As the alternative financing industry has grown in the past twenty years or so, the number of funders and brokers has also grown—the space is getting crowded.
Building a successful career as a merchant cash advance (MCA) broker requires professionalism and strategy.
Professionalism to build a sustainable business, and strategy to get the right leads for your business. As an MCA broker, it’s absolutely necessary to work on proper lead generation, deliver top-tier service, enhance your reputation—and repeat.
In this article, we’ll get into why a robust lead generation strategy is essential to your business, and present some tips to get you started.
Why Every MCA Broker Should Prioritize Lead Generation
In plain language, a “lead” is any person or business you have contact information for. The more you know about a lead’s business needs, the better.
Defining the quality of a lead is where the money is at—and you want “qualified” leads. These prospects have expressed an intent to purchase what you’re selling.
For most MCA brokers, lead generation is (and should be) an ongoing activity, a flywheel that you must constantly spin if you want to close new, quality deals month after month.
The internet has made it possible to generate leads like never before. Alternative lenders can easily use this to their advantage, but they can also very easily use it badly—again, it’s not a matter of quantity, but quality that you should be focusing on.
Many brokers already have teams working with dedicated technology to supply their sales teams with fresh, qualified leads.
If you want to stay ahead of the competition, it’s critical that you have a strategy to generate leads that are right for your business. But before you get there, it’s important to acknowledge the obstacles that might be standing in the way.
The Challenges of Effective Lead Generation
There are multi-million dollar businesses dedicated solely to generating qualified leads.
But being successful at lead gen as an MCA broker isn’t as easy as it sounds. First, you have to overcome a few difficulties—ultimately, it’s worth the effort.
Merchant Skepticism
Even though the industry has grown tremendously, merchant cash advances aren’t a mainstream solution.
That creates two problems that MCA brokers with integrity have to overcome:
- Pushy, unethical MCA brokers.
- Scammers posing as MCA brokers.
Prospects who have encountered any of the two (or both) will be chilly and defensive when you present your services. That’s why you must work on building your honest reputation, and enhancing your legitimacy before you go out looking for leads.
Expensive Leads
Paying for leads can be a great option. Even paying a high fee per lead can be economical if you close more deals or close more valuable deals faster.
However, as more MCA brokers enter the market and buy leads or generate their own, the price per lead increases. This affects smaller organizations disproportionately because they have less free cash flow at their disposal.
Technology Gaps
If you want to generate your own leads, there’s an inescapable learning curve.
You’ll need a customer relationship management (CRM) tool, a marketing platform, an email platform, digital advertising, data analytics, and a strategy for working with affiliates. Any one of these items is complex enough to employ an army of consultants, especially if tech isn’t your specialty.
Geographic Limitations
You may have a strong local network to help you find and qualify your leads, but that means you’re missing out on potential clients that operate outside that region.
If you develop a digital channel for acquiring leads, you can grow far beyond your physical locale.
Poor Quality Content Marketing
Paid advertising is an important component of any digital lead gen strategy. Alternatively, publishing content to your website and social media channels is a low-cost way to build your reputation and attract leads.
When you publish your own content, you create organic traffic and improve your visibility in search engine traffic. Although content creation takes time and effort, the rewards are worth it.
5 Actionable Strategies for Better Lead Gen
Improving your lead generation strategy is an ongoing process.
If you test, measure, refine, and repeat, you’ll gradually find the tactics that work best for your business and target audience. Here are a few recommendations that can help you leap ahead (or at least keep you from reinventing the wheel).
1. Differentiate Your Operation
Standing out from your competition is essential.
You need a unique selling proposition, which will help you show prospects that you provide a service that they can’t get anywhere else.
Granted, with merchant cash advances it’s difficult to differentiate the product, but you can focus on the unique experience that you can offer. Show prospects how well you will treat them, and specialize in certain industries and funding scenarios.
