Fusion5

Fusion5 is a region-leading business solutions company, with over 450 staff and nine offices across New Zealand and Australia. It runs technology events year-round, reaching out to pre-qualified leads and prospects via email and social media campaigns.

The numbers game

One particular event series, scheduled for late 2019, wasn’t attracting enough attendees to make it viable. It became apparent that Fusion5 needed a little help.

“We had an event that we were running across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane,” says Gareth Boyle, Senior Marketing Executive for Fusion5 Australia. “Our initial approach of sending out emails with invitations and content simply wasn’t working. So we added in other tactics, including paid advertising on LinkedIn and getting our account managers to call customers directly.

“We also had a list of close to 1000 pre-existing contacts in the verticals we wanted to attract. The list was a little out of date, and the percentage of contacts opted-in for email communications was low, but we knew it had value if we could get it verified and legally compliant. Our marketing manager, Trudi Allerby, had good results from Hot Leads in previous engagements in New Zealand, and recommended them. So I asked them to tackle the data clean-up process.”

Hot help, great reporting

Gareth asked Hot Leads to make contact with each person on the list and ask if they’d like to receive an invitation to the event. While at the same time using the opportunity to update any changed details, and of course confirming if the contact was happy to remain on the database.

“From there, I worked with the Hot Leads team to create a calling script I felt covered the exact messages we wanted to convey, and they pretty much got to work from there.”

Gareth particularly appreciated the daily reporting. “It was very thorough. It certainly gave me good insight into the validity of our data, and the process raised the database integrity significantly. Hot Leads reignited interest in Fusion5 from people we hadn’t heard from in quite a while.

“The whole project was complementary to our other outreach programs, and as a result, we got the numbers to make the upcoming events viable.”

A squeaky-clean list

According to Gareth, Hot Leads culled around 40% of the names on the list. “However, if they couldn’t reach the original person on the list, they asked to speak to an equivalent. So sometimes uncovered and added new and qualified contacts.”

“Hot Leads took a good consultative approach to the project,” says Gareth. “Despite having very little notice, they were very understanding. And once I organised my brief, they moved fast! But the thing that impressed me the most was that despite the quality of data we gave them to work with, Hot Leads maximised the possible outcomes.”

The event was a huge success, attracting the numbers of qualified attendees needed to generate the desired return on investment. About 15% of the attendees came from Hot Leads’ data cleansing, and even better, Fusion5 now have a fully updated, compliant and qualified list for future events.

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Campaignz

Gary Holmes from Campaignz is a professional BID (business improvement district) Manager. He works with local business associations to help them manage their day-to-day administration and operations. He’s also currently serving his second term as a Hibiscus and Bays Local Board member.

After a very successful project using Hot Leads services a couple of years ago, it was only natural that Gary chose to work with them on his latest campaign. The new project was to establish a BID to represent all businesses in the Henderson, Lincoln Rd, Central Park and The Concourse areas. A new Central Park Henderson Association would cover approximately 1200 businesses and 1000 property owners, representing nearly two billion dollars in capital value commercial properties, and provide members with the opportunity to enhance their local business environment.

A BID for change

“The new project was an approach by Central Park Business Association and Henderson Business Association,” explained Gary. “As part of the initiative, we sent out 2000 voting papers to the business and property owners in the area to vote on whether or not they wished to be part of it.

“The brief to Hot Leads was to contact each business, update their details in our database, confirm they had their voting papers, and encourage them to vote on the proposal.”

The Covid-19 challenge

While the project itself was straightforward, no-one anticipated the impact of Covid-19 on what should have been a relatively easy telemarketing process.

“In the final weeks of the campaign,” says Gary, “Covid-19 started to hit hard. Understandably, a lot of the businesses that Hot Leads were contacting for us were focussed on survival, not voting. By the time we went into Level 4 lockdown, many of them were unable to open their premises at all. That made contacting them rather challenging, but Hot Leads handled it very well.”

Given the high levels of stress, Hot Leads needed to tread carefully. While the BID vote was important for the client, it wasn’t front of mind for the business owners, so the Hot Leads team had to act with heightened diplomacy and empathy. Despite the difficulties, Hot Leads successfully contacted over 800 people, updated their details for use by the new BID, and encouraged them to vote.

