In our penultimate installment of our Meet Your BDM series, we took time to catch up with Chris Parr. Senior BDM for Midlands and North, he has been at MT Finance since 2020 and has over two decades of experience in the financial sector. He takes us through how times have changed, secret skills and the benefits of picking up the phone.
You’ve worked in the financial services sector for over 20 years, what has changed in that time?
The biggest change on a day-to-day basis is the way people communicate. More time is spent emailing which can make it hard to get that initial 15–20-minute conversation to discuss the details and learn more about the client’s background. That said, when I came into the market 20 years ago you could guarantee that 90% of brokers had met their client face-to-face prior to discussing the deal with a lender. With the reliance on the internet, you can see that this is a lot lower now as brokers generate the majority of their business from this source.
What has stayed the same?
Month-end deadlines! It doesn’t matter how hard you try to manage these we still end up with the same last-minute issues.
What do you enjoy the most about your job?
Delivering a successful outcome to a broker and client when they are in a tight spot.
What advice would you give to someone who was considering a career as a BDM?
Go for it! Especially if you don’t like being in the same place two days running and enjoy traveling and meeting new people.
What fact would people be surprised to know about you?
I once played in the same football team as Paul Scholes and Trevor Sinclair. I also used to work for Ferrari.
If you are based in the Midlands, Northern England or North Wales then Chris Parr is here to support you in all of your bridging and buy-to-let cases. Click here to request a visit from Chris or he can be contacted via email or on 07367358020.