Assessments can help sales teams qualify leads more effectively
Too much wishful thinking is undermining sales and business performance and distorting forecasts. Questionmark, the online assessment provider, is launching a new service to help employers improve the way that salespeople identify the right opportunities to pursue.
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Wishful thinking is undermining sales and business performance and distorting forecasts. Questionmark, the online assessment provider, is launching a new service to help employers improve the way that salespeople identify the right opportunities to pursue.
By wasting time and energy on pursuing sales leads which are unlikely to be profitable, too many business-to-business (B2B) sales teams are missing real growth opportunities. Inaccurate sales forecasts are making it impossible for leaders to plan effectively. This means too much energy is focused on the wrong things.
Despite its importance to business planning, sales teams only, on average, accurately forecast 28% of closed deals. Salespeople are twice as likely to overestimate opportunities as they are to underestimate them.1 At the heart of the problem, is a widespread inability to ‘disqualify’ leads appropriately. This means that sales teams too often fail to recognize which opportunities are not worth pursuing.
Lars Pedersen, CEO of Questionmark, said: “In a time of economic uncertainty, sales teams must focus their energies on the opportunities that boost revenue. Too often talented salespeople achieve lower sales results than they should because they misjudged how likely some opportunities were to bear fruit.
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“The good news is that qualifying sales leads is a skill that can be taught. Training can lead to better sales outcomes. Even the best salespeople will be able to do much better if they pick the right opportunities to pursue. But first, employers need to know what the problems are and which members of their sales team are struggling in this area.”
To help employers improve sales outcomes, Questionmark has launched “Questionmark B2B Sales Qualification by Mentor Group.” The 15-question assessment identifies which team members are struggling to qualify leads effectively and what areas they need further support and training in. By using the assessment with sales teams, employers can:
- Achieve better business planning – better qualifying of leads creates a more accurate sales forecast
- Improve sales outcomes – by giving further support to the employees who need it
- Introduce more effective training – by ensuring it is tailored to the specific needs of a team or individual
The launch of the assessment is part of Questionmark’s commitment to support employers with the commercial sales and marketing skills they need to thrive in an ever-changing business environment.
Questionmark has also launched, “Questionmark Digital Marketing Knowledge.” The test gives employers a general overview of the digital marketing skills of their existing and potential workforce. It will help them to make better decisions on training, recruitment, onboarding and career development.
These tests are part of a range of new ready-made assessments from Questionmark which help employers assess the business skills of their people. The tests cover compliance, sales and marketing, and transferable skills.
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