prabhuThe impact of GDPR could help LinkedIn to become the top outbound channel for sales development in B2B businesses.
This is according to a new report from analysis company TOPO, which found that 42 per cent of the 180 members of high-growth sales development organisations it surveyed now include between two and five LinkedIn touches in their multi-touch approaches.
TOPO says use of LinkedIn is increasing thanks to a combination of busy prospect email inboxes and the impact of strict new GDPR rules. The report suggests that in some cases LinkedIn is now the only outbound channel used, with this trend particularly notable amongst European businesses.
Sales development is part of the initial stages of the sales cycle. Sales development employees are generally tasked with identifying prospects and arranging introductions or demonstrations with other specialised members of a B2B business.
The sales development function is a key part of an account-based marketing approach, which focuses on personalisation and integration with a view to building more profitable client relationships for B2B firms.
The TOPO report found that 88 per cent of account-based marketers say outbound sales development representatives are amongst their most important tactics.
In the businesses surveyed, 65 per cent of sales development representatives report to sales teams, 23 per cent to marketing, and 12 per cent to other departments.
