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SKILL.md
Customer Escalation Brief Skill
Produce a clear, concise escalation brief that gives internal stakeholders — VP CS, CCO, product leadership, or the CEO — everything they need to understand the situation, make decisions, and act fast.
A good escalation brief is not a complaint. It is a professional document that states the facts, assigns accountability honestly, and proposes a specific resolution plan.
Required Inputs
Ask for these if not already provided:
Account name, tier, and ARR
CSM name and account owner
Nature of the escalation — what happened, what the customer is saying
Timeline of events leading to escalation
Customer contact who escalated (name, role, influence level)
What the customer wants — their stated ask
What we believe the root cause is
What has already been done to address the situation
Renewal date and current renewal risk assessment
Escalation Levels
Calibrate urgency and audience based on escalation level:
Level
Trigger
Audience
Response time
L1 — Account Risk
Customer expressing dissatisfaction; renewal at risk
CSM + CS Manager
24 hours
L2 — Executive Escalation
Customer escalated to their exec; requesting vendor exec involvement
VP CS + Account Exec
4 hours
L3 — Churn Risk
Customer has issued notice or is in active churn conversation
CCO / CEO + Revenue leadership
1 hour
L4 — Public Risk
Customer threatening public escalation, legal, or press
CCO / Legal / Comms
Immediate
Output Format
Escalation Brief: [Account Name]
Escalation level: L[1/2/3/4] — [Label]
Date raised: [Date]
Raised by: [CSM name]
Escalation owner: [Name of exec or senior stakeholder now leading response]
Account at a Glance
Field
Detail
ARR
£/$/€[X]
Tier
Enterprise / Mid-Market / SMB
Customer since
[Date]
Renewal date
[Date] — [N] days away
Renewal risk (pre-escalation)
Green / Amber / Red
Renewal risk (current)
Green / Amber / Red
Customer contact who escalated
[Name, role, seniority]
Executive sponsor (customer)
[Name, role — active / passive / vacant]
Executive sponsor (vendor)
[Name, role]
What Happened — Summary
[3–5 sentences. State the facts plainly. What the customer experienced, how they reacted, and how we learned about the escalation. No editorialising. No blame.]
Timeline
List in chronological order. Each entry: [Date / time] — [What happened. Who did what.]
Include:
When the original issue or trigger event occurred
When the customer first raised concerns (informally)
When it escalated (formal escalation or exec involvement)
Actions taken since escalation
Root Cause
Primary cause: [One clear sentence. What specifically went wrong.]
Contributing factors:
[Factor 1 — be honest about internal failures as well as external ones]
[Factor 2]
Is this a systemic issue or isolated?
[ ] Isolated to this account
[ ] Pattern seen in other accounts — details: [_______]
[ ] Product or process gap that needs fixing
Customer's Stated Position
What the customer says happened: [Their version of events — fair and unfiltered]
What they are asking for: [Their explicit ask — compensation, fix by date, exec call, SLA credit, exit clause]
Sentiment of escalating contact: [Frustrated but constructive / Angry / Seeking exit / Unknown]
Risk of public escalation: Low / Medium / High — [evidence if Medium or High]
Business Impact
Impact type
Detail
ARR at risk
£/$/€[X]
Potential churn probability
[X]%
Reputational risk
Low / Medium / High
Reference / case study status
[Was a reference — now at risk / Not a reference]
Expansion pipeline at risk
£/$/€[X]
What Has Been Done So Far
[Action taken — by whom — date — outcome]
[Action taken — by whom — date — outcome]
[Action taken — by whom — date — outcome]
Has a formal apology or acknowledgement been issued? Yes / No
Proposed Resolution Plan
Immediate actions (next 24–48 hours):
Action
Owner
By when
[Action]
[Name]
[Date]
[Action]
[Name]
[Date]
Medium-term actions (next 2–4 weeks):
Action
Owner
By when
[Action]
[Name]
[Date]
What we are NOT offering: [Be explicit about what is not on the table — avoids misaligned expectations]
Success criteria: [How will we know the escalation is resolved? What does the customer need to confirm they are satisfied?]
Decision Required from Escalation Owner
[State clearly what decision or resource the escalation owner needs to provide. Be specific — do not make them ask. E.g.: "We need approval to offer a 20% service credit for Q2" or "We need an exec call with [name] within 48 hours."]
Communication Plan
Audience
Message
Channel
Owner
By when
Escalating customer contact
[Summary of message]
Email / Call
[Name]
[Date]
Customer exec sponsor
[Summary]
Call
[Name]
[Date]
Internal CS team
[Summary]
Slack / Meeting
CS Manager
[Date]
Deeper Materials
This skill ships with support files — use them when they are available:
references/deescalation-sequencing.md — De-escalation Sequencing: the Order of Operations When an Account Is on Fire. Apply it while producing the output; it carries the calibration and judgment calls the method summary above compresses.
templates/escalation-brief.md — a fill-in version of the deliverable with the quality gates inline. Offer it when the user wants to work the document themselves rather than have it generated.
Scoring Rubric (0–40)
Score any output of this skill before handing it over; 32+ is ship-quality.
Dimension
0
5
10
Root cause specificity & honesty
Vague ("communication breakdown") or pins blame on individuals
Specific cause named, but internal failures are softened or the systemic-vs-isolated question is skipped
Specific primary cause, contributing factors that own internal failures plainly, and an explicit systemic-vs-isolated call
Quantified business impact
No ARR figure; churn risk described in adjectives
ARR stated, but churn probability, expansion pipeline, or reference risk left blank
ARR at risk, churn probability, expansion pipeline, and reference/reputational exposure all quantified
Fair representation of the customer
Customer's position missing, minimised, or paraphrased into harmlessness
Their ask is stated, but their version of events is filtered or their sentiment unassessed
Their account of events, explicit ask, sentiment, and public-escalation risk stated fairly and unfiltered
Decision-readiness of the plan
No clear ask; brief ends with "what do you think?"; owners TBD
Plan exists but the decision needed is implicit, or some actions lack owners and dates
A specific decision is requested from the escalation owner; every action has an owner and date; what we are NOT offering and success criteria are explicit
Quality Checks
Root cause is specific — not "communication breakdown" or "product gap" without detail
Customer's position is stated fairly — not minimised or dismissed
A clear decision is requested from the escalation owner — brief does not end with "what do you think?"
ARR at risk is quantified
Communication plan has owners and dates — not "TBD"
Language is professional and blameless toward individuals
Anti-Patterns
Do not assign blame to individuals — focus on system failures and process gaps
Do not downplay ARR at risk or describe churn risk vaguely without a number
Do not leave resolution plan ownership as "TBD" or unassigned
Do not write the brief without a clear ask from the escalation owner
Do not omit the customer's own stated position — their perspective must be represented fairly
