There is still a place for business development managers (BDMs) despite the use of online and remote services over the past year but they will need to be more focused in their approach, delegates at the Buy to Let Online Forum event heard.
Presenting at the virtual event on Wednesday, Andy Virgo director of buy to let at LendInvest (pictured), said the lender was looking to hire more BDMs as the relationship building aspect of the role was irreplaceable.
He said: “This industry is about relationships as much as it is about product and service, we need BDMs to be accessible.
“Moving forward there’s no reason why those numbers should be cut.”
However, Virgo said instead of BDMs spending all day visiting brokers and having a lot of downtime while commuting, their meetings would be more productive.
He added: “There’s definitely more focus on the BDMs actually being more targetted in their approach and less coffee meetings where you used to turn up and have a chat – that’s not really effective.
“But actually focus 80 per cent of your time on that 20 per cent of top brokers that are using you as a lender most. Those are going to be the brokers we’ll focus most heavily on.”
Shekina is the deputy editor at Mortgage Solutions and commercial editor at Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions. She has nearly eight years of experience in the B2B publishing market, having previously covered the hospitality, retail, pet, accounting and jewellery sectors.
Shekina has worked for Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions for almost five years. Here, she covers the market’s breaking news stories, engages with professionals in the sector, and oversees any commercially agreed content in partnership with mortgage-related companies.
This includes presenting webinars and hosting roundtable discussions on developing themes in the mortgage sector.
She is an NCTJ-trained journalist and was nominated for the Headline Money Awards Mortgage Journalist of the Year in 2021.
In her spare time, Shekina likes to read, travel, listen to music and socialise with friends.
She currently reports on current events in the mortgage market and liaises with financial clients to produce sponsored content.
Follow her on Twitter at @ShekinaMS
