This week, Specialist Lending Solutions is speaking to Alice Baggott, national key account manager at The Mortgage Lender (TML).
Which locations and how many advisers and broker firms do you cover in your role at TML?
My role is national and is split across looking after some of the network and mortgage club relationships at a strategic level. This includes driving business volumes across distribution and closely working with marketing to deliver key messages to our broker partners and supporting these channels in helping to see opportunities within the specialist space through education.
The other side of my role is working with key broker firms, building strong working relationships and educating brokers on our criteria and how TML can support their clients.
What personal talent/skill is most valuable in doing your job?
Communication, being able to manage expectations and communicate with people effectively is extremely important in my role. I look after some of our key firms and strategic relationships, although the way I manage the relationship may be different depending on the account. I need to communicate with all of my accounts so that we can work effectively together and get the best possible outcome.
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What personal talent/skill would you most like to improve on?
Don’t sweat the small stuff. In my role, I spin a number of plates and there are lots of factors that are not within my control. It’s important not to focus on things that I may not be able to change. Instead, I focus on where I can add value and make a difference. I am a perfectionist, so not sweating the small stuff is an area of development for me.
What’s the hardest part of your job?
The hardest part of my job is accepting that sometimes we have to say no. Nobody likes declining cases and it comes with its own set of challenges, but I would like to hope that my brokers know that if a case is declined, we’ve done everything we can to try and help the customer.
We always have the customer as the core focus in everything that we do. That’s why I always encourage brokers to work with our business development manager (BDM) team, as they will also be able to help support getting the case through.
What do you love most about your job?
Helping people buy the house of their dreams. In specialist lending, we see a lot of complex, non-standard cases and we can sometimes be the only option for people, so being able to support brokers in the process of helping a customer get onto the property ladder and buy their dream home is a great feeling.
I also love building relationships. There are some amazing people in this industry and I feel lucky to have the pleasure of working with and learning from some of them.
What’s the best bit of career-related advice you’ve ever been given? Who gave it to you?
This is a tough one. I have been lucky enough to receive some great advice from some wonderful people, but my favourite is: “Don’t lose your passion, it’s what makes you who you are”, from my colleague Louise Apollonio.
How do you keep up to date with developments in the market?
The most valuable thing for me is staying in regular contact with my key strategic partners to find out what they are seeing and what their opinions are. I also read news articles and listen to webinars and podcasts.
Tell us about your trickiest case – what happened and how did you resolve the problem(s)?
A recent tricky case I had was an interest-only residential purchase for a couple with three different income streams and some light adverse.
The broker contacted me as the case had been maximum loaned by another lender and the borrowing amount was significantly lower than what they needed. To complicate matters further, the broker needed an urgent turnaround because the property was going to be put back on the market the following week.
These applicants had a limited company and partnership income as well as some land and property income. We were able to use 100% of the most recent year’s pre-tax profit plus salary from the limited company, 100% of the partnership profit and the rental income.
Not only were we able to offer a speedy turnaround, we were able to offer more than double what the other lender could offer.
What was your motivation for choosing this career?
This career wasn’t something that I had considered before I joined the industry, but my motivation for choosing it now would be the opportunity to grow and develop, and above all help people.
If you could do any other job in the property sector, what would it be and why?
I would be a mortgage broker. I think it would be interesting to experience first-hand the other side of my role and how the customer journey fits together.
What did you want to be growing up?
I wanted to be a veterinarian, so completely different to financial services, but I have always loved animals.
If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
Teleportation – imagine not getting stuck in rush hour traffic on your way to a broker meeting?
I also love going on holiday. Being able to teleport to somewhere hot whenever I felt like it sounds like a dream come true.
What is your strategy for tackling challenges?
I am not one to shy away from a challenge. I believe that stepping outside your comfort zone is a great way to help you grow. My strategy would be to think about what you want the outcome to be and take some time to figure out the best way of making this happen. Communication is key and don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it.
What is your greatest skill(s), either work- or non-work-related?
My determination to achieve my goals.
And finally, what’s the strangest question you’ve ever been asked?
“Would you rather have hands for feet or feet for hands?”
