Qstream Introduces Predictive Sales Tools for Salesforce.com

Qstream, a provider of a mobile sales performance platform, today announced an integration with Salesforce. According to Duncan Lennox, CEO and cofounder of Qstream, the solution will place Qstream’s gamified management capabilities in conjunction with the data stored in the CRM system, giving sales leaders access to insights that will help them boost team behavior.

"The capabilities of [our] analytics engine combined with sales, pipeline, and forecast data, can convert [information] into something that's predictive for the entire organization," Lennox says. "We're now able to paint a rich picture that organizations have never had before—one that takes very accurate, real-time views of skills and knowledge…and pairs them with past and predicted sales performance."

Qstream's solution aims to engage reps with enjoyable exercises that help them perfect sales techniques. The program presents users with a series of multiple-choice questions that can be completed in a few minutes. The questions, which often draw from the methodologies of one of Qstream's 40 partners, present situation-based challenges; for example, if a potential client has missed several sales meetings but is finally able to show up to one, she might begin the meeting by explaining that she has been busy coaching her son's softball team. The best response for a rep in this scenario, according to Lennox, would be one that demonstrates empathy, creates rapport, and enables a connection that leads to a lasting relationship.

Situating the collected data and Qstream's Predictive Insight Engine inside Salesforce's CRM system gives the application deeper analytic capabilities that can be applied across verticals, Lennox says. The program processes the information from responses and converts it into reports that are accessible to sales managers via a dashboard; managers can use the reports to learn more about the past and future performance levels of team members and to outline a plan for change.

Today's announcement brings Qstream one step closer to becoming a horizontal provider. Until 2014, Lennox says, the company was focused on organizations in the life sciences industry. The company recently branched out to technology and financial services, and has plans to expand into other industries, including manufacturing, automotive, and aviation. Among the clients now rolling out the solution is MasterCard.

Lennox notes that coaching for sales-related conversations is essential, especially in today’s complex selling environment. "I don't think that simply presenting the right piece of marketing material at the right time is going to make a deal happen," Lennox says. "You need to be able to have value-added conversations, to understand a customer's industry and environment, and speak to those needs—not just talk about features and benefits." 

Companies using Qstream have increased their annual quota attainment rates by 20 percent or greater, Lennox says. Clients have also reduced rep turnover rates and increased gross profit margins.

The product is available on the Salesforce AppExchange, though users must subscribe to Qstream to use it. Qstream licenses are available at an annual rate of $216 per rep and require a one-time fee to configure the Salesforce component.

Lennox says that Qstream plans to integrate with other CRM vendors and business intelligence solutions but is focused now on deepening the integration with Salesforce. "We have a lot more work planned for the predictive capabilities, and integration of data sources into the engine," Lennox says.