Leverage social media, external digital data to turn prospects into customers.

AuthorNeckopulos, Jim

Good news and more good news...

While most banks have created prospect lists from internally available data or external sources such as Dunn & Bradstreet, this information may not be accurate or recently updated. As result, bankers or business development personnel spend significant time trying to get updated information. They can get frustrated that many of the prospects on their calling lists are not really "good" prospects or have had significant changes in their circumstances.

The good news is that this challenge has now become an opportunity. Moreover, capturing this opportunity is not dependent on asset size or other big bank characteristics, which is good news for community and regional banks. The key is access to data and use of good analytics. The actual application of the methodology can be done in-house or it can be out-sourced.

Approach and methodology

The approach and methodology is straightforward.. Banks can develop hypotheses (on their own or with assistance) to identify "triggers" than can then be listened for in social media posts (Facebook, Twitter, Linkeciln, etc.) and through other external digital sources and media. These so-called triggers are developed to identify factors that are predictive of a business's receptivity to make a banking relationship change. One of the more obvious examples of these triggers would be management changes a more subtle example might be increased advertising spend (which is often indicative of growth and, therefore, suggestive of the need for new or expanded banking services). Twitter activity and /or the content of the "tweets" can also provide interesting insights into what may be happening, trending or changing at a company--especially for small businesses, where owners often-share information on both personal and business topics given their inter-relatedness.

Once the triggers and digital in-formation sources are identified, advanced data analytics come into play. While small or regional banks may lack sophisticated data analytics...

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