Reduce Friction and Risk
Anticipate resistance and remove obstacles before they stall your deal.
Support on the surface often hides silent resistance that puts deals at risk.
The Challenge
Enterprise deals rarely fail because of price or product fit. They fail because of friction that accumulates quietly:
Stakeholders who go silent after showing early enthusiasm.
Late-stage objections that surface when closure seems near.
Conflicting priorities that pull momentum in different directions
Each delay erodes trust. Each surprise increases risk. Without a way to anticipate resistance, even well-supported deals can collapse under their own weight.
Most risks aren’t visible until it’s too late — unless you know where to look.
Unmanaged Risks vs. Orchestrated Clarity
In enterprise sales, the biggest threats are rarely the obvious ones. Deals collapse not from major disagreements, but from unseen friction: a late-stage objection, a silent blocker, a quiet loss of momentum.
Unmanaged Risks
Hidden resistance surfaces too late.
Conflicting priorities stall progress.
Delays erode confidence.
Orchestrated Clarity
Risks are surfaced early and addressed.
Stakeholder concerns are mapped and anticipated.
Momentum is preserved through structured engagement.
With ESO, you shift from reacting to problems to anticipating and neutralizing them before they derail your deal.
The difference between stalled deals and successful ones often comes down to how risks are managed.
The ESO Advantage
Risk Anticipation
ESO equips you to spot friction points before they escalate — surfacing objections and political resistance early in the process.
Objection Mapping
Instead of reacting to resistance, ESO helps you map likely objections in advance and prepare responses that reduce tension without losing momentum.
Resilience Building
Complex deals are never smooth. ESO provides a framework to maintain progress even when priorities shift, ensuring setbacks don’t turn into derailments.
With ESO, risk stops being a hidden threat and becomes a manageable, predictable part of the sales strategy.
Where others see surprises, ESO gives you foresight and control.”
Case Example
A global tech vendor was weeks away from closing a multimillion-dollar contract. The CIO and CFO had both signed off, and the deal looked certain. At the final stage, however, a compliance officer raised an objection that had never surfaced before. The process froze for months while the issue was debated, and momentum was lost.
With ESO, the sales team would have identified this hidden risk early through objection mapping and risk anticipation. By addressing compliance concerns proactively, they could have preserved trust and avoided the last-minute derailment.
The biggest threats to enterprise deals aren’t the visible risks, but the hidden ones no one anticipates.
5 Signs Friction and Risk Are Derailing Your Deal
Delays pile up without clear explanations.
Stakeholders who were enthusiastic suddenly go quiet.
Conflicting feedback emerges from different departments.
New conditions or requirements appear at the last minute.
Champions lose influence when internal politics shift.
These patterns aren’t random, they’re the natural result of risks left unmanaged.
ESO equips you to surface friction early, anticipate objections, and maintain momentum — so risk never gets the final word.
Explore the next step
Learn the Full Methodology
Discover the complete ESO framework in the book — practical strategies, real-world insights, and tools to win complex enterprise deals.
Apply ESO directly to your accounts
Work with us to decode your decision networks, align stakeholders, and accelerate your most important deals with a tailored ESO strategy.
Equip your team to master complex deals
Give your team the tools and frameworks to navigate enterprise complexity, build consensus, and close high-value deals with confidence.