The pandemic and the rebirth of the BDM

I say this, because just recently I’ve read a number of opinion pieces about the future of BDMs in our mortgage marketplace. There are clearly some lenders who have decided that the days of individual BDMs visiting advisers and packagers, and forging relationships personally are somehow numbered.

It’s not a theme we are particularly seeing in the seconds market, but within the more mainstream mortgage operators, it looks like a sustained period of ‘relationship by Zoom or Teams’ has resulted in them rethinking their approach to BDM activity, and for some this has meant returning to a more central office-based approach.

I’m completely unconvinced by the merits of this and I know of advisers who feel similarly. It is not a lead I would recommend second-charge or specialist lenders follow because, in my opinion, the value of the one-to-one relationship between BDM and particularly our staff here is worth its weight in gold, to both.

Let’s be completely frank about this. The specialist finance market is ultra-competitive at the moment, and generally when we are presented with a case, there are a large number of product/lender options available for us to advise.

Where we place that case depends on a number of factors, not least the strength of the relationship we have with those lenders, and in particular, the strength of the relationship we have with that lender’s BDM, as we then have the opportunity to discuss the customer’s needs and circumstances in detail, therefore providing them with the opportunity to refine their offering, in turn then providing the most suitable product.

Just recently I was asked to talk about a specific lender BDM who we deal with, who I could only describe as being like ‘a bottle of pop’ because of the way she is when she visits, how engaged she is with our team, the energy she brings, and the interest she shows in everything we do and the support she provides.

It is compliment in its truest sense because she provides an energy that you would definitely like to ‘bottle’. Now, you might think that every BDM is like this, but that’s not the case. Over the years, I’ve seen a number of BDMs who simply came into the office, sat at a desk and had not one conversation with any of the team. Which would lead me to say, ‘What’s the point?’

In fact, looking at those lenders who are shifting their BDM structure more centrally, if their BDMs are of the latter variety, then I would suggest they move ahead with this restructuring at some pace.

However, in our market that simply doesn’t work however you cut it. Most applications need to be presented manually to the lenders. We need to explain their needs and circumstances and the customer’s merits. Having that BDM who understands this, can react, knows our routes to market, the type of clients we have, etc, is vital here.

By the very nature of being a specialist mortgage packager, we don’t have clients who you can pigeon hole, or who you can run through a tech system and provide the answer immediately, or where all customers fit snugly into a product matrix. Far from it, and we want to engage with lender representatives who understand this and help us deliver the product solutions needed at a time when the economy is rapidly recovering and millions of people are needing assistance in raising capital.

And, what tends to happen is those lenders who get this, who support us, who are personable, who engage with us, etc, more often than not, receive greater interaction from our advisers. In other words, having people who provide that spark, that energy, that ability to go out of their way to help and adapt to each customer’s needs and circumstances is obviously going to ensure (as a lender) that you have a much better chance of securing that client. It’s as simple as that.

Relationships drive this business forward. We want more people like the BDM I referenced earlier, not less. The pandemic should not herald the death of the BDM, it should genuinely bring about its rebirth. Those lenders who adopt this are likely to do very well in the future, as an excellent BDM, is worth their weight in gold.