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

I cover the West Midlands region, supporting our business development manager in the area, Jane Atkins. I have approximately 200 accounts that I work with closely, although I happily support all brokers in the area.

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

I have a database of brokers who I call regularly to advise of any changes to our products and criteria and ask whether I can help with any of their current cases. I also take inbound calls from brokers in all regions and make time to reply to all email enquiries.

What issues come up time and time again?

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The most common issue is conflicting information provided by different credit reference agencies.

What do you wish brokers understood about your job?

I often wish there was more than one of me! But it’s great to be busy as so many brokers want to use Kensington for their difficult cases.

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

It’s really important to have strong communication skills.

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

I will always respond quickly to emails.

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

The FCA encourages the use of plain English and transparency when dealing with customers, and I think there is more that could be done to adopt this ethos right across the industry in all of our business communications as well as the way we work with our customers.

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

Even before working within the mortgage industry I was dealing with business customers in IT and telecommunications. I really enjoy dealing with people and being helpful and I suppose that this means I am good at communicating – so it was a natural fit.

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

I stay in touch and always try to help to the best of my ability.

And how do you establish and maintain good relationships internally?
We have to work closely with our operations department who underwrite and process applications. It is important to remember that every one of those applications is potentially the biggest financial decision of someone’s life, so we have a lot of responsibility in what we do. I always treat people with respect and try to be polite in all my dealings with my colleagues.

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

Do you look as nice as you sound? Unfortunately, as you can see from my picture, that is doubtful.

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

I am keen on music, so would have liked to have worked in the music industry in some capacity.