Success in sales, like navigation, requires a balanced perspective. Focusing too narrowly risks burnout, while staying too broad can breed complacency. Nathan Rager explores the best route to balance.

The Map is Not the Territory

In a previous life, I spent a lot of time with a map in my hand. Often in the dark. Often in the rain. Often on very little sleep. All those conditions make it doubly challenging to be precise and clear in how you translate what the map is telling you. Unfortunately, they also make it doubly painful when you get it wrong.

Finding yourself at the top of the wrong hill late at night — or several kilometers away from the point you were certain you had reached so you could finally rest — is not fun at all.

Equally unpleasant is the realisation in a sales team that your massive pipeline, in which you had such confidence in, has not translated into the outcomes you were sure it would.

In navigation terms, success comes from balancing the ‘zoom in’ — we’re focusing on detail, immediate surroundings, and specific landmarks — with the ‘zoom out’ — we’re checking whether the hill’s shape is quite right, or whether a small error in bearing is going to cost us multiple hours of travel.

In sales, the same balance is key. We must zoom in on our map to see the right numbers in the CRM, the right daily/weekly/monthly actions, the right meetings, conversations, and prioritisation.

But we also must remember to zoom out to check on the market trends, see where our customers are heading, our big picture numbers, our win rate trends, deal sizes, team focus, and more.

Zoom In: Short-Term Focus

• Pros:
  • Keeps teams disciplined, focused, accountable.
  • Quick wins drive momentum and morale.
  • Essential for meeting immediate revenue commitments.
• Cons:
  • Can create tunnel vision.
  • Encourages discounting, short-sighted deals, or pushing unready clients.
  • Risks burnout, turnover, and a “number-chasing” culture.

I remember one particular year when I felt both delighted and confident about our outcomes. We had a strong pipeline going into Q1, and we won some big projects. We zoomed in on getting the delivery done — holding weekly checks on pipeline (lots there), delivery (customers happy), and actions (keeping relationships warm).

 Zoom Out: Long-Term Focus

• Pros:
  • Supports sustainable growth (client lifetime value, reputation, relationships).
  • Strengthens career trajectory, team development, and innovation.
  • Provides perspective under pressure — teams see they’re building something bigger.
• Cons:
  • Can feel abstract and harder to measure.
  • Risks complacency (“we’ll hit it later”).
  • Leaders may overlook the urgency of near-term performance.

In the grand scheme of things, that pipeline I was ‘zoomed in’ on? It grew gradually older, and colder. Customer priorities shifted. I was so focused on the immediate work that I failed to keep a balanced perspective by zooming out and noticing how our once-promising opportunities had slipped from “confident in Q1” to “still hanging in Q2, client going quiet, maybe (but probably not) next year”.

When the big sprint ended, we realised our huge pipeline wasn’t strong at all. It was stale, unrealistic, and the true picture was far more challenging than we had expected.

Finding a Balanced Perspective

Winning in sales means knowing when to zoom in and when to zoom out to find a balanced perspective. The healthiest sales teams shift between the two seamlessly, with clear responsibilities and well-mapped KPIs that flag risks and opportunities that require a change in focus.

The role of sales leaders (and L&D professionals) is to embed that balance into culture and systems. I’ll admit — this isn’t easy (as noted with the story above). So, if it is a challenge for you also, consider:

1. Defining realistic, dual-layer metrics
   • Weekly activity goals + annual client expansion targets.
   • Win rate + price quality and discounting metrics.
   • Top line sales numbers + top of funnel pipeline volume and lead generation.
2. Training mindset agility
   • Coaching managers and reps on when to narrow in (pipeline reviews, deal strategy) and when to expand (account planning, market trends).
   • For yourself, always ask: What might be changing in the areas I’m not currently looking at?
3. Embedding resilience practices
   • Ensuring recovery time so short-term pushes don’t lead to burnout
   • Keep looking ahead to ensure the long-term vision remains motivating.
   • Keep reminding people of the positive progress they are making —whatever lens they’re looking through.

As Rocky put it: “If you just focus on the smallest details, you never get the big picture right.”

Or, if you are having a tough year, you may prefer Charlie Chaplin: “Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.”