We speak to Director of Mortgages Chris Bramham and Director of Bridging Finance Kit Thompson about the impact it's had for Brightstar Financial and why they love the Financial Reporter Awards.
FR: What impact has winning a Financial Reporter award had on your business?
CB: It definitely brings more profile to the business especially as its is relevant and specific to what we do. The Award process is fair and we know that to win it we have had to earn that right.
KT: The positive PR from any award is always helpful to raising the profile of a company and with our success at defending two awards since 2013 has placed this awards event as a key one for our business. The recognisable and trusted brand of Financial Reporter has been beneficial to our business and has brought our two companies together.
FR: What advice would you give to this year's potential winners?
CB: Use the profile that this prestigious award adds to your business. Adapt it as your e mail signature, and use social media to get the message out to your clients and business partners. People like to work with award winners as it says something about the culture of the business.
KT: It is an incredibly fair and open process to nominate and to therefore win, play by the rules in spirit as well in practice.
FR: Why is it so important to recognise good practice within the industry?
CB: The Industry is often criticised by people who don’t understand what we do. The more prominence and awareness that rewarding good practice brings to the industry the better. The industry is resilient, adaptive to change, and has many innovators and entrepreneurs, who often don’t get the attention that they deserve. Without this industry doing what it does, there would be more people unable to realise their dream of home ownership. Highlighting the professional and customer centric businesses in the industry is important and should not be under estimated.
KT: Every company and individual should want to improve on their own performance and raise the bar in terms of both service and offering to the market. To recognise those who have stood out in the industry helps create that positive culture of never settling for second best.
FR: Why should you win an award again this year?
CB: Brightstar are one of the innovators as mentioned earlier. The business is about providing solutions for clients who don’t tick the “vanilla” high street box. Our business thrives on the support of our broker partners, and they know they will get the service that they expect to deliver a solution to their client. The ethos of every member of the business is to be the best that they can be, and work in a unified way to meet our broker clients' highest expectations. We continue to strive for excellence in our people development, the service we provide, and more importantly to be a true partner to our lender and brokers community.
KT: As a company we have rapidly grown the offering we have to the market and raised our own bar in the high level of customer service which we provide. We believe that we have shown in the past twelve months a continued focus to be better and provide more to everyone involved with the Brightstar family. We should win the award if those who have worked with us and supported us believe we should.
FR: Any advice for Winners’ Party attendees?
CB: Just enjoy it. If you win you have earned the right to be there!
KT: Enjoy the party and the bar. Celebrate personal and professional success and toast the great people and companies we have within our industry.
To vote for Brightstar Financial in this year's awards, visit http://www.financialreporter.co.uk/awards/
