eMarketer reports that business-to-business (B2B) sales cycles are longer than a year ago, but sales pipelines are growing, according to the results of a market study by OneSource. Traditional outbound prospecting still produces the most qualified leads for U.S. B2B sales representatives, but companies are relying more on their corporate Website to attract new customers. Social networking sites were rated toward the low end of the scale -- though they were as helpful in lead generation as direct mail. According to Onesource, the most effective social network for prospecting was LinkedIn, by a wide margin. The business-oriented site was rated 3.1 out of 5, compared with ratings of 2 for blogs, 1.9 for Facebook and 1.8 for Twitter. The effectiveness of LinkedIn translated into significant increases in usage. Nearly one-half of respondents said they were now using the site more for prospecting and research than a year before. Around one-fifth of those polled were also increasing...
TMT Market Research and Analysis