TLDR Summary
If the quota feels off, don’t panic—investigate. Your job isn’t to declare it impossible, it’s to figure out what’s changed, what’s still true, and what you can do about it. Before you rally the team or push back on leadership, get grounded in the facts. This piece walks through how to assess targets, coach your reps through tough asks, and manage up with credibility.
Some sales targets just feel off. Reps start pushing back. Your gut says something’s changed. But the job of a sales manager isn’t to react emotionally.
Your first job in situations like these is to pause, look deeper, and figure out whether the feeling holds up against the facts.
Sales managers live in a difficult in-between space. You have to manage up and down simultaneously. That means supporting your team while still executing on what’s being asked from above.
And before you push back or try to rally a discouraged team, you need to understand the conditions fully. You need to know if the target is truly off, or if the path to hitting it just needs to change.
How Do You Separate Emotion from Data When Assessing Quotas?
Before you label the target as "unrealistic," take a hard look at the data. It’s easy to let emotion take over when reps are pushing back and your own instincts are telling you this number doesn’t make sense. But emotion doesn’t change outcomes. Data does.
Ask yourself:
Have customer behaviors shifted?
Are we still selling at the same price point?
Has the sales cycle lengthened? If so, why?
Have new competitors entered the market?
Look at your win/loss reports. Sit in on customer calls. Talk directly with top-performing reps. The truth is, many sales managers have set bad quotas before—not out of carelessness, but because they didn’t spend enough time with the numbers.
How to Know if the Issue Is the Sales Target or the Timeline
Sometimes the goal isn’t wrong, but the pacing is. Maybe your team can still hit the number, but not in the time frame that leadership expects. Maybe the deals are still there, but they’re slower to close. Or maybe your buyers are holding onto budget this quarter and planning to spend next.
This isn’t about sandbagging. It’s about aligning expectations with reality. Can you reframe the annual target over different quarters? Can you explain the pattern of purchasing behavior in a way that supports a shift in how leadership thinks about forecast pacing?
How Should You Coach Reps Who Think the Quota Is Unrealistic?
When reps push back on quotas, their frustration is real. But it’s your job to help them work through it. That means helping them replace frustration with focus.
Sit down with them. Ask what’s stalling deals. Look at their funnel together. Are they spending too much time on accounts that aren’t moving? Do they have what they need to get in front of decision-makers?
Break the target down. Help them find the smaller, actionable pieces they can control. And remind them that while you may be advocating for changes above, the scoreboard isn’t paused.
How Can You Adapt Your Sales Process to Match Market Conditions?
If your sales process hasn’t changed in the past 6-12 months, it probably needs to.
When markets shift, your team needs to shift with them. That could mean moving executive conversations earlier in the sales cycle, focusing on business value instead of features, or changing how you coach reps to build urgency.
You don’t have to reinvent the entire playbook. But you do need to edit it. Small changes in how you qualify, pitch, and close can have outsized effects in a tighter market.
How Do You Push Back on Sales Targets with Credibility?
If the target truly doesn’t make sense, and your data backs that up, then it’s time to speak up. But how you do it matters.
Bring evidence. Show what’s changed in the market. Use sales velocity metrics, deal cycle times, and customer behavior data. Show how adjustments to the calendar or go-to-market strategy could preserve the overall business goals.
Leadership doesn’t want excuses. They want clarity. If you can walk in with a calm, numbers-driven case, you’re more likely to be heard.
How Can Sales Managers Lead with Clarity in Uncertain Times?
In uncertain times, sales managers can’t afford to lead with gut feeling alone. You have to lead with clarity—for your team and for your leadership.
That means interrogating the targets, understanding the market, and helping your team focus on what they can control. Even when the goals feel off, your job is to help people move forward.
You're not just reacting to the market. You're helping your team respond to it—intentionally, intelligently, and with purpose.
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