By Ewan Macleod
Your Go To Market (“GTM”) strategy isn’t working. It’s time to reset for 2025.
That’s because you’ve underpinned that strategy with lead generation that requires constant spamming of hundreds of emails and LinkedIn messages every single day.
For many bank executives I know, this epidemic of ‘lead generation spam’ is making the LinkedIn messaging feature almost unusable. Work mailboxes are already clogged with spam.
Every day, thousands of automated messages are being thrown into bank executive inboxes from desperate, misguided FinTechs.
If the definition of madness is repeating the same task continually, hoping for different outcomes, then it’s safe to say that most of the bank-serving FinTech ecosystem descended into madness long ago.
Yet, the nonsense continues.
And now, in 2025, it’s AI-enabled. Oh dear.
Yes, all of those spammy LinkedIn and email messages are now pumped through ChatGPT to generate a constant barrage of automated “personalised” outreach messages. This, as far as the Marketing teams are concerned, represents the pinnacle of lead generation automation. It works very well in some industries, but it’s entirely the wrong focus for any FinTech aiming to sell services to banks.
Spare a thought, dear reader, for the Sales and Business Development teams at these FinTechs (I’ll call them “Biz Dev” ongoing).
Spare a thought for them because they know what needs to be done. They know it’s about relationships. They know they need to reach 1-2 individuals at every bank to begin to drive and develop that institutional relationship. They understand they’re in the business of Enterprise Sales. Unfortunately, nobody else in the company is focused on that.
Everyone else has drunk the FinTech Kool-Aid. Everyone else – from the CEO to the Chief Marketing Officer – is busy obsessing over ‘leads’. More leads. Let’s get more leads. Buy a new lead generation system! Get a premium Zoominfo account! Let’s get a new CRM! Blow more budget on another new website! Let’s do a report, to get leads! Leads! Leads!
As for the Biz Dev team? What are they doing? Why aren’t they converting all these leads we’re sending them, asks the Marketing team.
“We don’t need your irrelevant leads from this week’s nonsense campaign,” replies the Biz Dev team, “We know who to speak with. We need to get in the room with Bryan and Jane from [insert bank name].”
“We gave you their email address and mobile numbers,” replies the Chief Marketing Officer, eyeing the CEO who nods with approval, “It cost us a LOT of money to get those via that contact scraper service.”
The Biz Dev team are backed into the corner.
“Come on, phone them, stop hiding away!” chides the CEO.
The Biz Dev team are privately horrified – but there’s no support. No understanding. No awareness. It’s 2025 and they’re back to bashing phones.
But nobody answers the phone anymore. No bank executive ever answers an unknown number. Ever. They did it once, back in 2022 – and they learned, very quickly, never to do that again. Now they let the procurement team manage all that.
Likewise, executives have learned to avoid unsolicited incoming emails and LinkedIn messages. I remember making the mistake of innocently opening a spam email from a vendor (by mistake!) only to receive a barrage of, “Hi, I see you’re interested in our services…” automated emails that continued for weeks.
Many of the executives I know are keen to engage in constructive discussions with FinTech vendors. If it was simple. If it didn’t come with the huge pain of being subjected to constant marketing overload from vendors as a result.
Back to the FinTech CEO. Under pressure from the board and investors, they’re doing their best business Judo and redirecting the pressure at the Biz Dev teams:
“Make more calls!”
“Make more sales!”
“Do more business!”
It doesn’t take much for Biz Dev teams to wilt under such sustained pressure. Zero support. Zero budget. Zero awareness from their colleagues. Just constant pressure.
It’s at this point I am often introduced to FinTech leadership teams by worried investors.
My key message is a simple one: Get in the room with your target executives.
It’s a message already familiar to the Biz Dev teams, of course. But it’s quite a difficult one for other management to hear. It’s almost too simple. And it doesn’t come with easily measurable ‘results’ like the existing approaches. It’s difficult to consider, especially when so much focus, effort, energy and budget has been spent doing the total opposite.
I’ve often faced exasperated Chief Marketing Officers, demanding, “Well, what am I supposed to do?”
My response? I turn and point at the Biz Dev director and say, “Put them in the room with the target customer.”
The CMO will often respond by pointing out that, ‘This isn’t their job’.
And they are correct. In many FinTechs, the Marketing function is to obtain lots of ‘qualified’ leads. (‘Qualified’ meaning ‘They work for a bank’).
Go and look at the actual leads being generated. Look at them. I will often insist that the detail is shown on screen whilst we discuss the topic.
“Junior Developer, Anti-money Laundering Team”
What’s this? I ask. That’s not a decision-maker! Besides, we already know who the decision-makers are. Next? “Graduate Trainee, Compliance.” Next!
This is the actual horror of FinTech Marketing Lead Generation laid bare in 2025.
The Marketing teams still think their job is generating leads. Why? Well, I’d suggest it’s because leads are measurable. No CMO does anything, nowadays, that isn’t measurable, right?
When it comes to Enterprise Technology Sales, business is resolutely done between people. Not companies. Yes, you can sell me a Netflix or Disney subscription through a few banner ads – and you can readily track and measure that sales journey to winning the $12 fee from my card. But you can’t do this with Enterprise sales. You need to get your Biz Dev people into the room with target customers. This is how it’s done.
To do this, you need to radically adjust your approach to marketing, business development and sales. Stop tracking irrelevant lead generation KPIs that feel good but don’t deliver the goods. Start tracking physical meetings generated with target customers.
The FinTech industry is blessed with great Marketing talent – so I find it enormously exciting when Marketing teams are encouraged to focus their intellect, capability and creativity on helping their Biz Dev teams get in the room.
Quickly, ideas come flying. Marketing teams are brilliant at this, once they’re freed from the straitjacket of mass irrelevant lead generation.
Roundtables. Custom events. Breakfast briefings. Podcast interviews. Side-events at big conferences. Experience days. Customer summits and conferences.
It’s time to unleash your Marketing teams to help them fully support their Biz Dev colleagues.
It’s time for CEOs to radically adjust their approach: Stop focusing on leads. Start focusing on getting your Biz Dev people in the room.