How Can I Generate More Leads for my Finance Company?

This question represents a perpetual challenge for business owners, and it is something you’ve no doubt wrestled with at some point in your career. Marketing is highly intelligent nowadays and very competitive. Otelli is here to help people gain an edge.  

We’ve all been on the receiving end of an unwanted or downright poorly executed marketing ploy. Maybe you just sat down for dinner, or maybe you were just about to kick back and open your favourite beverage. The settings change, but the situation always goes the same way:

To build a strong lead generation strategy, we first have to lay the foundations. So before progressing any further, we’ll look at what exactly a finance lead is.

A lead is a prospective customer who has displayed interest in your businesses offering or engaged with some kind of marketing material. These people welcome contact from your business, contrasting starkly with people whose contact information has been purchased, and who don’t welcome contact. 

To illustrate, imagine someone signs up to your mailing list to stay informed about a particular product range, or to receive marketing information. This person is consenting to you contacting them by giving you their details, which signals to the marketer that they are interested. The marketer can then send further communications which are relevant and unintrusive. 

Leads in a marketing context are similar to leads in detective movies. They are like clues that can be followed up on. Though the marketer elicits the information with the subject’s consent and aims to sell something, whereas the detective may be more like the cold-caller, obtaining people’s details without their knowledge. 

Once you have the leads and their information, you can start sending them relevant and personalised communications.

Lead generation in the context of finance is much the same as lead generation in any other sector, though the way leads are approached and through which channels is what distinguishes it. 

To illuminate the topic even more, think of lead generation as being the process by which you attract people to your brand through various creative tactics. Technology sets the rules of the game to a significant extent, because it enables lead generation capabilities that are unmatched by traditional methods.

By which I mean, traditional methods of lead generation, such as referrals or door-to-door (the original cold-calling), simply cannot compete with a lead generation form on LinkedIn, for example. So technology sets the rules to a large extent, but you can still get creative within these confines. 

Across the board, regardless of industry or method, lead generation involves raising brand awareness in its initial stages, to introduce potential customers to the brand. 

This is always the first step before the prospect can be drawn into your sales funnel; they must be introduced to your brand, like your brand and be able to trust your brand, long before they part with any cash. 

As marketing experts, we’re quite surprised to see how frequently this question is asked. They might as well be asking, ‘why does my business need customers?’. 

In the modern world, many businesses don’t even have a physical storefront; the internet is the new high street, and lead generation is how you direct the flow of traffic to your digital shop.

Lead generation is stage two in the marketing effort. The prospect has already looked at your sign, they know your brand and they are ready to step foot in the door where the sales team can engage them.

Now we’ve established what a lead is, we can move onto qualifying leads, which describes the process of verifying their interest and checking that they are, in fact, a prospective buyer. 

This process ensures that time and money are not wasted pursuing low-quality leads who aren’t going to buy anything. 

The way information is collected or given to a business can reveal a lot about the person’s level of interest. Here, we will cover a few examples of how people may provide their information and what this might mean for the business in question:

These examples convey a lot about the nature of lead generation, for example, they reveal how businesses with different offerings are suited to different lead generation methods, as a finance company wouldn’t have much use for coupons. However, they also reveal how different methods create different data, so it’s important for companies to consider the best way to create leads and the best way to qualify leads, ideally through a single process.

For reasons we previously discussed, purchasing leads is not the best way to go. While some businesses see it as worthwhile, it’s often seen as one of the most annoying approaches to marketing. Finance businesses in particular should avoid doing this, as no one wants to be cold-called with a financial offer, as this screams; ‘scam!’.

This is bad practice primarily because the recipient doesn’t know you, hasn’t consented to your communications and will probably feel slightly uncomfortable at the fact that you have found their personal number and contacted them in this way. 

Initiating contact with someone through an unwarranted email or call is just about the worst way to introduce them to your brand. You want to invite them in, not find out where they live and walk through the door and into their living room!

If the prospect hasn’t given you their information, engaged with your marketing materials or requested contact, you’re just going to bother them.

This is exactly why lead generation is so important, particularly for finance companies. 

Without a dedicated marketing department, this level of effort can be hard to output and maintain. For this reason, outsourcing to experience marketing teams, who know how to generate leads for finance companies, is invariably the best way to go.

As marketing experts, we’re quite surprised to see how frequently this question is asked. They might as well be asking, ‘why does my business need customers?’. 

In the modern world, many businesses don’t even have a physical storefront; the internet is the new high street, and lead generation is how you direct the flow of traffic to your digital shop.

Lead generation is stage two in the marketing effort. The prospect has already looked at your sign, they know your brand and they are ready to step foot in the door where the sales team can engage them.

This may seem like a counterproductive title for a guide that purports to teach people about lead generation, right?

Well, the purpose of this article is not to be a step-by-step approach to executing lead generation, rather it is an educational piece designed to make you think differently about lead generation. 

