What makes a good relationship manager for development finance?

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By Mike Jessop 

Over the summer I moved on from my role as Portfolio Manager to become a Relationship Manager within LendInvest’s Development Finance team. 

Where my previous role concentrated on assisting the Relationship Managers with the monitoring and management of our active development loan book, the Relationship Manager role itself has more of a focus on sourcing new business (for both new and existing clients) while continuing to work with our Portfolio Managers to ensure the schemes we support run smoothly and as-planned from start to finish. 

Being a Relationship Manager means being the primary contact for many of our existing and prospective development clients, which I’ve had to adapt to doing without the benefit of face-to-face meetings while we were in lockdown, which is a shame as I have personally felt it easier to interact with people in an in-person situation. 

Prior to the 2nd lockdown, it was good to be able to safely get back out on site and see first-hand the progress that our clients have made and how they have adapted to the current situation, while looking at how we can support them in the future.

Read more: On site at our development projects

Adapting to a new role

It’s never easy when you’re not in a busy office with people around you that you can speak to for advice, especially when adapting to a new set of responsibilities. Fortunately, LendInvest as a company has been very supportive in the transition to remote working and people are still very accessible when needed. 

During the first lockdown, because of the summer months, I was also able to better clear my head on days when I was taking in a lot of new information with longer sunlight hours and evenings spent away from commuting. It’s something I’m trying to replicate now in winter despite the shorter evenings, by making sure I can get out and exercise where possible.

I’m still heavily involved in the day-to-day management of our existing loan book, so the collaborative culture at LendInvest is still at the forefront of my day-to-day activities with a lot of the overarching principles being applicable to every function across the team.

Case study: £2.8 million development finance loan for residential development

Being an effective relationship manager

Speaking to as many people as possible – especially colleagues and the professional firms that we work with such as monitoring surveyors and solicitors, with whom I have existing relationships – has been invaluable and was a priority to me when transitioning across to becoming an Relationship Manager. 

It’s definitely allowed me to pick up any words of wisdom they might be able to share.

The overall conclusion that I’ve taken from starting this role under the circumstances I did is that it has underpinned what I think a good Relationship Manager does: focuses on the client, puts their needs first while keeping intact the values of the lender they represent.

The experience has put in sharp focus the need for attentive, supportive Relationship Managers and the value that offers to both the client and us as a lender. It’s what relationship management here is built on, and is something that I plan to take forward.

You can connect with Mike on LinkedIn or visit our development finance page for an instant quote and more product details.