Vasudha Sondhi, Managing Director, Outbound Marketing, talks about the growth of her company and the road ahead
Outbound Marketing is now in its 11th year of business and indeed we have come a long way. Delivering more than 25 million US dollars revenue to top hotel brands around the world, we continue to forge ahead by providing innovative sales solutions to hotels. We started servicing our clients from five cities in India and today we cover 30 cities and adding more every year. The challenges today are about delivering cost and time effective sales solutions. We service the market through our offices located strategically in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Outbound Marketing has been a key affiliate of Connect Worldwide (CWW) since its inception in 2003. CWW currently represents two of the top six global hotel companies, more than 15,000 hotels and resorts, more than 30 hotel brands and 15 destinations.
I think that we have to go back to the drawing board to take a hard look at how we deliver sales. Is it really the best way, is it giving the top revenues to our hotel clients, are we servicing the market in the best possible way? In the near future, we will also probably have a division looking at only niche and luxury hotels. We also plan to set up a business unit servicing domestic hotels in India and internationally through our affiliation with CWW.
Our biggest challenge in the beginning was to grow the business without investing too much money. Our partnership with CWW helped us in sourcing new clients without us having to invest in sourcing new customers to represent in India.
We do believe that we are in a unique position as there are no other representation companies servicing such large hotel clients. We have always put ‘sales and revenues back in the representation business’. As in every other sphere, where ever there are opportunities, you will see new entrants to the business, but only the best will survive.
We have full understanding of the market, consumer behaviour and market trends. Outbound Marketing gives a 360 degree approach to the represented client covering all aspects of the market. We offer the most powerful sales, marketing and PR solution for hotel and resort brands under our umbrella. Outbound Marketing has access to a strong network of strategic partners – travel, corporate and lifestyle.