Founded in 2001, Orbit World Travel is New Zealand’s largest travel management company. With 15 offices in New Zealand, Australia and London, 350+ consultants, annual sales of over $500 million, and more than 1000 clients, Orbit is a true industry leader.

Moving on up

However, it takes more than just luck to stay ahead in such a competitive sector. So, Orbit uses strategic tactics like telemarketing to help expand and develop their customer base and penetrate new, high-value markets.

While Brendan Drury, Orbit’s Managing Director, had outsourced their lead generation services to a local company for several years, he wasn’t happy with the results. “We just weren’t getting the quality of information or volume of appointments we expected, so we decided to pull the plug on our investment.”

Undiscouraged, he decided to try out Hot Leads after a glowing referral from Shelly Reilly, a new Orbit staff member. Shelly had experienced first-hand the great results Hot Leads had achieved for the Cerebral Palsy Society of New Zealand’s Steptember campaigns, and was confident they would be an excellent match for Orbit.

Hot leads – hot stuff!

True to Shelly’s expectations, Brendan was impressed! And reviewing Hot Leads’ daily call reports is now a source of joy to him after years of indifferent data collection.

“What I like about Hot Leads is that we are getting quantity and quality. I’m not sure what’s in their drinking water, but they are excellent at tracking down the hard-to-find decision-makers, getting our brand in front of them, and securing appointments for us to see them. Some of the meetings they’ve organised have been significant opportunities, and ones we’ve wanted to achieve for a long time.

“From my perspective, the difference between using Hot Leads and our results from the previous two to three years is like comparing night and day.”

Tried and tested results

Brendan started the engagement with Hot Leads with a 40-hour test campaign. As a result of the initial campaign outcomes, Orbit and Hot Leads are now working together on an ongoing basis.

“Our market is volatile, so we appreciate Hot Leads’ ability to switch at the drop of a hat from one target market to the next,” says Brendan.

“They keep pace with our needs, and respond quickly and intelligently to any curved balls – they think on their feet. Their consultants don’t work off scripts but use their understanding of our value proposition and brand to gain interest and attention. And they work very much as part of Orbit. I don’t think anyone they’ve called has even realised they’re not talking directly to one of our staff members.”

High-value outcomes

Brendan says that Hot Leads’ skills and experience have generated much higher value business leads for the business.

“We’ve seen a vast improvement in the results compared with our previous efforts. I would safely say there’s been at least a 25% increase in the quality of the appointments they’ve made for us.”