His Boss Set A Ridiculously High Year-End Sales Target, But When He Asked How To Reach It, The Only Advice Was To “Push Harder”
Pexels/Reddit
Some goals are ambitious, but others are straight up impossible.
One employee at a small startup had his boss hand him the year-end sales target, and at first sight, he honestly thought it was a joke.
The company was tiny, barely anyone knew who they were, and the product wouldn’t even start shipping until January.
Despite all that, the target called for around 2,000 people to pay up front for something they wouldn’t see until next year, and the boss talked about the number as if it were already guaranteed.
When the employee asked how they were supposed to pull it off, the only advice he got was to “push harder.”
You’ll want to keep reading for this one.
My boss said “let’s be realistic” and then immediately wasn’t
So I work at a small startup, and my boss just gave me our target for the end of the year. And I genuinely thought he was joking.
We’re supposed to hit this pretty ridiculous sales target by December 31.
The fun part? We won’t even start shipping until January.
This employee doesn’t understand how he’s going to make this happen.
I mean, I get that preorders are a thing. But we’re a tiny company, barely anyone knows us, and somehow my boss is talking about these numbers like they’re already guaranteed.
And somehow, I’m supposed to find 2,000 people willing to pay for something they won’t even get until next year.
I asked how we’re supposed to pull this off and basically got some version of “We just need to push harder.”
Okay, but push WHAT? 😭
The boss’ unrealistic expectations are making his day-to-day life almost impossible.
I’ve spent the last few days staring at our Shopify dashboard and questioning every career decision I’ve ever made.
I actually like working here. I like what we’re building. I just don’t understand where these expectations are coming from.
Is this just normal startup life? Do founders actually believe these numbers, or are we all just collectively pretending?
Because at this point, I can’t tell anymore, lol.
This boss needs to come back down to earth.
What did Reddit have to say?
You tell one lie, you have to tell a million more.
The boss really needs to give his employees more actionable feedback.
Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.
This commenter shares what they would do in a similar situation.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a group of employees who go over their manager’s head when he insists a new process is better than the old one.
The boss’ erratic behavior could be any number of things.
The funniest part of “push harder” is that it assumes there’s something to push.
The company is tiny, the brand is unknown, and nothing ships until January. Asking for 2,000 preorders in that spot is basically like asking someone to fill a pool with a spoon.
Now this employee is in a tough spot. He likes the job, but he can clearly see the numbers don’t add up, no matter how hard he pushes.
Hope is a great founder trait, but a terrible sales strategy.
Enjoyed this story?
Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.
