Introducing Max Wilkinson

An interview with Max

Hi Max. Let's kick things off by telling us a bit about your career so far.

My career began in customer service for a different financial services company, dealing with all sorts of applicant queries about mortgages. I stayed there for about two years but I was ready for a change.

I joined the Novuna Customer Experience team a few years ago. My job involved speaking to retail finance customers about their applications or problems with any goods and services. Though I'd worked for a financial services company before, this was a completely new area for me so I enjoyed getting stuck in to something different.

I then moved over into a different division within Consumer Finance, and have working as part of the Business Development team ever since.

You joined Novuna during the Covid-19 pandemic. What was that like?

I actually started the day after the company announced everyone was going to work from home.

It was a strange time to join a new company but how quickly I settled in is testament to Novuna and the culture we have. All of my initial training and onboarding was done online which I'd never experienced before, but Novuna made sure I had the tools and skills I needed to be effective so I quite enjoyed remote working at the time. I must say it's nice to be out and about meeting retailers again.

What did you enjoy about your first few years at Novuna?

I like to challenge myself and experience new things, and Novuna has given me that opportunity. While part of the Customer Experience team, I was able to expand my skills by training new starters and getting to know the wider team.

When an opportunity came up to join the Business Development team, I applied as I thought the role would be a great fit for my skills and personality and was really pleased to secure the opportunity. I was a bit nervous about moving to a different team within Novuna as my previous one had been so supportive and I wondered if that great team culture would extend to the whole company. Thankfully, it did, and everyone within the Business Development team was so supportive and welcoming.

Can you give us an overview of the Relationship Manager role?

As the name probably suggests, it's about building and maintaining relationships with our retailers. Each Relationship Manager looks after a different selection of retailers, making sure they have the right finance options in place to support their customer needs and the growth of their business.

We are a retailer's point of contact for pretty much everything finance related, and liaise with various departments within the business to find resolutions. It might be dealing with the CX team about a customer's application, working with complaints to resolve an issue, speaking to our finance team about outgoing payments or monetary concerns, or liaising with the risk team about the set up of a business. We have lots of support from in-house experts, but still need to have full oversight of everything going on to ensure the best outcome for our retailers.

You recently got promoted - congratulations! Has your job changed a lot as a result?

With a new role naturally comes an increased level of responsibility and some additional challenges; I'm finding that I'm having to adapt and use my experience from my time within the team to navigate more complex scenarios.

In my time here, I've been fortunate enough to have incredibly supportive colleagues with years of experience, so being able to call upon their perspective has been invaluable. It's a tricky economy, so by expanding my skillset and abilities, I'm hopefully putting myself in the best position to help our clients!

You must spend a lot of time with our retailers?

I do, yes, via phone or email for the day to day queries, and I really enjoy getting out and having in-person meetings too.

While every retailer has regular business reviews, which are often held in person, I've found the best way to get to know the people we work with is through ad-hoc catch ups, whether that be face to face or on a call. I speak to many of my retailers on a weekly - if not daily - basis, so we do get to know each other quite well.

Novuna is often praised for its culture. What makes it a great place to work from your perspective?

I have to give a shout out to my managers here. Every manager I've had within Novuna has always been there to support me and the wider team.

What's interesting about the Business Development team in particular is that our managers have been in our shoes. They've worked as Relationship Managers themselves so they have such a lot of knowledge and experience to pass on.

That said, there's no micro-managing. There's a culture of trust. It's very much an independent role - you own the relationships which are allocated to you, though support is always available if you need it.

What has been your biggest professional achievement?

My recent promotion was a big moment for me. I had to challenge myself to showcase I was ready for the role, which was exciting but also a bit nerve-racking.

It gave me an opportunity to realise how much I've grown as a Relationship Manager. A few years ago, delivering a presentation to a retailer on my own for the first time was quite daunting but I'm comfortable with it now - in fact, I'm now delivering presentations to much larger groups of stakeholders. I really enjoy presenting everything we've worked on and our plans for the future.

For me, it's all about picking up new experiences and I'm lucky that my role as an RM gives me plenty to get involved with.

Tell us something about your role that might surprise readers

I think people would be surprised by the amount of data that we can work with. We have full oversight of all retail finance applications and agreements, which enables us to really dig into the trends and identify areas of opportunity.

We routinely monitor the data so we can be proactive and assist our retailers where possible, so although the job is relationship management, there is a great deal of data analysis within the role.