OSB Group has launched a new office based business development manager (BDM) team, under the direction of Simon Cockerill, head of intermediary sales development.

The team of 10, who have all been recruited internally, will be supporting the 16 field based BDMs covering Precise Mortgages and Kent Reliance for Intermediaries, as well as providing another direct communication route for brokers.

OSB Group instigated a six-month pilot scheme across the North of England which was earmarked due to the size and landscape of the region. During the initial six weeks, office based BDMs covered over 960 interactions with brokers, including inbound and outbound calls and virtual meetings.

Cockerill (pictured) said: “We’re always looking at how we can best support brokers and my goal was to ensure consistent levels of support could be accessed by brokers nationwide, regardless of location. This is where we can really utilise our office based BDMs, who complement our already very successful field based team.

“Conducting the pilot in a large area with varying remoteness has provided us with unique insight in that brokers felt that office based BDMs improved their experience and the results have been extremely promising. Rolling out this initiative nationally, so that the majority of postcodes have both a field and office BDM, means we can deliver on supporting brokers with their top requirement which is accessibility to answer pre-application enquiries.”