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The most common conversation we have with many business leaders is regarding accuracy of sales forecasts. Despite all the investments in systems and processes that are put in place, and despite all the training and development, many organisations still struggle with accurate sales forecasts. Hence, what appears to be a broad and ongoing issue for many.
Every month and every quarter you review your funnel and forecasts and, as we all know, behind those numbers lurks the great unknown. The reality is that there are so many variables – individuals who may over-promise or miscalculate, or may not fully understand or comprehend your organisational requirements – that potentially each unintended action may have dramatic impacts. Incorrect forecasts – unforgivable in the modern pressure of business. Unforgiven by the most senior management who face the investment community, the share holders, and the media. Unforgiven by the investors and the bankers who now question how well the business is being run.
Forecast inaccuracies, incorrect advice to clients, mistakes in product information, missing targets, errors in compliance that shouldn’t have been made – the list is extensive and of increasing concern.
So, what is wrong? Whether it’s about Sales Forecasting or Sales Performance, Compliance, Risk, or Operations; why are all our tools and systems not solving the issues?
Scientifically Proven Methodology
Research has constantly demonstrated that people forget up to 79% of new information within days and weeks of it being delivered. It’s simply how the human brain works. It’s not about who or how we select our people. It really is about us as human beings. It’s how we are wired. And we know that because science constantly proves it in numerous published studies.
Science has also proven that if we build the right neural pathways, we can dramatically improve our capacity to draw on the required knowledge as required.
Developed at Harvard Medical School, Qstream is a result of their own research and findings. Based on sound science, it was repeatedly and rigourously tested. As a result it has, for around 9 years, delivered some extraordinary outcomes for learning institutions, hospitals and commercial enterprises in all industry sectors around the world.
Qstream’s interval reinforcement approach has been scientifically proven to increase knowledge retention by up to 170% and durably changes behaviours with impact to the bottom line. Brief scenario-based challenges delivered to your personnel’s mobile devices every few days provide opportunities for them to recall and apply their knowledge. Scenarios are repeated over determined intervals of time until the new information or skill is mastered.
Adaptive Delivery Engine
Qstream’s adaptive delivery algorithm personalises each person’s experience to optimise reinforcement and engagement. Every day the platform delivers tens of thousands of challenges around the globe via app notifications and email, while constantly recalculating individual delivery schedules across a diverse audience.
Instant Feedback
Based on their responses, your people receive instant feedback, and are able to see how well they performed on a specific scenario relative to their peers. The gamification aspect of Qstream supports high participation rates in excess of 94% across a broad selection of industry groups.
Rich-Media Explanations
A critical element of the reinforcement process, brief explanations on the best responses to each challenge are presented, further reinforcing the information and skills that matter most. Explanations may include videos, graphics, PDFs and links to other relevant organisation-specific assets.
Embedded Video and Role-plays
Enable your personnel by leveraging the power of video to demonstrate what good looks like, ensuring your people are aligned on the messaging and skills required to drive the right behaviours, actions and decisions.
Have your people record up to 3 minutes of video so you can hear what they are saying and, possibly more importantly, what they are not. In some areas of business, it is this level of detail that we must be very particular about, and with Qstream you can capture and respond to that quickly and easily.
Gamification – Game, Social and Reputation Mechanics
Game, social and reputation mechanics, such as scoring, leader boards, teams, aliases and integrated commenting create positive competition and ensure strong user engagement. Users can be grouped into teams to compete for top scores on leader boards with up-to-the-minute rankings.
The fun of gamification is what drives involvement levels of over 94%, across countries, across industries and across cultures.
Program Manager Dashboards
Qstream’s program management dashboard provides a real-time snapshot and data of user engagement, performance and proficiency levels, including drill-down reports by individual and topic. The platform’s robust tagging system lets your managers view data in unlimited ways. Broad analytics and data points provide you and your executives with unprecedented insights into organisational knowledge gaps, enabling highly prescriptive actions that ensure business goals are met. Where to invest, on what and on whom. Today the scatter gun approach is no longer affordable, and we must be accurate.
So, as you see, Science really does have the answer. It has been delivering it to other organisations for years, and now you can access it as well with Validity Group.
