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Dear Quota Team,

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I’m a mid-market AE at a Series C SaaS company. My manager has started pushing me to “be more optimistic” in forecast reviews. He wants me to flag deals as upside, pull close dates forward, assume best-case scenarios that aren’t actually agreed to by the buyer.

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The message is pretty clear: leadership wants the forecast to look stronger heading into board meetings. When I push back, I’m told forecasting is about confidence and storytelling, not precision.

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I don’t want to be labeled negative or uncoachable, but I also don’t want to train myself to lie. Is this just how forecasting works at this level?

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Unsure in Location Withheld 

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Dear Unsure

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Forecasting is supposed to be a tool for making decisions. When forecasts get inflated to look good upstream, they stop helping anyone, and reps end up taking the blame when reality shows up.

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It's not necessarily lying, since many businesses give "optimistic projections." But be careful which habits you normalize. Inflated forecasts have a way of becoming empty promises especially, when the quarter ends.