Describe your firm in a few sentences.

We are an award-winning mortgage brokerage based in Cumbria and southwest Scotland.

We were founded in March 2020 and have grown over the past few years, opening offices in Carlisle and Dumfries.

How long have you worked in UK financial services?

Since 2002 — initially working for Leeds Building Society as a counter assistant before studying for my CeMap and becoming an assistant manager at its Adel branch in Leeds.

There is always a comfort in staying with what you know. In taking the leap, however, I found a new range of skills

In 2020 I set up my own firm because I was fed up with only being able to pigeonhole clients into one lender’s products, or having to reject them.

Why did you enter the profession and was it what you expected?

I entered financial services by chance. I was studying to become a primary school teacher but my mum was hospitalised for over six months. During this time I had to stop studying and obtain a job to help meet the ongoing household costs (because my mum had no protection policies).

A friend of a friend got me an interview with Leeds Building Society in its Roundhay branch. I instantly loved it. As a 17-year-old, I had never had much customer service focus, but I soon found my feet.

Many lenders do not give smaller brokerages a BDM at all

I worked closely with the branch’s financial adviser and in time was put on to its mortgage academy. The rest, as they say, is history.

Looking back over your years in the profession, what, if anything, would you have done differently?

If I’d like to have done anything differently, it’s to have set up my own brokerage much sooner than I did (and, ideally, not coincide this with a first Covid lockdown!)

When you are employed and have a PAYE cheque hitting your account every month, there is always a comfort in staying with what you know. In taking the leap, however, I found a whole new range of skills, and the freedom and independence to actually put my clients first by not being tied to any particular lender’s products or criteria.

It’s hard, in the first 12 months, to shift your mindset to being a business owner

What might you have been if not a broker?

A primary school teacher. Before leaving college (for the reasons already mentioned), I was studying towards my PGCE.

What do you think is a broker’s most under-rated skill?

As a smaller firm, I believe the most under-rated skill is being able to multi-task. This means being a great mortgage broker but also being an effective business owner.

It’s hard, in the first 12 months, to shift your mindset to being a business owner. It’s easy to get stuck working within the business rather than working on your business. Managing all these tasks, while maintaining excellent client service and at times being a counsellor to your clients and staff, is undoubtedly a skill.

I set up my own firm because I was fed up with only being able to pigeonhole clients into one lender’s products, or having to reject them

What is the best piece of business advice you have ever received?

My boss at my first job after leaving college used to say: “I don’t care what you want to be when you leave here but, whatever it is, be the best at it. If you want to be a street sweeper, be the best street sweeper there is. If you want to be a CEO, be the best CEO there ever was.”

Essentially, he was saying: never let your standards slip and always have a goal in mind.

What single thing could lenders do to improve brokers’ lives the most?

The lenders that stand out are those with a real BDM you can speak to; someone with decision-making authority who can do more than recite online lending criteria.

As a smaller firm, I believe the most under-rated skill is being able to multi-task

Many lenders do not give smaller brokerages a BDM at all. I understand resource management and costing but, when smaller lenders can meet these costs, how the larger lenders don’t factor this in is frustrating. After all, people remember those that helped them along the way, and those that didn’t.

If you would like your firm to be featured in Broker Focus, please email Mortgage Strategy deputy editor David Burrows at: david.burrows@emap.com

This article featured in the June 2024 edition of Mortgage Strategy.

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The post Broker Focus: Richard Jennings, managing director of Richard Jennings Mortgage Services appeared first on Mortgage Strategy.