Please provide a brief overview of your career
I started as a self-employed financial adviser with mortgages always my main focus.
After six years of advising I moved on to become a business development manager (BDM) with a different lender, then joined Coventry almost 15 years ago.
I worked with brokers all over the country before looking after some of the key corporate accounts, then became head of intermediaries two and a half years ago.
The key is to keep communicating, keep thinking productively and keep positive
What does your current role entail?
My main aim is to make sure we’re continually offering a service brokers can rely on.
Part of that is leading an exceptional management team of regional and corporate account managers, and overseeing our BDMs and broker relationships as well as a senior operations manager responsible for the wider support teams.
Service is key and in 2022 we answered calls within three minutes for new enquiries. This helps amplify our relationships with the networks and clubs we partner.
There will always be something (insert crisis here) to challenge us, but it’s important to remember there are always answers
The other huge part of my role is listening to broker feedback and using that to shape our proposition. We want to be a lender that responds to what brokers are saying.
What has been your biggest career challenge, and the biggest highlight?
Covid is definitely up there as one of the challenges. Overnight we all had to find a new way to work, which seems crazy to think about now.
I’m proud of how the team handled it. We pulled together and proved that the most important element of working together isn’t distance — it’s communication.
I’d like to take away unnecessary barriers for people to upsize and downsize properties
Leading the team we have right now is one of my highlights. We’re united in the aim to deliver great service to our broker partners and their clients, from that first registration through to telephone support and BDM visits.
It really comes across in the way we all work together.
What are Coventry’s main ambitions for this year?
We want to keep doing things that set us apart.
We’ve already got a great reputation with brokers for our service, and things like our commitment to give two days’ notice before product changes, and we’ve got no intention of becoming complacent.
We want to keep delivering expert, personalised support, and showing innovation in the market, unafraid to fail in the pursuit of excellence.
The pace of regulatory change can be swift, but in the main it’s necessary and usually delivers an opportunity for brokers
We will move our application system across to [Iress’s] Mortgage Sales and Originations in 2023, after our hugely successful launch with product transfers, and this will bring tangible benefits to brokers and their clients.
Helping first-time buyers get onto the property ladder is a focus, and we’ve already introduced enhancements to our policy with them in mind.
We’re developing our green agenda and our proposition for new-builds. We’ll be implementing the Consumer Duty… the list goes on. It’ll be an exciting year for delivery.
Is there anything you would change about the mortgage market?
Overall I think the market functions well, with lenders and brokers aligned and focused on delivering exceptional customer outcomes. The pace of regulatory change can be swift, and that can be challenging, but in the main it’s necessary and usually delivers an opportunity for brokers to add more value.
We want to be a lender that responds to what brokers are saying
In a perfect world, though, I’d like to take away unnecessary barriers for people to upsize and downsize properties.
Do you have any hidden talents?
I’m great with garden decking. I have three projects still standing tall, and I’m going for my fourth one soon….
What is the best advice you have received?
‘There are always excuses why you can’t do something but, instead of focusing on what you can’t do, focus on what you can control and the reason why you’re doing it.’
My main aim is to make sure we’re continually offering a service brokers can rely on
This stayed with me from school, and taught me to spend more time looking for solutions rather than dwelling on problems. It comes in handy with the mortgage market because there will always be something (insert crisis here) to challenge us, but it’s important to remember there are always answers.
The key is to keep communicating, keep thinking productively and keep positive.
Company profile
Year established: 1884
Headcount: 2,800
Address: Coventry Building Society, Godiva House, Harry Weston Road, Binley, Coventry CV3 2TQ
Website: www.coventry forintermediaries.co.uk
Coventry Building Society is one of the UK’s largest building societies and a top 10 savings and mortgage provider. Coventry for Intermediaries is a trading name of Coventry Building Society and we are a top 10 provider of residential and buy-to-let mortgages.
This article featured in the February 2023 edition of MS.
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