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Know Your BDM: Amanda Lammers, Coventry Building Society

by: Mortgage Solutions
  • 18/08/2017
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This week, Mortgage Solutions is speaking to Amanda Lammers, business development manager for Coventry Building Society.

 

How many brokers and broker firms do you cover in your role?

My panel consists of approximately 150 broker firms in the north and east London areas.  I joined the Coventry in May so I’m currently finding my feet, but I’m looking forward to getting to know each firm, their brokers and their clients’ needs.

 

How do you successfully organise and deal with business on a daily basis?

My top priority is always to see my brokers face-to-face and take the time in between meetings to respond to messages and handle any urgent enquiries. I always make sure that I have one day in the week where I dedicate my time to managing existing relationships and this helps keep my diary busy for the weeks to come.

 

What issues come up time and time again?

As I’m still finding my feet with the Coventry it’s difficult to say at this stage. Ask me the same question in a few months and I’m sure my answer will be very different.

 

What do you wish brokers understood about your job?

At the Coventry, BDMs are committed to helping brokers understand us better and what we are likely to take a view on as a lender. Brokers know their clients inside out so to get the best outcome, it’s important they pass on that client and case knowledge and highlight the good, and sometimes challenging parts of the case. Without the full picture it can sometimes cause issues later on.

 

What do you think is the most important attribute in a good BDM?

It’s essential not to promise something that you can’t deliver but what we can do is help the broker manage the client’s expectations. With an ever-changing market it can take a broker longer to package a case, so I want to make sure I’m not wasting any of their time. It’s absolutely vital for a BDM to know their business well and understand whether a case is going to be a good fit.

 

When you’re unavailable to contact via telephone, what’s the second-best way for brokers to get in touch?

Brokers can contact me via email and I will always endeavor to respond on the same day. Alternatively, we have a dedicated contact centre open 9am – 6pm for any urgent case updates or new enquiries.

 

If you were head of the FCA for the day, what would you change about regulation in the mortgage industry?

I wouldn’t say I had anything in particular I would like to change, apart from maybe the pace of the changes and the length of time given to prepare for them.

 

What was your motivation for choosing business development as a career?

Working as a BDM is a fantastic career. I get the opportunity to meet a variety of people and build really strong relationships on a personal level as well as a professional one. The mortgage market is forever changing which keeps my job interesting and I’m always learning.

 

How do you establish and maintain a good relationship with brokers?

By initial contact and arranging a face-to-face meeting firstly. It’s absolutely crucial to keep in regular contact with my brokers so they feel supported and have trust in me. I want my brokers to know that in the unfortunate event of a case not going through as smoothly as expected they can call me any time and we can work to find a solution where possible.

 

And how do you establish and maintain good relationships internally?

This can be pretty tricky when you are working remotely but I do visit head office for meetings regularly and taking the time to say hello and say thanks for their help can be invaluable in maintaining a strong relationship within the team. I also spent a lot of my time in head office when training and that helped me to get to know my colleagues better.

 

What’s the strangest question you’ve ever been asked?

When I was working as a mortgage broker, I was asked whether you need a deposit to buy a house? Maybe this question wouldn’t have been so unusual for someone who’s been working in the industry for many years but for me it was quite unexpected.

 

And finally, what did you want to be growing up?

I actually wanted to be a designer. I soon came to realise that I should probably channel my creativeness into other things, such as baking.

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