Sales teams lag on digital skills, and are least inclined to catch up

B2B sales professionals in the Dutch-German border region meet their financial targets, but score below the European average on CRM systems, artificial intelligence, sales automation and data-driven decisions. Their willingness to pick up new technology also sits below that average. That is the outcome of a first measurement by the University of Twente and the University of Münster among 25 sales professionals on both sides of the border.

“Selling is not where they fall short. The gap is that the people who need digital skills most are the ones least busy acquiring them,” says Holger Schiele, professor at the University of Twente's BMS faculty.

A scan of 130 questions

The two universities developed the digital scan together with the BMS Lab of the University of Twente. It asks around 130 questions about competences, technology use and sales performance, in Dutch, German and English. Participants receive a personal report the moment they finish. It sets their scores against European benchmark data from CustMaS, an earlier Erasmus+ project that mapped the skills of successful B2B sales staff, and closes with recommendations generated by AI. Participants rated the scan four out of five stars.

The same picture on both sides of the border

Twenty-five sales professionals filled in the scan, recruited through the Sales Management Association (SMA) regio Oost and by approaching companies in both countries directly. German and Dutch participants scored almost identically.

Both groups did well on classic sales skills and on hitting financial targets. Both came in under the European comparison values on CRM systems, artificial intelligence, sales automation, social media and data-driven decision-making, and a long way short of the best-performing companies.

Schiele: “We expected a difference between the two countries. There is none. The same gap runs through the whole region.”

Free until the end of 2026

The scan stays open to everyone free of charge until the end of 2026, at skilltool.bms.utwente.nl. Sales staff and their managers can see where they stand and which skills to work on first.

About the project

The project ran from July 2025 to June 2026, led by Professor Holger Schiele of the University of Twente together with the University of Münster. The measurement covers 25 participants, so the results are a first signal rather than a representative picture of the region. Both universities are preparing a larger follow-up project with training and cross-border communities of practice, networks in which companies work out practical solutions together. The collaboration also produced the first joint doctorate in business administration between the two faculties.

The project “B2B Kompetenzentwicklung Euregio – B2B competenceontwikkeling Euregio” was made possible by the Interreg programme Deutschland-Nederland and its programme partners, and co-financed by the European Union (EU).