Hot outcomes

“In terms of the project itself,” says Gary, “we gained majority support which was a very positive result. We couldn’t have achieved that without the help of Hot Leads, they played a key role in  helping us reach a successful outcome.”

“Their role in contacting as many people as possible, updating their details in the database, and making sure that businesses received replacement voting papers as needed while encouraging them to vote, was vital.

“While it was often a struggle for them to track down business owners, Hot Leads persisted and did the best that they could in very tough circumstances,” says Gary. “I’ll most definitely use Hot Leads again for other projects; they do an excellent job.”

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Orbit World Travel

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.”

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Breast Cancer Foundation NZ

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Kiwi women. With nine women diagnosed everyday, and one in nine women diagnosed at some time in their life, almost everyone knows someone affected by breast cancer.

Breast Cancer Foundation NZ is New Zealand’s foremost breast cancer education and awareness organisation. As a not-for-profit organisation, fundraising is critical to the Foundation’s ability to positively impact women’s health.

Absolutely, positively Pink

“October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month,” says Nicky Sinclair-Perkins, Campaigns Manager for Breast Cancer Foundation NZ. “We run a lot of different events and campaigns, with the help of loads of fantastic supporters. Our Pink for a Day campaign is designed to encourage organisations to hold a fundraiser to raise money for breast cancer education, research and support.”

Looking for different opportunities, and keen to speak to more organisations and people about breast health and awareness, the Foundation decided to use telemarketing as a new strategy to encourage more businesses to participate.

Picking the perfect Pink partner

To find the right telemarketing partner, Nicky sought personal recommendations. “The fundraising sector in New Zealand is quite small, so I simply asked around. I quickly learnt that Hot Leads has an excellent reputation and their clients are very happy with them.”

“We still had to be thorough, so we talked to several companies before we signed on with Hot Leads. But right from my first meeting with Lisa from Hot Leads, I was confident she understood what we were trying to achieve. We have a limited budget, and we’re careful about how we spend the money – so it’s important to know that our brand is in safe hands.”

In the pink!

To increase the campaign’s reach beyond the Foundation’s existing contacts, Hot Leads consultants made 2030 calls and generated 158 committed responses.

“The results were great,” says Nicky. “We had over 150 organisations taking part, which meant we were able to speak to thousands more people about being breast aware. We also raised more money and we had more organisations signed up than in previous years. Hot Leads signed up 25% of the organisations that registered for Pink for a Day and helped us raise over $150,000. It was a successful campaign and we are very happy with the outcome.”

Passionate and personal

The Foundation opted for a light-handed, personal approach to their prospective business supporters, says Nicky. “We wanted them to feel like Pink for a Day wasn’t a difficult or time-consuming commitment, and ultimately it’s about more people knowing what to look for and where they can get help if they need it. The lovely Hot Leads team absolutely got that across. People found it easy to sign up, which is exactly how we wanted it to be.”

As well as making the calls, says Nicky, the Hot Leads team sent follow-up emails on our behalf to everyone they spoke to. “This is great because it makes people feel like they are part of our team, and it makes a huge difference to how they respond.

“The Hot Leads team were really passionate about our cause as well, which makes a massive difference.”

Along with securing participants for 2018, Hot Leads captured the names of those who were keen to be involved in the future, so the Foundation has a ready-to-go pipeline for 2019!

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Team Davis

Steve and Miriam make up the formidable Team Davis. They work with Harcourts Real Estate, helping homeowners and buyers realise their dreams in the winterless North. They are committed to providing their clients with exceptional personal service along with the highest level of professionalism, local knowledge and integrity.

Property search

The basis of running any successful real estate business is having a solid and ongoing pipeline of properties on offer.

While Miriam excelled at finding new listings, it took her away from doing what she loved – visiting sellers, running open homes and most importantly, just helping people buy and sell properties. And none of the other strategies they tried could replace her personal touch.

“We’d been trying other passive methods like using our website and social media,” says Steve. “We were using an SEO specialist, running Google AdWords, using Facebook – the works. Basically, we were waiting for the contacts to come to us. But despite investing our time, effort and money, we weren’t getting great results.”

