The Intermediary – September 2025 - Flipbook - Page 54
Meet The BDM
West Brom
om Building Society
The Intermediary speaks with James O’Donnell, business
development manager (BDM) at West Brom Building Society
How and why did you
become a BDM?
I’ve been in financial services for
quite a while now, starting in the
industry at 21, so that’s 16 years
of experience under my belt. My
journey began at Santander, where I
worked my way up through a variety
of roles. By the time I left, I’d been
both a relationship manager and a
mortgage adviser.
It was during my time as a
relationship manager that I realised
how much I enjoyed working with
people and building trust. Helping
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The Intermediary | September 2025
clients manage their finances and
developing that deep level of trust
gave me a real buzz.
Becoming a mortgage adviser
took it a step further and I loved
helping people into their first home
or supporting them to move into
their dream property. It was still
about building relationships, but
with a more tangible outcome:
seeing someone get the keys to
their new home. Moving into
broking with Countrywide gave
me a fresh perspective, exposure
to the whole of market, different
client backgrounds, and a chance to
broaden my knowledge. I was also
able to put my studies in financial
planning and mortgages to good use.
I really enjoyed brokering, but
during Covid-19, balancing client
demands with family life became
difficult. I’m a ‘yes’ person by nature,
and couldn’t say no to calls at 7pm.
That’s when I began to look more
seriously at becoming a BDM. I’d
met plenty of BDMs as a broker and
thought I had the personality for it,
since I like meeting people, learning
about them, and, yes, I enjoy the
sound of my own voice too!
I joined Metro Bank as a telephone
BDM and spent over two years there.
It was a great experience. But I knew
