Andrea Cotton, YBS Commercial Mortgages

This week, Specialist Lending Solutions is speaking with Andrea Cotton, head of broker strategy at YBS Commercial Mortgages.

Which locations and how many advisers and broker firms do you cover in your role at YBS Commercial Mortgages?

In our team there’s myself, as head of broker strategy, Allan Griffiths, head of networks, and then we have six business development managers (BDMs) who each manage our broker partners, right across England and Wales. We have over 300 broker firms on our panel, which also includes a number of broker networks, so we’re servicing a lot of brokers.

 

What personal talent/skill is most valuable in doing your job?

People skills. It’s all about the people; adapting your approach, listening, and really getting to know what brokers need and want, as well as being honest – making sure you don’t over promise or under deliver, but being quick and responsive – which includes responding to feedback. Understanding how each broker prefers to work with you is also really important – for example, some prefer daily updates on their cases, while others only want to hear from you when there is something specific to say.

 

What’s the hardest part of your job?

Sometimes we’re asked to look at a deal that is outside of policy. This can be hard – because I usually understand what they are doing, and why they’re doing it, making it really difficult when you want to help them and build that relationship.

 

What do you love most about your job?

I’d definitely say it was the human element – meeting people – having that interaction, learning about people and their stories and finding out what makes them tick.

 

Are there any (popular) misconceptions about your job/role?

The role of a BDM is often glamourised – with the perception that you’re always out socialising. However, the reality is quite different and it’s actually really hard work and there’s so much more to it. Managing broker relationships while having one eye on all the details of the cases that are coming through, as well as generating new applications. Balancing the diary and ensuring that you keep up to date with products and criteria, along with overseeing any bumps in the road as cases progress.

 

What’s the best bit of career-related advice you’ve ever been given? Who gave it to you?

This isn’t necessarily career advice per se, but my dad told me when I was younger that you should always “seek to understand before being understood”. I think this is a great piece of advice because it demonstrates that you cannot expect people to understand your viewpoint if you do not try to understand theirs.

 

What has been the biggest lesson you’ve learned in your career?

Not recently, but one great lesson for me has been the importance of feedback. So, when I first started out, I used to feel criticised by feedback. However, I’ve been able to reframe it, as it’s about improving yourself and developing. So now I’m able to use it to learn and grow.

 

How do you keep up to date with developments in the market?

I use feedback from brokers, from speaking with them on a regular basis – they have a great view on the ground of what’s going on. There are also external sources such as news articles and the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB) morning briefing. I also use market insight that we collate internally – so there are lots of different ways of keeping on top of changes in the market.

 

Tell us about your trickiest case – what happened and how did you resolve the problem(s)?

A recent deal that involved some lending on flats that were built in airspace (unused space above an existing building). This was very interesting, as we had not come across this type of setup before, but I am really pleased to say that early collaboration with our experienced underwriting teams ensured that we were able to deliver the right outcome for the customer.

 

What was your motivation for choosing this career?

I began my career in financial services on the counter as a cashier – and was driven by my love of maths and numbers.

From then, I moved into residential mortgages, which was an area I really enjoyed, and after that, I went into management, after which the opportunity came up to carve a path in commercial mortgages. I’ve always been motivated by a desire to learn and grow, and have been able to take elements of roles I’ve really enjoyed to progress to the next stage, but my initial motivator was definitely the love of numbers.

 

If you could do any other job in the property sector, what would it be and why?

I’m very driven by a desire to progress, develop and learn more. But if I had to pin it down, I’d like to do a job where I could influence policy and really make a difference in terms of the direction of travel for the mortgage market, helping people with their real lives – including getting more people onto the housing ladder and solving the issues faced by the sector.

 

What did you want to be growing up?

I wanted to be a teacher initially. However, I decided in the end that I would prefer to be working and doing something practical rather than undertaking more studying, so I went for an apprenticeship in travel instead. This was immediately before I took the cashier job, which kick-started my financial services career.

 

Where do you see yourself in five years?

That’s a difficult question to answer, but what I will say is that my general rule of thumb is that I look to move on when I feel I’m no longer learning anything new or have anything new to contribute other than maintaining the status quo. This also means that it’s a good time for someone new to come in and take my role to the next level too.

 

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

I would like to be able to freeze time, so when you have 101 things to do, it would make it possible to fit it all in and also have a break! It would be an added bonus if you also didn’t age during the frozen periods!

 

What do you do to unwind?

My family and I love walking in our spare time – in the countryside and in the mountains. The scenery allows you to take a step back from life and slow down, taking in the views – quite a contrast to the speed of day-to-day life!

 

What is your greatest skill(s), either work- or non-work-related?

I’d say I’m very empathetic, as well as good at listening to and understanding people. I think that’s one of the reasons I enjoy my job so much.

 

And finally, what’s the strangest question you’ve ever been asked?

I was once asked: “If animals could talk, which species would be the most annoying and why?” That was a very unusual question I thought!