No matter what business you’re in, it’s always wise to concentrate on your proposition. Supermarkets are becoming the conglomerates of today’s markets.
They offer groceries, white goods, toys, photo printing and even a mortgage. They know where you spend, how much you spend and probably what you are going to buy next before you do. They have bigger systems, slicker processes, extra experts and generally more of everything.
Interesting though, that at the same time there are more, better positioned specialists; high street delicatessens, artisan bakers, family- owned toy shops.
These businesses are good at what they do, with very particular propositions, attracting very particular customers. They don’t sell cheap, they don’t sell mass market and they don’t look to slice off every penny.
Kent Reliance is a bit like that. A specialist in a world dominated by big players. We take time to make our specialist products fit where the big banks don’t want to play. Not avoiding the extraordinary but embracing it.
Our partners know what we offer and which customers we help, and that makes us first choice for what we specialise in. There have always been conglomerates, but those who are more particular will support the specialists.
Despite the fact that specialist lenders operate within their various ‘niches’, we still have to be responsive to the market.
However, that isn’t because we are too small to forge ahead ourselves. In fact, despite facing often challenging market conditions, there are certain things niche lenders will never do.
Of course, they are all different so I can’t speak for them all, but most of us won’t go chasing the ‘average’ customer. ‘Average’ is not an insult, but is usually someone with perfect employment & credit history, someone who earns well, has a decent sized deposit. These are the people who benefit from simple vanilla mortgages.
Luckily for Kent Reliance and other lenders we don’t exist in an average world. How boring would that be? We like to spend time thinking about our partners, our customers and how we make sure that our proposition stands out.
Do we react to the market? I prefer to think of it as adapting.
In a world where average is becoming increasingly scarce, the specialist will thrive. But only if we are very clear where we compete and why we should be the first port of call for ‘non average’ customers.
It might be a bit hackneyed but small is where innovation is, always has been and always will be. The world is changing – who wouldn’t want to be one of the innovators?
We like to apply an innovative approach to the deals we offer too. Most of Kent Reliance’s business is written on our main buy-to-let and residential products. That said, I have always liked interesting deals.
Doing deals isn’t about doing special low rates though. The specialities we deal in are where the customers are interesting; where their needs are different.
For example, established landlords should be experts in their fields. Who would argue? Actually, most lenders do if you look at their published criteria which appear to discriminate against landlords with significant expertise.
In our opinion, it’s always interesting listening to experts in a field, so why not let them pitch their case? I’m not talking about adverse credit, plain silly deals or people taking a punt.
It’s clear to us that just as there are many specialist lenders, there are also specialist borrowers who may not wear a ‘Mr Average’ badge, but can still present hard facts and put a compelling case together. What’s not to like?