The prospecting professionals

Steve and Miriam decided to be proactive and approached Hot Leads to help build a funnel of sales opportunities. Steve had used lead generation/telemarketing services before, with varying degrees of success. However, once he saw the Hot Leads’ website and read what clients had to say about them, his confidence was high. And after talking to Lisa and discovering that one of her consultants had real estate experience, he was sold.

“Their consultant proved to be extremely good. She knew the right questions to ask and the right information to gather. She added valuable information to our database and encouraged 50 additional people on our list to sign up for our marketing emails. We’d been struggling to grow our email reach, so what she achieved was superb.”

Team Davis also collaborated with Hot Leads to apply some of their inherent sales smarts to prospecting projects. They dropped thousands of leaflets promoting a special ‘summer marketing deal’ to potential sellers directly before telemarketing started. Coordinating the call from Hot Leads to follow immediately increased levels of awareness and successfully converted seller interest to action.

Hot Leads undertook two 40-hour campaigns over November and December. They generated a total of 27 qualified appointments, and identified a significant number of ‘warm’ leads for Team Davis to nurture.

A superb job, a healthy pipeline

Given the impressive outcomes from their first two campaigns, it’s unsurprising that Miriam has no plans to go back to phone prospecting herself any time soon. And while Hot Leads continue to make calls on their behalf up until 8 pm, Team Davis can enjoy some time out together after a busy day of appointments.

“Hot Leads have done a superb job of growing the number of opportunities in our sales pipeline,” says Steve. “We enjoy working with them and we’ll continue to use their services.”

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United Flower Growers

United Flower Growers Limited (UFG) is New Zealand’s largest flower marketer, formed by the combination of grower-owned companies United Flower Auction Ltd and the flower operation arm of Market Gardeners Ltd.

A growing business

Keen to build the first complete and up-to-date database of NZ flower growers, UFG decided to invest in telemarketing to enrich the information in their CRM (customer relationship management) system.

“Knowing what cut flowers are available nationally means being able to identify gaps in the market and find new opportunities for growers to expand their businesses. To achieve this, we needed help to complete around 450 growers’ profiles,” says Rebecca Jones, Marketing Manager for UFG. “We were looking for more information on their businesses, where they’re located and what they grow.

“This type of project hadn’t been carried out in the flower industry before. With this detailed information on hand, UFG can become the platform on which the flower industry can bloom.”

The friendly factor

With limited internal resources and time, UFG decided to outsource the project. Hot Leads impressed them from the outset, and were chosen to help them out. “I liked the whole way that Hot Leads did their presentation and how professional they were,” says Rebecca. “They absolutely understood what we wanted to achieve.”

Rebecca’s early confidence in Hot Leads was endorsed by the reactions from UFG’s growers as the project progressed. “I can honestly say that I’ve had only positive responses from the growers that Hot Leads contacted,” she says. “Many of our growers have been in the business for a long time, so they appreciated talking to people who obviously knew the New Zealand market and didn’t come across as total strangers. Hot Leads just ‘got’ how to talk to them, in a way that was friendly, engaging and comfortable.”

Rebecca was equally delighted that Hot Leads were able to enter the data they collected directly into UFG’s CRM. “They were able to use our system, so there was no double handling of the data. That was really beneficial to us.”

Bloomin’ brilliant

Would Rebecca recommend Hot Leads to others?

“Yes, very much so,” she says. “They got everything done in the time we agreed, and within budget. I believe they charge a fair price for their services and they are extremely professional. They’re very good with their communications: everything was set out very clearly before the project started, and their follow-through has been excellent.”

What’s next?

The initial 2018 growers’ database project spanned a 6-month period and delivered a wealth of information to UFG. However, while flower growing is a major part of UFG’s business, they have a large customer base in the retail sector that needs to be carefully cultivated as well.

“We’ll probably go through a similar exercise again next year, targeting retailers,” says Rebecca. “I’ll definitely use Hot Leads again: they understand our business and deliver great results.”

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Master Plumbers

Master Plumbers was formed in 1901 to protect, develop and promote the interests of the plumbing trade in New Zealand. Today, Master Plumbers is the brand name consumers trust. It tells them that their plumbing, gasfitting or drainlaying is done by a Quality Assured business and backed by the Master Plumbers Guarantee.

