Most sales leaders think missed forecasts are about numbers.
Bad CRM data. Reps sandbagging. Optimistic percentages.
But forecasts don’t collapse because of math.
They collapse because of blurred accountability.
That’s why I say:
👉 Your forecast isn’t broken. Your role clarity is.
Role: Identity, Purpose, Ambiguity
Forecast reliability begins with role identity.
Are you showing up as a Manager who collects numbers…
or as a Mobilizer who drives conviction?
Identity comes before activity. Who you are shapes how you lead forecasting conversations.
Then there’s role purpose.
We don’t get paid for filling a role.
We get paid for the difference we make through that role.
The purpose of a sales leader isn’t to shuffle numbers up the chain. It’s to create clarity, shape meaning, and influence outcomes.
And the silent killer? Role ambiguity.
When leaders don’t define the edges of a role, people default to what’s easiest:
Managers report.
Reps log activity.
Leaders delegate away accountability.
Ambiguity creates uncertainty. Uncertainty creates missed numbers.
💡 Reflection: If your managers stopped reporting tomorrow, would you still trust them to deliver the number?
Responsibility vs Activity
This is where most leaders stumble.
They hold people accountable to activity because it’s visible - number of calls, number of demos, number of proposals.
But activity isn’t accountability.
Here’s the distinction:
Activity = what you do.
Responsibility = what you own.
Activity fills dashboards.
Responsibility delivers revenue.
One team I worked with had a pipeline bursting with demos. Activity everywhere. But they were consistently 30% off target. Why? Because nobody was responsible for advancing deals. They were rewarded for all this busy-ness and movement, but not momentum. And we no time/movement and momentum are two totally different beasts.
This shows up in the way leaders run pipeline reviews instead of deal inspections.
Pipeline reviews skim the surface: “What stage is it in? What’s the dollar value?”
Coaching the deal and the human test the assumptions: “What did the buyer actually say? What’s their next step in their words? Where’s the risk we’re not naming?”
Pipeline reviews count activity.
Coaching the deal and the human enforce responsibility.
💡 Reflection: Is your pipeline measuring movement… or momentum?
Results: Scoreboard + Feedback Loop
Too many leaders treat results as nothing more than a scoreboard. Quota hit. Quota missed.
But results are more than the scoreboard. Results are a feedback loop.
They tell you whether role identity is aligned.
They show whether responsibility is being enforced or activity is being rewarded.
They expose where ambiguity has crept in.
And they also show you where YOU might be missing the mark. Yep - YOU!!
A CEO once said to me: “Our forecast feels like a wish list.”
That wasn’t a forecasting problem. That was a leadership and a role clarity problem.
Results don’t lie. They don’t care about your level of optimism. They also don’t care about good intentions. They reflect the clarity - or lack of it - in your system.
💡 Reflection: If your forecast slipped tomorrow, would you know exactly whose role broke down?
Find out whose role would in this week’s SHOW….
🔺 The Triangle That Changes Everything
When I work with groups like Vistage, The CEO Institute and my corporate sales leaders, I sketch a simple triangle:
Role → Identity before activity. Purpose before paycheck. Clarity before comfort.
Responsibility → Commercial ownership. Not what you do, but what you own.
Results → The mirror. Scoreboard and feedback loop.
And right in the middle? Forecast Reliability.
Forecasts don’t fail on their own. They fail as a reflection of missing clarity.
You’re more than welcome to check out the free diagnostic and see exactly where your own role clarity is strong, and where it’s sabotaging your forecast.
The Wake-Up Call
If your managers, or you, are stuck reporting instead of coaching…
If your reps are rewarded for activity instead of responsibility…
If your results are treated as judgment instead of feedback…
You don’t have a forecast problem.
You have a clarity problem.
Final Word
Forecasts don’t fail because of math.
They fail because leaders confuse:
Titles with identity.
Activity with responsibility.
Results with judgment.
Forecast reliability isn’t a spreadsheet exercise.
It’s a leadership exercise.
Role. Responsibility. Results.
That’s the heartbeat of revenue reliability.
And as always - lead with soul. Lead with spirit. Lead with spine.
Cheers,
Bernadette
Chief Influence Officer
Sales Leaders Global and The Sales Leadership Academy
