The Pipeline Number Nobody Wants to Own

Sat in on a forecast call where the sales manager read off a number, and I watched three reps' faces do the same thing at the same time — a little flinch, eyes down at their laptops.

Afterward, one of them told me privately the real number was maybe 60% of what got said out loud. Not because anyone was lying in the room. Because the forecast had quietly become a performance instead of a report — everyone nodding along to a figure they'd each independently decided not to argue with.

That's Leak #1 at its most expensive. A CRM can be perfectly set up and still produce a fictional number, if the culture around the meeting rewards optimism over accuracy.

If you pulled your sales manager aside privately and asked for the real number — would it match the one from the last meeting?