinely disagree — reconcile BEFORE anyone senior speaks, because a fact error in the exec call resets trust to below zero.
**3. Diagnose the real grievance.** The stated issue (the outage, the bug) is often the trigger, not the wound. The wound is usually one of: felt-deprioritised · surprised (no warning) · looks-bad-internally (champion exposed to their boss) · value-doubt (this confirmed existing scepticism). The remedy must treat the wound; fixing only the trigger of a looks-bad wound leaves a detractor with a working product.
**4. The remedy, matched and feasible.** Technical fix with dates engineering CONFIRMED (the #1 killer is a remediation date invented in the meeting) · relationship remedy if the wound is relational (named senior contact, review cadence) · commercial gesture LAST and only attached to the plan — credits offered early read as guilt money and reprice the relationship.
**5. The exec touch, staged.** Exec-to-exec only after facts are solid and remedy drafted — the call's job is weight and commitment, not improvisation. Brief your exec on: the wound (not just the trigger), the three commitments they may make, and the one they must NOT.
**6. Close the loop, then over-deliver the cadence.** Deliver every commitment visibly; updates at promised times even when the update is "no change". The account was watching whether you're who you claimed during the crisis — cadence is the proof.

## What kills escalations

Improvised dates · multi-channel chaos (three people making different promises — appoint ONE owner in hour one) · treating the champion as the enemy (they're your co-author; arm them internally) · declaring victory at the fix instead of at restored usage.
