The Rep Who Sandbags on Purpose

Had a rep once — sharp, likeable, one of the best closers I've ever watched — who I eventually figured out was quietly lying to the CRM. Not about deals he'd lost. About deals he hadn't told anyone about yet.

He kept a real pipeline in his head and a “safe” pipeline in the system, always a little smaller than reality. When I asked him why, he said it plainly: “If I show them everything, they just raise my number next quarter.”

Can't even blame the guy, honestly. That's a rational response to how he'd been managed everywhere before.

But it means the forecast you're planning around is fiction on purpose, not by accident — and that's a harder problem to fix than a messy CRM, because the person doing it thinks it's protecting them.

Have you ever wondered if your best closer is showing you the whole picture, or just the safe version of it?