On Wednesday 7 February, The Ivy Spinningfields Manchester, played host to the latest in our series of ‘Lender’s Listen & Lunch’ events. Professional finance brokers from across the North West were invited to meet the Signature team, while enjoying a superb three-course lunch, with a few drinks.
Hosting the event and making new connections while re-establishing some old ones, was our Relationship Manager in the region, Paul Ratcliffe. Having recently joined Signature, this was a great opportunity for him to explain the benefits of the way we do business, in a way that reflected the importance we place on personal relationships.
Paul spent a large part of his career in the banking world, particularly Santander in Manchester and there proved to be a huge amount of banking experience in the room, across successful careers at NatWest, RBS and HSBC, to name but a few.
Opportunities abound across the region
Our Lender’s Listen & Lunch events are designed to introduce finance brokers, particularly those focussed on short-term property finance, to our team and the experience that runs through the heart of our business.
It is a great opportunity to not only detail how highly we value personal relationships, but our commitment to supporting brokers’ efforts to secure business and get deals over the line. We also like to hear from prospects what they want from their lenders of choice.
We wined and dined the brokers, who in return listened intently to a very short explanation of our business model from Tony Gilbertson, the Signature founder and CEO. He also talked about his time as a property developer and how this experience shaped our approach to the way we work.
The events are important for us to understand what each broker is looking for and how we can support them. Gratifyingly, those we met on Wednesday were brokers keen to deliver the best possible deal for their clients, rather than the deal that generated them the most income.
This long-term view was a theme, recognising that property professionals who offer repeat business, do so based on the relationship they build over time with a broker they trust to deliver a deal with the least hurdles to jump, in the quickest time, not necessarily the lowest rate.
As it happened, the event also turned into a celebration, with Paul completing his first deal for Signature, arranging a £330k loan for one of the brokers in attendance. We didn’t expect results quite that quickly, but it’s good to know our reputation is winning new admirers.
Pleased with the contacts made and the prospect of working with a number of professional brokers in the North West, we’re confident Paul will begin to reap the rewards of another successful event, delivered with the open, transparent and honest approach for which we are renowned.
We are currently arranging events in York, Birmingham, Glasgow and Edinburgh, so if you’d like to enjoy lunch with our team, whilst hearing about Signature’s unique approach to funding the deals you want to get done, look out for news of upcoming ‘Lender’s Listen & Lunch’ events.