Your marketing team just told you about “intent data” and “Orbit” and how it’s going to transform your pipeline. Then they showed you a dashboard with topic IDs, intent scores, and audience configurations.
You nodded politely. You had no idea what any of it meant.
Here’s the thing: you don’t need to understand intent scores or topic taxonomies to use Orbit effectively. You need to know three things: how to find people who are actively shopping for what you sell, how to build a list of them, and how to prioritize who to call first.
This guide covers exactly that. No API calls. No code. No technical setup. Just the Orbit dashboard and 15 minutes every Monday morning.
What Orbit Actually Does (In Sales Terms)
Forget the technical explanation. Here’s what Orbit does in terms you care about:
Orbit finds people who are actively researching products like yours - right now - and gives you their name, email, phone number, and company.
Think of it like this:
| Without Orbit | With Orbit |
|---|---|
| You buy a list from ZoomInfo | You get a list of people with proven buying intent |
| The list is 3-6 months stale | The list refreshes every day |
| You cold-call people who may not care | You call people who are actively researching your category |
| Response rate: 2-3% | Response rate: 8-15% |
| Your CRM is full of “not interested” | Your CRM is full of “tell me more” |
That’s the difference between a bought list and an intent-powered list. One is a phone book. The other is a list of people who raised their hand - they just didn’t raise it on your website.
The 5-Step Workflow (No Technical Skills Required)
Step 1: Search for Topics That Match What You Sell
Open Orbit and go to the audience builder. You’ll see a search bar for topics.
Type in words related to what you sell. That’s it.
If you sell CRM software, search: “CRM,” “Sales Software,” “Customer Relationship Management,” “Salesforce,” “HubSpot CRM”
If you sell cybersecurity, search: “Endpoint Security,” “SIEM,” “Zero Trust,” “Cybersecurity”
If you sell marketing automation, search: “Marketing Automation,” “Email Marketing,” “Lead Nurturing,” “Drip Campaigns”
Orbit has 20,735 topics covering every B2B category. You’ll find matches for whatever you sell. Select 3-5 topics that are most relevant.
Sales rep tip: Also search for your competitors’ names. “HubSpot alternatives” or “Salesforce alternatives” are topics in Orbit. People researching those topics are actively looking for a new vendor. That’s your warmest possible lead.
Step 2: Preview the Audience
After selecting topics, click Preview. Orbit shows you:
- How many people match your topics
- 50 sample profiles (names masked) so you can check if the audience looks right
- Data quality indicators
If the preview shows thousands of people and the sample profiles look like your ideal customers, you’re on the right track. If the audience is too broad (50,000+ people), you need filters. If it’s too narrow (under 100), try broader topics.
Step 3: Filter to Your Territory and Segment
This is where you narrow the audience to YOUR prospects. Use the filters:
| Filter | What It Does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Geography | Limit to your territory | ”California, Texas, New York” |
| Company Size | Match your ideal customer | ”50-500 employees” |
| Seniority | Target decision-makers | ”Director, VP, CXO” |
| Industry | Focus on your best verticals | ”SaaS, FinTech, Healthcare” |
| Department | Reach the right buyer | ”Marketing, Sales, IT” |
| Job Title | Get specific | ”VP Marketing,” “Head of Sales” |
Start broad, then narrow. If you’re not sure which filters to use, start with just Geography and Seniority. You can always add more filters later.
Step 4: Save and Activate the Audience
Give your audience a name that makes sense to you. Something like “CRM Buyers - West Coast VPs - April 2026.”
Click Activate. The audience materializes in seconds - typically 5-10 seconds for a few thousand people.
What you get for each person:
| Data Point | What You See |
|---|---|
| Name | Full name |
| Business email (and often personal) | |
| Phone | Direct phone number |
| Profile URL | |
| Job Title | Current title |
| Company | Company name + size + industry |
| Intent Score | 1-100 (how actively they’re researching) |
That’s everything you need to start outreach. No additional enrichment tool. No LinkedIn research. No guessing.
Step 5: Check It Every Monday
Here’s the part that makes Orbit different from a bought list: it refreshes every day.
New people enter the audience as they start researching your category. People whose research activity drops off exit the audience. Intent scores update as behavior changes.
Set a recurring calendar reminder: Monday 9:00 AM - Check Orbit audiences.
Your Monday routine:
- Open Orbit (2 minutes)
- Sort by intent score, highest first (1 minute)
- Look at the top 10-20 new entries (5 minutes)
- Export the highest-intent contacts to your CRM or outreach tool (3 minutes)
- Start calling the top 5 (rest of Monday)
Total time: 15 minutes. Then you’re calling people who are actively shopping for what you sell, this week.
How This Compares to Your Current Prospecting
Let’s be honest about what most sales reps do today:
The ZoomInfo/Apollo Approach
You buy a list of people who match a firmographic profile - right job title, right company size, right industry. Then you cold-call and cold-email your way through the list.
| Metric | Bought List | Orbit |
|---|---|---|
| List freshness | 3-6 months old | Updated daily |
| Intent signal | None | Active research behavior |
| Contact accuracy | 70-80% | Verified, current |
| Response rate | 2-3% | 8-15% |
| Time to build list | Hours (filtering, exporting) | Minutes |
| Monthly cost | $500-$1,500+ (ZoomInfo) | Included in Leadpipe |
The core problem with bought lists: you have no idea if the person wants what you’re selling. They match a profile. That doesn’t mean they’re buying.
Orbit flips this. You start with people who ARE buying (proven research behavior) and then filter to the ones that match your profile.
