Unreal Past in Sales Management

• We use the unreal past to talk about imaginary situations, desirable actions, or hypotheses concerning our sales teams. Although we use past tense forms, the meaning refers to the present or future.
• Structure
• Function
• Example
• It's (high) time + past simple
• Stating that something should be done immediately
• It's high time we stopped blaming reps for missed quotas in Chicago.
• Would rather + past simple
• Expressing a preference about someone else's action
• I would rather our director encouraged collaboration instead of rivalry.
• As if / As though + past simple
• Describing a hypothetical or untrue manner
• Kyle spoke about the pipeline loss as though he didn't care at all.
• Suppose / What if + past simple
• Proposing an imaginary scenario in business
• What if we shared all our mistakes across the London branch?
• Remember
• Use past tense forms after 'it's time', 'would rather', 'as if', and 'suppose' to discuss unreal present situations.
• Use 'were' instead of 'was' for all subjects in formal unreal past clauses (e.g., 'as if he were').
• Do not use modal verbs like 'would' directly after 'I would rather' when referring to another person's actions; use the past tense instead.
• Examples
• It's time our sales managers fostered true psychological safety in New York.
• Mark acted as if he owned the entire sales territory in Boston.
• Suppose we eliminated the toxic leaderboard culture in Seattle.
• Common mistakes
• It's high time we change our approach to pipeline reviews.
• It's high time we changed our approach to pipeline reviews.
• I would rather you will share your mistakes openly.
• I would rather you shared your mistakes openly.

Complete the sentences

• It's high time our team in Austin (stop) ____ celebrating losses as if they were victories.
• I would rather Sarah (challenge) ____ the boss during the review in San Francisco.
• Logan spoke about the failed deal in Denver (be) ____ unconcerned about the revenue.
• What if we (introduce) ____ candour into our weekly meetings in Chicago?
• It's time we (remove) ____ the blame culture from our Miami office.
• Suppose our sales leader (listen) ____ to the team instead of shooting down ideas.

Sources: photo by Ramesh Kambattan on Pexels