Round-up of recent events

White Rose webinar – 26th October

There were 20 ARs (Appointed Representative) on the recent White Rose webinar. Together, we reviewed all Funding Circle products available to support their clients in addition to the funnel process and what’s required to process applications. This was followed by a Q&A with myself (Gareth Hargreave, the BDM) and Emmanuel Egbe (the BDE).

As a growing network, offering training and support to new and existing members is vital for everyone’s success. Lender support is important as it gives newer members insight into the products and lending criteria, as well as the uniqueness of the offering compared to other lenders. This helps to meet clients’ specific funding needs. 

For our more established ARs, training and support keeps them informed of the current, ever-changing market and what’s currently available. This information helps produce better quality leads. 

Our recent webinar with Funding Circle also gave our members an understanding of how to increase conversion, by ensuring the customer needs are communicated to the lender at the beginning of the process. This means any potential obstacles can be assessed at an early stage, ensuring the appropriate time is spent on progressing good quality deals. 

More exposure of specific lenders will hopefully increase deals sent in by our network, to help build stronger, long-lasting relationships. We’re always appreciative of the support we receive and the time the presenters give on the webinars.

Synergy event – 23rd November

The annual Synergy Meet the Funder event took place in Birmingham, its regular home. Hosted at the Hyatt Regency hotel, the day was split in two sessions for the 43 lenders attending the event.

The importance of events like these for network-type brokerages are crucial to get us close to their ARs and meet them in person. Synergy is really working on their event calendar, with the Summer regional events that were held for the first time this year in June helping to create multiple points of contact throughout the year.

The event concluded at the Sixes bar where food and drinks were served alongside virtual cricket.

Central broker event round-up 23rd Nov

The central team’s Q4 event took place in Birmingham with 15 brokers from 7 brokerages. The day started with an open room session at the fantastic Old Joint Stock pub. 

As well as the entire central team, Funding Circle were represented from Underwriting, Product and Marketing too. Over 3 hours, the brokers rotated around the room speaking to all the Funding Circle representatives, providing invaluable feedback on various topics. 

After this, we headed to the new F1 arcade for a spot of simulator racing. The competitive juices flowed with some great racing across the brokers and Funding Circle colleagues. A great day was had by all.

AFS event – 7th December

The annual AFS Meet the Funder event took place as usual at the Belfry Resort in Birmingham and every detail was carefully planned.

The day started around lunchtime with a tradeshow where all the lenders had set up their tables and gadgets ready to welcome the AFS brokers. The crowd was a mix of known brokers whom we had the chance to say hi to, with the event often the only chance to meet them in person each year, plus plenty of new faces that were asking about the unsecured market.

But once the formalities were done, the real start of the day was the gala dinner hosted in the same room that was transformed day to night, with AFS bringing in celebrity host Katherine Ryan. 

After the three course dinner and some live comedy, it was time for the awards where the AFS brokers voted for their favourite lenders in each category. Sponsored by Approved Business Finance, we were delighted that Funding Circle once again won the Commercial Loans lender of the year.

The night ended in a Christmas/Mountain theme game room that was built for the event, where original cocktails were served and brokers had the chance to play a few fun fair games and take home some prizes themselves.