But let’s not put on the rose-colored glasses just yet.  OneSource’s [more...]]]> Recent economic reports indicate the recession is coming to an end and a survey conducted by OneSource shows that B2B sales professionals agree with that sentiment – approximately 50 percent surveyed saying that their 2010 sales pipelines are healthier than this same time last year.

 But let’s not put on the rose-colored glasses just yet.  OneSource’s B2B SalesPulse survey also found that most sales professionals are facing longer sales cycles (59 percent reported longer sales cycles; only 16 percent reported shorter cycles). This might suggest that even though more B2B sales opportunities are popping up, tighter budgets during this early economic recovery phase continue to reign in spending, drawing out the competitive evaluation process before prospects are ready to sign the PO.

 With longer sales cycles and more thorough evaluations from buyers, it’s no surprise that B2B sales professionals are relying more on sales intelligence tools and a mix of traditional and social media sources to uncover the hottest leads. Among social networking information sources, LinkedIn was rated the most effective by a wide margin for B2B sales prospecting and research when compared with Facebook and Twitter and blogs.

 Looking ahead to Q2 and beyond, we expect social media sources to play an increasingly important role in the sales intelligence mix.  Stay tuned for more B2B SalesPulse surveys that we’ll be conducting to watch and track what’s coming next.