This week, Specialist Lending Solutions is speaking to Steve Bailey (pictured), business development manager (BDM) for Bluestone Mortgages.
Which locations and how many advisers and broker firms do you cover in your role at Bluestone Mortgages?
I cover the South East of England, including Southampton, as well as the counties of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, and Luton, Milton Keynes, Essex, Colchester, Clacton-on-Sea, and down to Dover. Thankfully, this isn’t all covered in a day’s work.
What personal talent/skill is most valuable in doing your job?
The most valuable skill in my role is delivering exceptional service and genuinely caring about doing a good job. It’s not just about meeting targets, but also being knowledgeable about our products, promptly responding to brokers, being readily available via email, and assisting them in getting the deal over the line successfully.
What personal talent/skill would you most like to improve on?
Being relatively new to my role at Bluestone, I can sometimes find myself feeling outside of my comfort zone when faced with complex criteria questions – a feeling that I’m sure many have felt when starting a new role in this industry. It’s important, however, to realise that knowledge comes with experience, and I have a great support network at Bluestone to help me get there soon.
What’s the hardest part of your job?
There just aren’t enough hours in the day. Covering a vast geographical area involves significant time behind the wheel – and thus away from screens – which can make it challenging to accomplish everything on my to-do list. Thankfully, the sales structure at Bluestone caters for this and, with the support of a telephone BDM and a dedicated broker support officer in the South East, we get it done between us.
What do you love most about your job?
What I find most rewarding in my role is what I like to call ‘unearthing a golden nugget.’ It’s the thrill of discovering a new firm, whether they’re newly registered or have been flying under the radar, then driving business with them to significant levels, transitioning them into key accounts.
What’s the best bit of career-related advice you’ve ever been given? Who gave it to you?
It would have to be: “Just be yourself, people will like you for who you are,” from my good friend Helen McKinney.
How do you keep up to date with developments in the market?
I have weekly sales meetings with my fellow BDMs and KAMs. My colleagues, Phil Quinn and Mark Hollands, provide their feedback on the market, which is very helpful and insightful. LinkedIn also gives a very good high-level overview, and also just talking to the brokers and asking them – not every meeting has to be criteria USPs.
What is the most quirky/unique deal you’ve been involved in?
The thing I love about the specialist market is remembering these are real people buying homes. All you have to do is read some of the Trustpilot reviews for Bluestone to see that there are so many people out there that have experienced a life event and, in some cases, through no fault of their own, fell on hard times.
We recently helped a single mother of three going through a financially complex divorce. She was self-employed and suffered a drop in income during Covid and fell on hard times. Because, with Bluestone, we look at the applicant’s credit profile on the day of completion, not application, we were to disregard her adverse credit from a product selection perspective as, by the time completion occurred, her CCJ and previous missed payments were registered more than three years ago.
If you could do any other job in the property sector, what would it be and why?
I think I would choose to be a property developer. This interest stems from my experiences in my early 20s as an estate agent, where I found joy in renovating my own fixer-upper property. The hands-on work of adding value, from late nights painting to renovating kitchens and bathrooms, was where my interest for property development started. Despite initially intending to move on to further projects, I ultimately fell in love with the home I created and have lived there happily for the past 15 years, and it is now my family home – so that put an end to my plans to appear on Homes Under the Hammer.
What did you want to be growing up?
I’m going to be very unoriginal and say that my dream job when I was younger was to become a professional football player. I had trials with Brighton but, despite my efforts, this path didn’t materialise. I also considered a career as a physical trainer in the RAF. My first job after college was actually in the hospitality industry, working as a trainee manager in a hotel working as a chef, waiter and bartender.
What is your strategy for tackling challenges?
My approach to tackling challenges involves striving to maintain composure and objectivity, even in the face of frustration. I’ve learned from experience that keeping emotions in check is crucial, as it prevents situations from escalating. While it’s natural to feel passionate about one’s work, I’ve realised the importance of remaining composed and considering alternative viewpoints. Looking back, I acknowledge that handling certain situations with more maturity and thoughtfulness would have yielded better outcomes. Never underestimate the knowledge and learnings of hindsight.
Anna is currently the deputy editor for Mortgage Solutions and editor for Specialist Lending Solutions. She has worked as a journalist since 2019, having secured her Gold Standard NCTJ diploma from News Associates in a fast-track six-month course.
She started her career as a report at specialist publication The Insurance Insider covering a wide range of areas before joining Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions in 2021.
In her role, she helps put together and structure the news agenda for the day and writes up press releases, reports, interviews, analyses and exclusives across both titles. She also commissions blogs for Specialist Lending Solutions and hosts online masterclasses and in-person events across the business.
She has been shortlisted for three journalism awards, which include BIBA Journalist and Media Awards Scoop of Year Award in 2020, Headline Money Mortgage Journalist of the Year Award (B2B) in 2022 and 2023.
Prior to being a journalist, Anna worked in ecommerce across Snow + Rock, Cycle Surgery and Runners Need websites, and before that worked at specialist financial PR firm Rostrum.
In her spare time, Anna enjoys reading, seeing live music, and cooking for friends and family. When she gets a chance, she also enjoys hiking, skiing and indoor rock climbing.
