The Skipton difference
Above and beyond offering comprehensive and innovative products, Skipton is committed to providing personal service. With a dedicated BDM team, “we’re always on the other end of the phone,” Le Prevost said, adding that everyone’s direct dial and personal email are available, as opposed to a generic team email, and even if someone calls the main Skipton number you get a real person not a telephone menu.
“You’re able to speak to someone immediately — none of this press 1 for this or 2 for that,” Le Prevost laughed. “We offer one individual point of contact all the way through the process, be it a direct client coming to us or be it the broker’s BDM team.”
The lender’s relationships with brokers have deepened over the years, and while part of that is due to marketing the majority is due to word of mouth. When brokers move companies, for example, they take the knowledge with them and let them know what Skipton offers. For international brokers specifically, they know they can reach out at any time and hear back in a timely fashion. If the office is closed, there’s an online submission route they can take to key the case into the system so it’s waiting for review as soon as the doors open. There’s also a dedicated section of the website for brokers, with an affordability calculator available 24/7 that can be used to get an idea if the case will fit with Skipton.
“Even when the office doors are closed, we are available 24/7,” Le Prevost noted.
Skipton does a lot of outreach as well, keeping in contact with brokers across the globe and watching for trends and opportunities. The lender has seen a huge rise in applications from Hong Kong, for example, where there’s been a lot of civil unrest. British people living there or Hong Kong nationals with a British passport especially, want to position their money in a more stable part of the world. They’re looking at buying real estate in the UK as a way of keeping their investment safe from the turbulence as it’s regarded as a solid place to buy properties, and Skipton has made a point of marketing and engaging with brokers based there so they know Skipton is available if they want to come to them for a mortgage. There’s a lot of opportunity in the international arena, and for brokers looking to build business in the space, Le Prevost recommends the same proactive approach.
