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Know Your BDM: Anna Thompson, Pure Retirement

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  • 29/10/2021
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Know Your BDM: Anna Thompson, Pure Retirement
This week Mortgage Solutions is speaking with Anna Thompson, central business development manager at Pure Retirement.

 

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

I cover the central region, from Doncaster and Sheffield down to Southend on Sea, round the top of the M25 and across to Wales back up to Liverpool. This includes covers over 500 brokers.  

  

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

I started my BDM role within the pandemic so haven’t known any different. I had to start building my relationships in a virtual world and I think it helped. Doing my first presentations over Zoom with the comfort of a second screen and notes pages has given me time to learn and digest for presenting face to face 

  

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

Staying calm. Not every day is easy and we have to wear a variety of caps as BDMs, from the technical knowledge, to firefighting issues to presenting to large rooms, every day is different, and it’s vital to stay calm no matter what the day throws your way.  

  

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

Excel. Lockdown has enabled us as BDMs to be more on top of the figures than ever, analysing the data and re-evaluating how we prioritise and work our patch. My Excel skills are limited and I would love to improve to take this to the next level.  

  

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

Traffic of course where I can sit and sing my heart out. 

  

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

Two major ones: Confidence isn’t about knowing you’re right, confidence is knowing you’ll be alright even if you’re wrong. And, hustle beats talent when talent doesn’t hustle – so work hard.  

  

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

Nearly every property that comes across my desk is exciting and quirky. I like anything that is slightly out of the box, we have a broad range of lending criteria across our products and it is nice to find a home for the clients with those unique properties. My favourite so far has been a property with bats in the roof, which are a protected species. 

  

What was the greatest lesson you learned during lockdown? 

Life doesn’t stop for anything, make the most of each day, carpe diem.  

  

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

I have worked in financial services since the age of 19 in various sectors of lending, from private banking to first-time buyers, and my favourite aspect of the job was always building relationships, networking and problem solving. The BDM role ticks all of those boxes and allows me to see the other side of the coin. 

  

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

If I could do any other job I would be an interior designer. I love matching interiors to moods and creating spaces that evoke a sense of calm and quiet. My house is full of neutral colours, soft fabrics and light spaces to try and create a place to relax in after the excitement of spending the day catching up and supporting the advisers in my region. 

  

What did you want to be growing up? 

MI5. I did apply and get through to the second round, but it wasn’t to be.  

  

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

The black surgical ones, I like to replace it daily and I love an all-black outfit.  

  

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

Would you accept a series of prison cells set up in the basement? I’m afraid not, and I’m not sure I wanted to dig any deeper. 

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