Cold Outreach to Warm Leads: FinTech Transformation

Company Overview

Bank Makmur Digital is a digital-first banking platform licensed by OJK (Indonesia's Financial Services Authority), offering business banking, lending, and treasury management solutions to SMEs across Indonesia. Launched in 2020, the neobank has processed over IDR 2.5 trillion in transactions and serves 4,200 business customers. Their B2B division focuses on acquiring corporate clients for payroll services, business credit lines, and multi-currency accounts.

As a digital bank competing against established incumbents like BCA and Mandiri, Bank Makmur needed a differentiated approach to reaching CFOs and finance directors at growth-stage companies.

The Challenge

Bank Makmur Digital's outbound sales effort was generating volume but not quality. Their 8-person sales team was sending over 5,000 cold emails per month with a reply rate of just 1.1%. Most responses were negative or from prospects with no real buying intent. The cost of acquiring a new corporate banking client had reached IDR 15 million ($960 USD), and the sales team's morale was declining due to constant rejection.

The fundamental problem was timing: they were reaching finance leaders before those leaders had any reason to consider switching banks. Without intent signals, every outreach was essentially a cold interruption.

The Solution

Bank Makmur Digital partnered with Funnelyn to shift from volume-based cold outreach to precision-targeted warm engagement:

• **Financial Intent Signals**: Funnelyn configured intent monitoring for signals like "business banking comparison," "corporate credit line," "payroll solution Indonesia," and "multi-currency business account." These signals identified companies actively exploring banking alternatives.
• **Firmographic Enrichment**: Each intent-qualified lead was enriched with company revenue, employee count, industry vertical, and current banking relationships, enabling hyper-personalized outreach.
• **Compliance-First Outreach**: Given banking regulations, all outreach templates were reviewed for OJK compliance. Funnelyn's template system allowed Bank Makmur to maintain regulatory adherence while still personalizing at scale.
• **Lead Scoring Model**: A custom scoring algorithm weighted intent signals (40%), firmographic fit (35%), and engagement behavior (25%) to prioritize the hottest prospects for immediate follow-up.

Results

The transformation was dramatic within the first quarter:

• **Meeting conversion rate improved 5x**, from 1.1% to 5.5% of outreach resulting in discovery calls
• **Qualified pipeline grew from IDR 8 billion to IDR 31 billion** in 90 days
• **Cost per acquired client dropped 62%**, from IDR 15 million to IDR 5.7 million
• **34 new corporate clients acquired in Q1**, compared to 11 in the prior quarter
• **Average deal size increased 23%** as intent-qualified leads tended to be larger, better-fit companies

> "In banking, trust is everything. Funnelyn helped us reach prospects at the moment they were looking for a better banking partner. When you show up with relevant solutions at the right time, you are not selling; you are helping. That shift changed our entire sales culture." -- Dimas Hartono, Head of B2B Sales, Bank Makmur Digital

Key Takeaways

• **Timing trumps volume in B2B financial services.** Reaching a CFO when they are actively evaluating alternatives is worth more than 100 cold touches.
• **Intent data and compliance can coexist.** Even in highly regulated industries like banking, intent-driven outreach can be implemented within regulatory frameworks.
• **Lead scoring creates focus.** With limited sales capacity, Bank Makmur's scoring model ensured the highest-potential prospects received immediate attention.
• **Warm outreach improves team morale.** When sales reps have conversations with interested prospects rather than fielding rejections, retention and performance both improve.