2. Understand Your Audience’s Needs
If you’ve already closed some business, you have data to start digesting.
What are your most common types of clients? Which clients have you had the most success with? Which businesses are you the most familiar with?
Look at the clients you’ve signed and the prospects you’re working on: where do they overlap?
Your goal is to build a persona (or avatar) that lists the attributes of your ideal client—get really specific. You can build out multiple personas to provide clarity for your marketing and sales pitches.
Also, customize your messaging so that you can speak confidently to different industries and personas–they need to know that you’re speaking specifically to them.
3. Engage Your Audience Where They Gather
The most obvious places for engaging with audiences are social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter).
But you should find out where your ideal clients actually spend time online or in person. If you’re targeting carpet scrubbers and plumbers, and those businesses are mainly active on Facebook, not LinkedIn, then you should focus your posting and advertising efforts on Facebook.
There isn’t one right answer for all MCA prospects. There is a right answer for your prospects. It may take a little research and investigation to find it.
4. Build Your Professional Network on Integrity and Reciprocation
The master marketing and sales consultant Jay Abraham refers to this as the strategy of preeminence. Essentially, your goal is to become the most trusted advisor.
Be generous with your knowledge and experience. Connect deeply with the needs of those around you and find ways to help advance their goals, even if it doesn’t put money in your pocket.
As you meet people and grow your network, refer people as freely as possible. The long-term benefits of building trust this way far outweigh any lost sales.
When people trust you and associate you with solving their problems, you become the person they seek out when they need something else, especially if they know it’s your area of expertise.
5. Collect and Publish Social Proof of Your Work
When you’re focused on generating leads and closing merchant cash advance deals, it’s easy to forget about client testimonials and other forms of social proof.
Dedicate some time to capture testimonials, write case studies, and participate in industry events or award submissions.
It’s one thing for you to tell prospects that you’re an excellent MCA broker. It’s another thing when hundreds of your clients are willing to say it for you—that’s proof that you’re building a sustainable business.
This kind of activity doesn’t directly translate into qualified leads, but it does give prospects another reason to choose you for their MCA needs.
The Nexi Advantage: Why Partnering With Us Makes Sense
If you’re looking for a funding partner to help grow your MCA broker business, look no further than Nexi.
Although we won’t give you the leads, we do offer tools and capabilities that will help you become the preeminent MCA broker in your area.
Here are some of the reasons that MCA brokers and independent sales organizations (ISOs) love partnering with Nexi:
1. Expertise in Small Business Funding
We can help you expand your product, by offering revenue-based financing, invoice factoring, and reverse consolidation. Our programs set you up with the funding solutions all small businesses are seeking.
2. Transparent and Respectful Partnerships
Our goal is to polish the reputation of the alternative financing industry.
We know that many businesses rely on funding solutions like merchant cash advances, and we want ISOs and brokers like you to get the respect you deserve for the service that you provide.
We offer clear terms, straightforward procedures, fast commission payouts, and honest communication to every broker we work with. We also aim to pay your commission within 24 hours of funding, so you’ll never have to chase us for payment.
3. Financing Across Every State and Industry
Nexi has facilitated more than $400 million in funding for over 10,000 businesses across all 50 states.
We even provide funding for clients in industries considered “high risk” or who operate in challenging states such as California, Virginia, and Nevada.
Growing Your Business Is Easier With the Right Support
If you’re an MCA broker or ISO, you obviously value independence and taking charge of your path to success.
At Nexi, we provide funding and support so that you have more time and energy to focus on tasks like marketing, lead generation, and growing your network.
As the alternative financing industry matures, more businesses will seek out funding options from brokers like you. The time to build your reputation and attract high-quality leads is now.
Alternative financing can be a lifeline for struggling businesses—without brokers like you, those businesses might not survive.
Nexi is proud to partner with MCA brokers and ISOs to provide the best funding experience on the market. Reach out to learn how Nexi can help grow your operation.
