With the easing of lockdown restrictions in the UK, Pepper Money’s Regional Development Managers (RDMs) will soon be able to head back out on the road and meet with brokers face-to-face.
But after what has become such a long period of time working remotely, the world has changed. The expectations from our intermediaries and of their customers have changed. As a result of this, how RDMs interact with brokers has changed too, meaning face-to-face is no longer necessarily the go-to method of communication every time we need to discuss a customer’s application.
In March 2020, when the pandemic began, we prioritised moving our team to home-based working to ensure their safety and that of others. However, their relationships with their brokers and their activity in supporting new users did not change.
Embracing new methods of communication
It’s been pleasing to see how easy it’s been to keep in touch with our intermediaries throughout this time via the use of technology. Whilst I don’t think you can ever truly replace the benefits that face to face contact brings, when your relationships are strong, to begin with, you can keep in touch and adapt to new ways of working without any noticeable pain points.
The use of technology to communicate with our intermediaries is not new to us at Pepper Money – we’ve always been able to conduct webinars and virtual events and have done so in the past. However, whereas pre-COVID it was rare in comparison to face-to-face meetings and events, we now imagine more of a balance moving forward.
By adapting their ways of working, our RDMs have been able to keep in regular contact and, in some ways, be even more available than they previously were. Whilst telephone and email have remained key forms of communication, virtual meetings via Microsoft Teams have enabled conversations that are as close to face-to-face as possible.
The lesson for us all after this year is that working remotely can work. As we look to return to a more normal setting, we’ll take some of these learnings with us to communicate and support brokers in a variety of different ways.
Adapt to the changing times
It sounds obvious, but brokers and lenders up and down the country must adapt to the changing times. Customers may want to deal with us differently from now on, and it’s important that we accommodate that.
This means being able to switch effortlessly between face-to-face and virtual communication and working to ensure your online presence is as responsive, helpful and informative as your offline presence.
Building our own roadmap
Over the coming weeks, we’ll be speaking to our key accounts and carrying out our own risk assessments to ensure that when we do go back out on the road, we do so with not only Government guidelines in mind, but also the comfort level of each individual.
The same goes for events. We won’t be holding our own events in the short term but have signed up to attend those of our national accounts where we’re looking forward to seeing lots of faces, new and old. Our primary focus is to edge our way back out into the field through smaller meetings with our supporting intermediaries.
We can do this in the knowledge that, should plans or guidelines change, technology allows us to maintain these strong and authentic relationships with brokers across England and Wales.
How you can get in contact with your local BDM
If you’re looking to book in some time with your local RDM whether face-to-face or virtually, here’s how you can get in contact with them:
North West
Chloe Bowden Davies, [email protected]
07702 809043
East
Lewis Wheeler, [email protected]
07736 615995
North East
07711 766396
Midlands
Paul Drinkwater, [email protected]
07860 189397
London
Steve Mannakee, [email protected]
07590 488063
South West
Cavina Harrison, [email protected]
07590 497351
South East
A new member of our team will be joining soon. In the meantime, please speak to our Telephony BDMs on 03333 701 101.
If you have any questions about working with our Regional Development Managers or you would like to discuss our event roll-out in the coming months, please contact Ryan Brailsford on LinkedIn.
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