LinkedIn bans Apollo and others sending shockwaves through the B2B sales ecosystem. Here's how to adapt your sales strategy to drive pipeline in 2025.
This morning, LinkedIn sent shockwaves through the B2B sales and marketing world by banning Apollo.io's LinkedIn page (along others including Prospeo and Seamless.ai) in a sign that the social network is cracking down on breaches of its terms of service.
Apollo is a leading sales intelligence platform but it's Apollo’s LinkedIn page vanished, ads disappeared overnight, and the conversation has rapidly intensified across LinkedIn.
The reactions are mixed, many are shocked that such an established player would be booted off LinkedIn. Others praise the crackdown because their inboxes have been flooded with senseless automation lately.
Here's Benyamin's post sharing the shock that will affect many scraper's in B2B sales.
Leaders from other sales tech companies have spoken up as well. Seems that not everyone is following the rules on the social network. The perceived increase of low quality outbound, AI comments and lazy prospecting on and off LinkedIn has been staggering especially since the AI hype started.
Here's Tal's perspective over at lemlist.
But what led to this drastic step by LinkedIn, and more importantly, what does it mean for your sales strategy?
Founded in 2015, Apollo.io quickly emerged as a powerhouse in the sales intelligence sector, providing expansive databases and automation tools to streamline lead generation.
Max Altschuler recently posted that the company reached a staggering $130m ARR. This is big business and what's happened this week is a big deal for Apollo, their investors and the B2B sales ecosystem.
With over 220 million contacts and 30 million companies indexed, Apollo enabled users to access extensive personal-level contact data, automate outreach campaigns, and integrate seamlessly with CRM platforms.
The platform witnessed extraordinary growth, securing over $250 million in venture funding and achieving a valuation of approximately $1.6 billion by 2023. Companies ranging from small startups to enterprise giants relied heavily on Apollo to drive their sales strategies.
However, it seems that Apollo might have engaged in aggressive data-gathering methods and automations for automated messaging. This conflicted with the evolving policies of platforms like LinkedIn.
Today, 7 March 2025 LinkedIn took action and created an unprecedented challenge to the executives at Apollo and companies deploying similar tactics.
With Apollo.io's removal from LinkedIn, many businesses are urgently seeking alternative solutions they can trust as it's only a question of time until Apollo's business might be impacted.
Fortunately, several reputable platforms provide similar capabilities while adhering to compliance standards:
While sourcing contact information is essential, successful outreach today demands much more than a name, email address and a targeting a LinkedIn profile with automations.
Prospects expect relevance, and relevance requires deep research and context.
Effective sales strategies hinge on understanding each prospect's unique challenges, priorities, and strategic objectives. Tailored communication that speaks directly to these elements dramatically increases engagement and conversion rates.
It's simply not possible to scale this approach with spray-and-pray outreach tools.
Salesmotion specializes in delivering tailored, deep account intelligence using 1000s of public data sources, enabling sales teams to create highly personalized and relevant outreach, points of view and sales engagement plans.
When it comes to outreach, this tool is best for strategic, low-volume but high-impact outbound prospecting with senior stakeholders.
Additionally, deep intelligence provides additional context on a company that would normally take hours to research, synthesise and curate.
To elevate your sales outreach from generic to impactful, consider a different approach away from high volume with automations and do deep research with high quality and low volume outreach. To achieve this easily, consider leveraging platforms like Salesmotion.
Salesmotion is an advanced account intelligence platform that analyzes 1000s of public signals including SEC filings (10-Ks, 10-Qs, DEF 14A), earnings calls, news articles, job postings, podcasts, and more to deliver timely, actionable insights into target accounts.
This depth of intelligence enables high-quality, precise prospecting and strategic selling.
LinkedIn’s decision to ban Apollo.io signals a big shift in B2B sales. Time will tell what it means exactly.
For now, rather than relying on high-volume, automated tactics, sales teams should embrace deep research, strategic relevance, and personalized messaging that genuinely addresses prospect needs and business priorities.
This evolution toward deeper, insight-driven selling is precisely where Salesmotion can help.
Salesmotion offers 24/7 account intelligence sourced from public data including earnings calls, regulatory filings, industry news, podcasts, job postings, and leadership updates, Salesmotion empowers sales professionals to deliver highly targeted, value-driven outreach.
The platform helps sales teams shift from quantity-driven methods to strategic, consultative approaches that foster genuine relationships and drive sustainable revenue growth.
Now is the time to adapt, diversify, and deepen your sales enablement strategy with platforms like Salesmotion, ensuring your sales organization remains effective, compliant, and impactful in this rapidly evolving landscape.
Find out more at salesmotion.io
Salesmotion has been named as a Representative Vendor in the 2025 Gartner® Innovation Guide for Generative AI in Sales research.
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