The LinkedIn Sales Navigator Approach
You use Sales Navigator to find people by title and company, then send InMails or connection requests.
| Metric | LinkedIn Sales Nav | Orbit |
|---|---|---|
| Data source | LinkedIn profiles | Cross-web research behavior |
| Intent signal | None (just profile data) | Active category research |
| Contact data | InMail only (no email/phone) | Email + phone + LinkedIn |
| Research required | Heavy (you browse profiles) | None (audience builds automatically) |
| Monthly cost | $99-$139/seat | Included in Leadpipe |
Sales Navigator is great for researching specific people. But it can’t tell you which people are currently in-market. You’re still guessing who to reach out to.
Orbit tells you who’s researching. You don’t need to guess.
What to Say When You Reach Out
You have intent data that tells you someone is researching your category. Here’s how to use that information without being creepy.
Do This
“Hi Sarah, I work with marketing teams at mid-size SaaS companies who are evaluating their marketing automation stack. If that’s on your radar right now, I’d love to share what we’re seeing from teams making that transition. Worth a 15-minute call?”
You’re referencing the category they’re researching without revealing HOW you know. It feels relevant, not intrusive.
Don’t Do This
“Hi Sarah, I noticed you’ve been researching marketing automation alternatives across multiple websites this week, so I wanted to reach out…”
That’s surveillance language. Even if it’s accurate, it makes people uncomfortable.
The Pattern
- Reference the category or problem (not the tracking)
- Establish relevance (you work with similar companies)
- Offer value (share insights, not a pitch)
- Keep it short (under 100 words for email, under 30 seconds for voicemail)
For more outreach frameworks, see our SDR playbook for identified website visitors. The same principles apply to intent-sourced leads.
Setting Up Multiple Audiences
Don’t stop at one audience. The most effective sales reps run 3-5 Orbit audiences simultaneously:
| Audience | Purpose | Check Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Competitor researchers | Highest-intent leads | Daily |
| Category buyers | Mid-funnel prospects | Monday + Thursday |
| ”Alternatives” searchers | Active switchers | Daily |
| Territory-specific | Your territory’s buyers | Monday |
| Industry-specific | Your vertical’s buyers | Monday |
Each audience refreshes daily, so new prospects appear automatically. Your job is just to review, prioritize by intent score, and reach out.
For ideas on specific audiences to build, check out our guide on 5 Orbit audiences every SaaS company should build.
Quick FAQ for Sales Reps
“How accurate is the data?”
Leadpipe uses deterministic matching with an 8.7/10 accuracy score. That means the contact information you’re getting - email, phone, LinkedIn - is verified, not guessed.
“How is this different from our visitor identification?”
Visitor identification shows you who visits YOUR website. Orbit shows you who’s researching your CATEGORY across the entire web. Think of visitor ID as the people who found you. Orbit finds the people who haven’t found you yet.
“What if I don’t have Leadpipe yet?”
Orbit is included in all Leadpipe plans starting at $147/mo. There’s a free trial with 500 identified leads to test both visitor identification and Orbit.
“Can I export to my CRM?”
Yes. Export as CSV and import into any CRM. Leadpipe also has native integrations with HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, and 200+ other tools.
“How often should I check?”
At minimum, every Monday morning. For your highest-intent audiences (competitor researchers and alternatives searchers), check daily if you can.
The 15-Minute Monday Routine
Print this, tape it to your monitor, and follow it every Monday:
| Time | Action |
|---|---|
| 9:00 | Open Orbit dashboard |
| 9:02 | Check “Competitor Researchers” audience, sort by intent score |
| 9:05 | Export top 10 new entries to CRM |
| 9:07 | Check “Alternatives Searchers” audience |
| 9:10 | Export top 5 new entries to CRM |
| 9:12 | Quick scan of “Category Buyers” for standout profiles |
| 9:14 | Tag all exports with “Orbit - [Date]” in CRM |
| 9:15 | Start calling the top 5 highest-intent contacts |
That’s it. 15 minutes to fill your pipeline for the week with people who are actively researching what you sell. Then spend the rest of your day doing what you’re best at - having conversations with buyers who are ready to talk.
What Happens After the First Month
Most sales reps see a pattern within 30 days of using Orbit:
Week 1: You’re figuring out the dashboard. Topics feel unfamiliar. You export a small batch and test outreach on 10-15 contacts. Response rate is noticeably higher than your cold list.
Week 2: You refine your topic selection based on which exports produced replies. You add a competitor-specific audience. Your outreach templates reference category research instead of generic value props.
Week 3: You have a consistent Monday routine. Your CRM has a dedicated “Orbit leads” tag. You’re tracking which audiences produce the best conversations. Pipeline from intent-sourced leads is growing.
Week 4: You’re hooked. The intent-scored leads consistently outperform every other source. You stop spending time on stale lists and redirect that time to Orbit-sourced outreach. Your manager asks why your reply rates jumped.
The key insight: Orbit doesn’t add work. It replaces the worst part of your current workflow (researching who to call) with the best part (talking to people who are actually interested). That’s a trade most sales reps are happy to make.
Try Leadpipe free with 500 leads ->
Related Articles
- Orbit Is Live: Person-Level Intent Audiences
- SDR Playbook for Identified Website Visitors
- 5 Orbit Audiences Every SaaS Company Should Build
- AI SDR Data Stack: Anonymous Visitor to Booked Meeting
- Website Visitor Identification for Sales Teams
- Intent Data vs Visitor Identification
- Competitive Intelligence with Orbit Intent Data
