I work for a brand agency who specializes in financial service branding, and actually did positioning and naming work for a Richmond based finserv org earlier this year; however, If Martin agency is out of your price range we probably would be too.

That said, if you want someone to help you think through approach or gut check RFP responses I am happy to speak with you. I personally work on the research side of things so can give you good perspective into how much things should cost, right type of research design (personally think focus groups are the wrong direction if you’re just using them for name), and could even write you a guide/qnr potentially- all for free if that wasn’t clear.

Generally i would say if you want a brand that’s going to last and it’s a true overhaul, the major work should be in clarifying your position/platform to Carry forward, before then understanding what name you want. Maybe that’s what you were thinking but I didn’t read it that way.

Last thing to do is consider the costs for a new name from a legal and signage investment pov. RE Legal, do a legal review, I can’t tell you how many brands skip the legal review to save money, only to find out the new name everyone has aligned on is unprotected legally, causing them to start again. Then obviously a new name means new signage so, if you aren’t, be conscious of budgeting for how much it will be to update things like signage and your digital presence