The responsibility of generating leads should always be delegated to a team of experts, and we don’t just say that because we’re in the business. This isn’t just an opinion of ours, this is something we can prove to anyone who is led by logic. 

Consider the following:

1. Otelli understands lead generation specifically for the finance industry, including revenue models – the key factor in building repeat custom – and valuation devices, in addition to having important legislative knowledge. 
2. We are experienced and we measure our success based on your ROI. We know how to get the most out of your marketing budget and our team is made up of individuals who are experts in each area of marketing. 
3. We have the latest technology, strategic know-how and knowledge of your industry to formulate marketing strategies that achieve results.
4. We achieve results. Look at our track record, our testimonials, our reviews. Enough said.

As marketing experts, we’re quite surprised to see how frequently this question is asked. They might as well be asking, ‘why does my business need customers?’. 

In the modern world, many businesses don’t even have a physical storefront; the internet is the new high street, and lead generation is how you direct the flow of traffic to your digital shop.

Lead generation is stage two in the marketing effort. The prospect has already looked at your sign, they know your brand and they are ready to step foot in the door where the sales team can engage them.

Meet Francis. As the financial director of a large firm, Francis is a veteran in the industry, with decades worth of experience. He and his business partner have grown their company from the ground up, starting with just the two of them and growing into a team of hundreds, with offices all over the country. 

All entrepreneurs know that marketing is a challenge; it’s exceedingly difficult to measure ROI when it comes to marketing, because the variables are not testable. 

Francis faces an issue. His marketing channels are not performing and he doesn’t know why. As much as he knows about finance, Francis is dumbfounded when it comes to marketing. 

Did you Know? 61% of B2B companies send all leads straight to their sales teams? 

But, only 27% of these leads are qualified. 

Lead Generation for Finance: So, What’s the Problem?

Francis started to pay attention to his budget and where it was being allocated. Here’s what he found:

Thousands Spent on Yellow Pages

A whole generation of people exist now that don’t even know what the Yellow Pages are. In fact, they don’t even print Yellow Pages anymore, not since 2019. 

People simply don’t have use for them anymore, and if they wanted to contact a company, the Yellow Pages might literally be the last place they would consider to look.

We don’t want to bash them too much, they did have a five decade run after all. But as Bob Dylan once said… ‘the times, they are a changing.’

Search engines are now the preferred tools that consumers use and that is where you should focus your marketing efforts primarily.

Did you know? An estimated 61% of internet users research products on the web.

Hours a Week Cold Calling

Francis’ sales team are hardworking and committed to their goals, but they just aren’t seeing the kinds of results that they used to see. Their methods haven’t changed, so they are left scratching their heads. 

What Francis and his team haven’t yet figured out, is that while their tactics haven’t changed, the world around them has. Marketing tactics must flow with the changing tides of culture, technology and the economy.

Nobody likes receiving a cold-call anymore. A lot of people don’t even like to be called! Young people overwhelmingly prefer to communicate via messages. 

After doing research, Francis realised that all of the time and money he was investing into cold-calling was basically being wasted when he considered the alternative route of inbound marketing. 

Did You Know? 90% of cold calls end in failure, with only 5% even picking up the phone. 

Over £5,000 a Year on Print Ads

There’s a theme emerging, isn’t there? Francis is stuck in the past, and so is his marketing team. 

Once again, Francis couldn’t figure out what was wrong with print ads. They had worked for years, what’s changed?

Everything, Francis, and to once again quote the great philosopher, Bob Dylan; ‘if you don’t start swimming you’ll sink like a stone. For the times, they are a changing.’

Francis investigated, and discovered, once again, that his choice of marketing channel was another one that was in its death throes. He was coming to a solid conclusion, slowly but surely; inbound marketing is the key.

What Would James Say to Others About Lead Generation for Finance?

Francis concluded that his outdated marketing techniques were no longer serving his company and its objectives. Francis decided to start working with Otelli, who specialise in inbound marketing and generating high-quality leads for finance companies. 

His website is now doing excellently, and his customer base has expanded as a result. More leads are coming in, conversions are up and profit has been boosted.

If your finance company would like help getting started with lead generation, you can reach out by filling in our ‘Say Hello’ form or calling us directly. 

One of our skilled and cheerful team members will have a provisional call to understand your industry, budget, and goals. 

We’ll then work out a roadmap that includes a free trial and then start gaining your business some lovely new customers.

As marketing experts, we’re quite surprised to see how frequently this question is asked. They might as well be asking, ‘why does my business need customers?’. 

In the modern world, many businesses don’t even have a physical storefront; the internet is the new high street, and lead generation is how you direct the flow of traffic to your digital shop.

Lead generation is stage two in the marketing effort. The prospect has already looked at your sign, they know your brand and they are ready to step foot in the door where the sales team can engage them.