While the organisation typically gains 40-50 new members a year, it also loses some due to natural attrition as plumbers retire or sell up. Keen to expand their membership base, Master Plumbers decided on a telemarketing strategy to generate appointments with potential new members.

A hot referral

Master Plumbers purchased a contact list of plumbing company owners in New Zealand. At first, they considered working through the names themselves to identify prospects. But soon realised that their resources were limited, and the process would be too slow.

Following the suggestion of a business partner, Greg Wallace, Chief Executive for Master Plumbers, approached Hot Leads. “We had a glowing recommendation about how good Hot Leads were. Our partner rated them highly, so we decided it was well worth talking to them about how they could help us grow our membership.”

“The whole process was very professional,” said Margaret Dawson, Operations Manager for Master Plumbers. “We worked through our value proposition and provided information on why a plumber would want to join our organisation. We used Skype to meet the Hot Leads team and were impressed with their maturity, experience and organised approach. And we felt very confident that they’d represent our brand well on the phone.”

A brilliant pipeline

In just 60 hours, Hot leads made 1033 calls to New Zealand plumbing businesses. They talked to over 400 decision-makers and booked 125 prequalified appointments for Master Plumbers to follow up.

In fact, Hot Leads generated so many appointments, the Master Plumbers sales team had to reschedule some just to keep up with demand. “It would be fair to say that we were very surprised by the level of engagement,” said Margaret, “and probably a bit under-prepared for it!”

Hot Leads also identified a sizeable number of businesses who wanted to follow up by phone. As well as all the meetings, Master Plumbers now has a strong future-prospect list.

What’s next?

Master Plumbers still have another 1000 contacts they’d like Hot Leads to call, but this time they’ll take a staggered approach. Master Plumbers will also use Hot Leads to drive member attendance at the organisation’s next annual conference.

And does she recommend Hot Leads? “Absolutely, yes!” Margaret says. “It’s the best thing we did. If we’d tried to do the project internally, we’d never have got that level of knowledge or engagement. It would have been impossible.”

“I highly recommend anyone to use Hot Leads. They’re honestly top class.”

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Taupō District Chamber of Commerce

The Taupō District Chamber of Commerce and Industry supports business growth and vitality throughout the region. Support for their 173 members focuses on advocacy, networking and building business capability.

The big event

The Chamber holds regular after-5 networking events, typically attracting 40-50 attendees. However, Chairperson Catie Noble and her team wanted to deliver a large-scale, motivational event, featuring a range of inspiring speakers from around New Zealand. They scheduled their inaugural Elevate Event for March 2018, setting themselves the challenge of generating a fantastic member turnout.

As well as sending out email invitations, Catie initiated a new tactic. They’d bring in a telemarketing partner to drive up registration for the event and to make follow-up calls the day before to reduce attendee attrition.

The hot factor

Catie contacted two potential partners and chose Hot Leads because of their responsiveness and attitude. “The decision to work with Hot Leads wasn’t based on price, but the way they did business on the phone. While the other company was cheaper, they took four days to get back to me. Which didn’t inspire confidence.”

Hot Leads contacted close to 160 Chamber members, and 128 non-members. An impressive 197 members turned up on the day. Catie was delighted with the outcome and the fact that her faith in Hot Leads’ abilities paid off.

Not only did Hot Leads help the Chamber deliver a great event turnout, but over the course of the project they cleansed and expanded the membership contacts database. “They effectively extended our network,” says Catie.

And on the back of this first major event success, Taupō District Chamber of Commerce and Industry are planning a similar mid-year function, with Hot Leads playing an essential role in making sure this event is just as well attended. “We’ve been pleased to give them further projects in recognition of their great work,” says Catie. “We’d highly recommend their services to anyone who asked.”

The nice lady on the phone

The icing on the cake for Catie was the unsolicited feedback they got from Chamber members on how much they enjoyed talking to ‘the nice lady on the phone’ and that they appreciated the reminder call the day before the event.

“In a semi-rural area, it’s that polite, friendly and personal touch that impresses people. More so than an easy-to- ignore email. Thanks, Hot Leads!”

