Know Your BDM: Pauline Rylands, West One Loans

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

I currently cover the whole country and support our key partners and their teams.  

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

Like most people, lots of Teams meetings and telephone calls which I’ve pre-booked to make sure my brokers get the most out of our time together.  

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

Being organised and able to adapt quickly. This job is like a moving target and whilst you have to be organised, you also need to be able to change plans swiftly at the drop of a hat to accommodate people and changes. 

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

The ability to complete admin. I think this is an issue for most salespeople. I constantly put it to the bottom of my ‘to do’ pile and will find anything else possible to do to avoid actually doing the admin. The mad thing is that when I force myself to do it, it never takes as long as I think it will and it’s never as bad as I believe it will be. 

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

A mix of both really. I’ve always got a list of things to do and use the time in the car – which can be many hours – to make the calls and catch up with people. Thank goodness for Siri. Zoom calls are great for keeping up to date with people more regularly than I might normally, due to the area I cover. 

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

“Be the best version of you that you can be” and “don’t ask others to do anything you wouldn’t do yourself”.  

Both have served me well. The first has pushed me to always work hard and stay until the job is done. The second has helped me build great relationships and has promoted teamwork – when others can see you’re willing to do anything, they often naturally follow suit. 

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

A property that was originally a hotel and the clients wanted to convert it into their home. The plans were incredible and the house was huge. It had a full chef’s kitchen for entertaining as well as a family kitchen for every day. As you can imagine, it was very extravagant. 

What was your lockdown coping strategy? 

Box sets. I watched very little live TV as I found it quite depressing and to be honest, I’ve never gone back to it. Give me a good crime series and I’m hooked and will completely binge them. My family go nuts as very little gets done around the house as a result! 

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

I genuinely love helping people and solving issues along with doing something different every day. This job fulfils that all. I’m like the three-year-old child who constantly asks “why?”.  

It drives people mad, but also breaks the “that’s the way we’ve always done it” mode. There’s always another way to look at things and if that helps my brokers and the business, I’m happy. 

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

Property development. I love a good project and designing or creating spaces for others to enjoy and admire. When I redecorate a room in my house, I rip everything out and normally start again with it, creating a modern space whilst respecting the age of the property – and I’m nosey. 

What did you want to be growing up? 

A police officer. That couldn’t be further from what I do now.  

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

I have a paw print mask which I bought in support of a pet store. It makes people smile. 

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

Would you rather have fingers for toes or toes for fingers? I meet the weirdest people at times.