Ultimate Lead Guide - Finding Banks

Banks (and Credit Unions and other financial institutions)are next in our Ultimate Lead Guide series. Aside from our Winning With Marketing series, be sure to also check out:

The Introduction
Schools
Places of Worship
Medical Offices
Government
Office Buildings
Car Dealerships
Banks
Gyms
Residential Communities

According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), of those that bank sometime within a 12-month period ending in 2017, 24.8% of households physically went inside the bank to do their banking business. Thanks to technology and no thanks to COVID, only 14.9% of households visited the bank at least once in a 12-month period ending in 2021. According to GlobalData, there were 129.9 Million households in the US in 2021. This means that there were at least 19,355,100 bank visitors through 2021 within the US, not including spouses and other family members. This means that there are millions of people tracking in dirt, leaving bank slips laying around, tossing their lollipop wrappers on the floor (do they still do that?), and otherwise potentially making a mess that keeps YOU in business.

Banks are great to clean. Before I go further, know that "banks", for purposes of this post, also include other banking offices including credit unions, retail banks, and commercial banks. You could probably include savings banks, online bank offices, investment offices, and savings and loans (nah...S&Ls are gone, right? Nope).

Back to banks being great. They are great. They're diverse in size and certain fit within any business goals you set. We contractually cleaned for a bank space less than 50 square feet (ATM kiosk) to a credit union HQ at 36,000 sqft. Some bank cleans were only requested weekly. Some at 6X/week. Our median bank size was about 2500 sqft cleaning 2-3 times per week. 

Outside of size, another consideration was around many banks' requirements to bid on multiple branches at once. It's my understanding that large banks, like Bank of America, typically accept only one cleaning contractor, and that contractor will bid out branches. We bid on a regional bank called M&T Bank, and at that time, they required that we bid on no less than 50 branches. We've bid on local banks and two of those required we bid on all of their branches, not just one. There are no absolutes but don't be surprised if you encounter that. Outside of ongoing cleaning, we did win 1X specialty cleaning gigs with local banks through stripping and waxing, carpet cleaning, and we even provided brass cleaning on line-control queues in a credit union.

Other considerations is the ability and understanding to set alarms. More than half of the banks we cleaned require we do so. Some of them required we clean in the daytime, while staff and customers are present. Interestingly enough, none of the banks we cleaned required any additional background checks and the insurance requirements were standard. The banks we cleaned were very secured and there wasn't any money sitting around whatsoever.

Finally, while this post is about finding leads and not about marketing to those leads, I'll briefly say that we found our banks and credit unions through networking, referrals, and SEO/website, though we never specifically targeted them.

Once you find a bank, always be sure to click within their website to see their branches and to get a feel of the size and scope of their branches. While some of my lead sources point to the branch, it's not typical that the branch gets to decide their cleaning service. After some convos you can discover their decision-making process. Large banks will have a procurement or supplier page. Here's Wells Fargo's page, as an example. It gives you the opportunity to register as a prospective supplier and hopefully that'll give you some bidding opportunities.

Top sources for Leads for our company over the years for Financial Institutions:

1) Google, 2) Networking Events, 3) State Regulators, 4) FDIC, 5) NCUA, 6) Associations, 7) Federal Reserve Board, 8) Branch Managers, 9) Lead Magnets, and 10) Aggregates. 

Google:

 Like with all of the other posts within the Finding Leads series, Google is a top go-to. Simply google "Banks near me" or "Credit Unions near me" and you'll get a wealth of information, including addresses, financial institution's name, phone numbers, and website (usually). At a minimum you can mail, visit, or call with that information. 

Networking:

We pulled in quite a few through Networking. Bank managers are always being invited to this networking event or that. Join any local chamber of commerce and you'll find a banker. Join any local BNI group and you'll find a banker. Join your local Rotary and there's always a banker. In convos with the branch managers I've talked to they have sales quotas to meet and these groups are an effective use of time. Heck, we joined our last bank because I met the branch manager at a Chamber event. On the flip side, we won bank and credit union contracts thanks to networking events. In fact, our biggest lifetime valued financial institution client brought in about $1.5M all because of an initial handshake at a Chamber event they hosted.

State Regulators:

States will regulate financial institutions. Each state has a database of these financial institutions and it's typically available to the public. I can't speak to every state, but I can speak to my own. Below is a screenshot of what I have here in Virginia. It lists every single bank, with their branch addresses, their HQ contact info, and CEO/President info. Definitely google something like "List of Banks in _______" with your state's name, and then select the link that points to a government database. 

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation:

Many financial institutions, namely banks, are members of the FDIC.  Banks do go under. They fail. And if they do, there's insurance attached to each account up to a limit and the FDIC is that insurer. The FDIC was created by Congress to protect the US banking consumer. You can access this database and get access to bank names, their branches, and addresses. Below is a sample screenshot of a Bank of America branch nearby.

National Credit Union Administration:

Like with the FDIC for banks, the NCUA oversees credit unions and helps protect consumers. They also have a handy database you can search. That search will produce branch locations of various CUs, with addresses and phone numbers. 

Associations:

Associations...they're everywhere. There's the Mortgage Bankers Association, the National Bankers Association, the American Bankers Association, the Independent Community Bankers of America, Community Development Bankers Association, and a whole lot more. Some of these, like the ICBA, have public databases you can use to search member banks. These smaller banks are perfect when starting out with financial institutions and much easier to win as a client.

The Federal Reserve Board

Ah, the ole FED. That arbiters of your interest rates and your money supply. Look on any greenback and you'll see it references it as a Federal Reserve Note (how come we no longer talk about quantitative easing? Maybe we're not complaining about the cost of a loaf of bread or the cost of a fast food burger bad enough. *Steps off soap box*). Anywho...they do offer us a positive: access to bank information. I'm located in the 5th District which covers MD through the Carolinas, plus WV. And there's a database. I can see a list of all member banks within the 5th District. By now you''ve certainly found every financial institution out there, but this seals the deal. There are 7 Districts and each should have a database like the one exampled below.

Branch Managers:

As indicated above within the Networking section, branch managers are everywhere. With all of the info provided up to this point, you should have at least found the financial institution name, address, and phone. But connecting with the right person could come about just by having a conversation with that branch's manager. We picked up 1X floor work with a bank by having a conversation with a local branch manager. We won that CU because I met the local president and manager of a local CU. And pulled in an opportunity to bid on 50 or more branches for M&T Bank because of our local branch manager. 

Lead Magnets:

At one point in time we had lead magnets on our site to collect info from visitors asking for banks. We pulled in a few leads over the years doing this. The content provided in those lead magnets were simply our Scope of Work reformatted with nice graphics and specifically tailored to banks. The visitor would provide their contact information and they'd automatically receive our bank SOW so that they can compare other bids to what we offer. 

Aggregates:

Finally, there are plenty of aggregates to search for banks. Search "Best Banks" or "Best Credit Unions" and maybe add a modifier, like a location, and you'll find a list of opportunities. WalletHub, NerdWallet, Yelp, Yellow Pages, Credit Union Match, and many others are all great resources to make sure you have every single financial institution on your list.

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Hope you win some banks with the help of this post. They're consistent and easy to work with. They're definitely a great niche.

Next on Deck: How to Pitch a Contract Price Increase (6/19/24)