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MB Security

MB Security Ltd is a small family-run business providing residential, commercial and industrial security solutions. They’ve offered everything from high-end security systems, CCTV, network video recorders to 24/7 critical plant equipment monitoring, to over 1,000 clients throughout the Auckland region in the past ten years. MBS focuses on delivering both a tailored, personalised service and premium results.

Getting up close and personal

MBS already had a good representation in South Auckland, and enjoyed some existing brand awareness. They have competitive monthly security monitoring fees, and supply superior quality equipment. But Director Mark Bailey wanted to generate leads based on more than material value. He wanted the opportunity to talk face to face with a client about how MBS could meet their particular, unique needs.

MBS asked Hot Leads to get appointments where Mark could visit and discuss the company’s hands-on approach. He wanted clients who would walk him through their security issues, and work with him to design a solution suited exactly to their property or business.

Enter Hot Leads

MBS started off by asking Hot Leads to design and execute a test campaign in selected South Auckland suburbs. The strategy worked on having in-depth conversations with business owners about their existing security technology and monitoring. Mark was run off his feet attending appointments the test campaign set up for him. “I liked how simple it was to deal with Hot Leads. And the professional, friendly and kiwi manner in which their contractors represented my business.”

The test campaign won MBS new customers wanting alarm monitoring services, and also several sales for upgrading or replacing existing alarm systems. “Monitoring services are our bread and butter revenue. And new security technology installations is where we make good money,” said Mark. It also generated a good number of strong future prospects who will come to MBS when their existing security contracts close.

Better than expected outcomes

MBS is delighted with the results, which delivered a substantial amount of new clients into the business. They now run regular appointment setting campaigns in different suburbs, so Hot Leads succeeded in extending the MBS brand into other locations.

Mark is a happy man. “Our marketing spend, compared to business won through Hot Leads’ campaigning, represents a powerful ROI. Now Hot Leads are an integral part of our marketing drive.”

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The Cerebral Palsy Society of New Zealand

The Cerebral Palsy Society of New Zealand Incorporated is a registered charity. Their mission is to enhance the lives of people with cerebral palsy in New Zealand, by enabling them to make their own choices. The Society is reliant on the goodwill and generosity of corporate sponsors and individuals to make this possible.

Project Steptember

In 2015 The Cerebral Palsy Society joined a global fundraising campaign called Steptember. Designed to get people moving, the initiative challenges participants to walk 10,000 steps a day for 28 days in the month of September. As a team challenge, Steptember puts a strong focus on corporate engagement and participation.

As this was the first time New Zealand had participated, it was important to explore what advertising and marketing initiatives would prove the most successful locally. The Society had limited internal resources and a modest marketing budget. Their strategy needed to reach as many corporates as possible.

Enter Hot Leads

As part of their strategy, the Society decided to conduct a 40-hour test of targeted phone calls. Steptember was the Society’s first ever telemarketing fundraising campaign, so they took the time to interview a range of lead generation companies, before choosing to work with Hot Leads.

“I was drawn to Hot Leads for a number of reasons,” said Shelly Reilly, who is responsible for managing the Steptember partnership at the Cerebral Palsy Society.

“Lisa and her team stood out from the get-go; however, the main reason I chose them was because their team didn’t sound like scripted robots on the phone, they are warm and friendly. They took the time to learn about Steptember, offered the best value and services that I was looking for, and ultimately turned it into a successful fundraising campaign.”

Hot Leads conducted a trial of the telemarketing approach, and successfully signed up 35 corporations – raising over $10 of sponsorship for every $1 the Society invested.

Stepping up, year after year

Telemarketing proved to be the Society’s most successful tactic for gaining support from the corporate sector and generated the highest rate of return. Impressed with the outcome, the Society commissioned Hot Leads to continue their good work on a larger scale.

Due to the impressive return on investment (ROI), the Society has incrementally increased the size and reach of their campaigns with Hot Leads year upon year. “In 2017, we generated $508,154 of revenue through the corporations that Hot Leads prospected on our behalf,” said a delighted Reilly. “That works out to be 53% of total revenue.”

A big step in the right direction

“Engaging with Hot Leads resulted in outstanding corporate participant numbers and exceeded our fundraising goals,” said Reilly. “The ROI for us has been excellent.”

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