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Know your BDM – Michael Brown, Skipton Building Society

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  • 09/10/2020
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Know your BDM – Michael Brown, Skipton Building Society
This week Mortgage Solutions is speaking with Michael Brown, business development manager at Skipton Building Society

 

What locations and how many advisers and broker firms do you cover in your role? 

I cover the London region, which includes the illustrious EC post code and I support roughly 1,300 brokers across my patch. 

 

How have you changed the way you establish and maintain a good relationship with brokers in the pandemic? 

As a business development manager (BDM) team, I think we have been creative during this pandemic and focused on providing clear communication throughout. My colleagues and I have run several, successful webinarsI have also focused on the topics which are the most common themes brokers are looking for answers about.  

  

What personal talent/skill is most valuable in doing your job? 

I consider myself a people person and I believe understanding and building relationships is the most valuable element of this job. 

  

What personal talent/skill would you most like to improve on? 

I am keen on self-development, which is why I always take the time to review my weeks performance and behaviours and then look to improve on that the following week. 

  

Where would you rather be stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic or back-to-back Zoom calls?  

To be fair, I haven’t yet got Zoom fatigue, perhaps it’s because there is variety in the types of meetings that I attend. So, I say backtoback Zoom calls. 

  

What’s the best bit of career-related advice you’ve ever been given? 

Treat others like how you would like to be treated. Pretty simple really, but how many people adhere to that? 

  

What is the most quirky/unique property deal you’ve been involved in? 

I got one where the security property was with another lender. It was down as a house, but the applicant had knocked it down and turned it to a couple of flats. Suffice to say, it was not one that we accepted. 

  

What has been your lockdown coping strategy? 

Breaking up the day is key, which helps keep the focus. I try and go to the gym at lunch times, which then keeps me motivated and focused for the rest of the day.  

  

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

would try and find more ways to support the most vulnerable customers and put this as my number one priority.  

  

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

It suits my skill set, I enjoy helping and supporting brokers grow their business, through relationships. I have also always had that solutiondriven mindset. I am passionate about getting more people into homeownership. 

  

If you could do any other job in the property sector, what would it be and why? 

I would say property developer, although it can be very stressful. Equally it can be very rewarding and being able to create more homes for people to live in can only be a good thing.  

  

What did you want to be growing up? 

When I was young, I wanted to be a pilot as I was fortunate enough to travel from a young age. So got the bug early and really enjoyed the whole experience, from the airport to the onboarding and flight experience.  

  

What’s your favourite face mask design/pattern to wear? 

Plain old black, although I have seen some in traditional African tribal colours and they look cool. 

  

And finally, what’s the strangest question you’ve ever been asked? 

Personally, I don’t believe in strange questions, I think we must first seek to understand, then to be understood. 

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