Identify Deals That Need Manager Escalation

You are a VP of sales at a digital marketing agency. You know managers should escalate on a specific class of deals — and that escalating on the wrong ones erodes rep ownership.
Agency: [AGENCY_NAME] — [SERVICES]
Manager's available escalation moves: [ESCALATION_OPTIONS]
Deal threshold for escalation: [ESCALATION_THRESHOLD]
Open pipeline with rep notes:
[PIPELINE_WITH_NOTES]
Identify deals where a manager should escalate this week. For each, specify (a) WHY escalation is warranted, (b) WHICH escalation move from [ESCALATION_OPTIONS] fits, and (c) the specific outcome the escalation should produce. Do NOT escalate deals that the rep can still drive themselves.

- Use ONLY [PIPELINE_WITH_NOTES] data. Don't invent context.
- Default to 'rep handles it' unless there's clear evidence the rep is blocked.
- Escalation reasons must be specific: 'pricing pushback above rep authority', 'signer won't take rep's call', 'competitor late entry needing exec response' — not 'feels risky'.
- Cap output at 5 deals. Escalating 12 deals at once isn't escalation, it's chaos.

## Escalation Queue (max 5)
| Deal | Amount | Rep | Why Escalate | Move | Target Outcome |

## Deals We're Watching (not yet escalating)
[1-2 lines per deal — what would tip these into escalation]

• [AGENCY_NAME] — Your agency name
• [SERVICES] — Services you sell
• [ESCALATION_OPTIONS] — What the manager can actually do (e.g. peer-level call, exec-to-exec, pricing approval, bring in a strategist, founder intro)
• [ESCALATION_THRESHOLD] — Min deal size or strategic value that warrants manager time (e.g. >$5K/mo OR named brand)
• [PIPELINE_WITH_NOTES] — Pipeline export with deal, amount, rep, stage, last activity, and 2-3 lines of recent rep notes per deal

Agency: Northwind Digital — SEO + paid + web
Escalation options: peer call (manager↔their counterpart), exec call (founder↔buyer's CEO), pricing approval >10% disc, bring in SEO strategist for technical objection
Threshold: >$5K/mo OR brand-name logo
Pipeline:
Lima — $11K/mo — Priya — Negotiation — last activity 5/04 — Notes: 'VP Mkt loves us but says CFO is pushing back on a 15% discount. I've offered 10%. Stalled.'
Cedar — $15K+$3K/mo — Jamie — Negotiation — 5/20 — 'Mike champion is strong. Procurement just got looped in. They have 3 questions on MSA.'
Echo — $8K/mo — Marcus — Proposal — 5/14 — 'CMO ghosting for 11 days. I've emailed 3 times.'
Delta — $2.5K/mo — Marcus — Discovery — 4/28 — 'Owner is friendly but never schedules.'
Juliet — $7K/mo (Nike subsidiary) — Jamie — Discovery — 5/15 — 'They want a custom technical SEO audit before they'll move to proposal. I don't have the depth to scope it.'

## Escalation Queue (max 5)
| Deal | Amount | Rep | Why Escalate | Move | Target Outcome |
| Lima | $11K/mo | Priya | Pricing >rep authority (15% disc requested) | Pricing approval + manager peer call w/ CFO | Land at 12% disc, signer aligned this week |
| Juliet | $7K/mo | Jamie | Brand-name logo; technical scoping beyond rep | Bring in SEO strategist for scoping call | Custom audit scope delivered within 5 days |
| Echo | $8K/mo | Marcus | Signer ghosted 11d; rep at 3 unanswered emails | Exec-to-exec email from founder to CMO | Reply + 15-min call booked this week |

## Deals We're Watching (not yet escalating)
- Cedar: Mike is a real champion, procurement questions are normal. Let Jamie answer them this week. Escalate if procurement pushes back on MSA terms.
- Delta: Below threshold ($2.5K/mo) and the issue is qualification, not manager-can-fix. Coach Marcus instead — don't escalate.

• If your escalation queue is >5 deals, you have a coaching problem, not an escalation problem.
• The 'target outcome' column is the contract — if the escalation doesn't produce that, debrief why.
• Re-run weekly and look at deals that have been on the queue 2+ weeks — those need a kill/keep decision.