A Lesson in Defining "Simple Concepts"
When the same words mean different things
There was a point in my sales leadership career where forecasting became a consistent frustration.
Each manager would submit their numbers, and individually, they made sense. But when we looked at the forecast as a whole, it was off. Not occasionally, but consistently.
At first, I thought everyone was just guessing. I wanted better discipline, better tracking, or more accountability. That wasn’t the issue.
What we eventually uncovered was much simpler. We were using the same language, but not the same definitions. When someone said a deal was “to go this quarter,” it didn’t mean the same thing across the team. Some were only including opportunities that were already scheduled. Others were including cold leads they hadn’t spoken to yet.
Everyone was working, but they weren’t working from the same understanding. Once we defined what “to go this quarter” actually meant, someone who had completed a Discovery call and was qualified for the program, everything changed.
Forecasts became more accurate. Conversations became more consistent. Coaching became easier because we were all working from the same baseline. Nothing about the team changed. Their understanding of a defining metric did.
