Business Development Manager

About SouthSide

Over the past 15 years in business, our focus has been to provide great service, transparency, and value to our landlords. We pride ourselves on being fair and reasonable and have experienced steady growth year on year, almost entirely organically, with the help of our fantastic and dedicated team and loyal clients. We value empathy and transparency in our interactions with clients. We believe that understanding their needs and concerns is essential for building strong, long-lasting relationships. As a candidate, you should demonstrate:

1)    Empathy: Show genuine care for our clients’ well-being. Understand their challenges, listen actively, and respond with compassion to meet clients’ individual needs. 

2)    Transparency: Be open and honest in your communication. Clients appreciate knowing what to expect, whether it is project timelines, costs, or potential risks. 

We are looking to expand our client base further by taking on a designated team member to drive new business and promote the SouthSide way. This is a new role currently undertaken alongside other roles within the business by our current team. The objective of this role is for the role holder to assist existing clients with growing their property portfolio and investment opportunities whilst also growing the company’s portfolio of properties under management.

If you share our commitment to putting clients first, we encourage you to apply!

Responsibilities will include:

· Taking on new business through initial landlord meetings and property appraisals.

· Generating new leads through marketing, networking, targeted mail and social networks.

· Being proactive in identifying new avenues to generate business and promote services.

· Tracking potential new clients and actively contacting landlords.

· Setting up property appraisals and notifications.

· Liaising with Property Management, Projects and Marketing teams with regards to new properties and clients’ requirements.

· Client feedback calls to identify key motivations and trends.

· Reviewing and improving landlord information packs, materials, and processes.

· Updating and recording information on SAM database.

· Keeping a note and reporting of relevant statistics.

· Arranging information including rents, ownership and EPCs in preparation of new landlord visits.

· Arranging property visits and keys as required.

· Marketing promotion and relevant documentation for new landlords and properties.

· Involvement with SEO for attracting new business.

· Attending business and networking events.

· Constructing new business and marketing strategies to increase business in line with the company and management’s values.

· Conducting research & collating data on landlords, the market, and competitors to assist with new business strategies.

· Create solutions & processes to improve client experience & satisfaction.

· Liaising with Head of People and Development regarding landlord events such as workshops and social events where applicable.

· Continued professional development by attending training meetings, courses and particularly focusing on property investment, new business and legislation.

· Search of potential investment properties to invest/purchase primarily for existing client base and then new investment clients.

· Assessment of costs and return on investment.

· Advising on property refurbishment and ROI potential.

· Knowledge of LBTT requirements for investment properties.

· Liaison with new and existing investors and understanding needs.

· Investment work associated with acquiring properties and liaising with Director and Legal Manager.

· Attending and conducting property viewings and routine property visits.

· Additional ad-hoc duties as required to help the needs of the business.

Person specification:

· Good knowledge of the residential property market for investment and rental.

· Good knowledge of property legislation and regulations in the Private Rented Sector.

· Good knowledge of HMO requirements in Scotland.

· Awareness of Health and Safety associated with refurbishment projects.

· First-hand knowledge and experience of property refurbishment or having overseen refurbishment projects beneficial as involvement with property refurbishments and liaison with the projects team will be required.

· A great people person, with empathy and 

· An ARLA or LETWELL qualification is desirable (and would be required within an agreed timescale).

· Speak and write fluent English with evidenced Right to Work in the UK. A command of other languages is of benefit, but not essential.

· Driving Licence. Desirable is a clean licence. Essential is a licence with no more than 3-6 penalty points. We have a fleet of company electric vehicles which, our Team Members drive when visiting properties, so a good geographical knowledge of Edinburgh is desired.

· Essential skill set of MS Office Applications – Word, Excel and TEAMS at Intermediate level.

· Accurate document management with progress to a paperless environment.

· Accurate data and file management.

· Capable of organising large volumes of work.

· Ability to find solutions and problems solve.

· Confidence to make decisions.

· Able to multi-task, work to tight deadlines and produce high quality work under pressure.

· Proficient diary management.

· Able to innovate and identify improvements to the service offered.

· Knowledge of GDPR and Office 365 and TEAMS is also desirable.

· Alignment to our core competencies and principles.

Key performance indicators and Outcomes of the Role are:

The 3 core measures and principles are keeping everyone Safe and Happy while keeping our company Sustainable.

Working Hours & Environment

· Full time core hours between 08:00 – 17:00hrs, 08:30 – 17:30hrs or 09:00hrs – 18:00hrs.

· Additional attendance after hours may be required for networking and client events.

· This position will be based at our Edinburgh central office however the role may require ad-hoc travel to other locations.

· Flexibility will be expected with regards to hours of work to suit the needs of the business and colleagues.

· The role also requires 1 Saturday a month, on a rota basis - from 8.30am to 1.30pm, however, we typically work from 08.30am to 12.30pm and pay for these days is included in annual salary. Saturdays can be swapped to suit.

Benefits:

· Basic Salary of £36,000 - £42,000 depending on experience and aptitude (plus OTE after the first year) FTE based on 40 hours per week, including 60 minutes per day of unpaid breaks (pro-rata for part-time).

· An incentive bonus scheme applies for any additional properties brought on after the first year, over and above the average annual level of growth (this is on top of basic salary and profit share).

· Part-time hours would be considered for this role (min 24 hours over 4 days). Salary is paid in arrears on the 2nd last working day of the month and would look to review, subject to performance, after 12 months. Reviews are conducted annually thereafter.

· £1,000 pay increase upon achieving all 4 ARLA exams (pro-rata for part-time).

· Pension Scheme after 3 months (contributions matched by the company up to 5%).

· Company Health Insurance after 6 months up to 5% of salary.

· Opportunity to participate in Profit Share Scheme after 12 months.

· 28 days paid holiday including all bank holidays plus the equivalent of 3 additional days of personal wellbeing time (PWT) per year. The number of days increases incrementally, the longer a team member has been with the company. Holidays may be difficult to accommodate during the busiest periods.

Company Continued Professional Personal Development Days (CPD)

· The company will take the opportunity to close for up to 2-4 Saturdays per year and bring in speakers for continued professional and personal development to help develop our team. The cost of any external training will be covered by the company. We are currently reviewing the company training requirements, therefore in 2024, training sessions on a Saturday will change, and instead be held as shorter training sessions on a weekday evening from 4.30pm – 6.30pm (on 11th March, 19th June and 7th October).

· ARLA level training will be provided with the opportunity to obtain the ARLA Level 6 Qualification and membership renewals funded by the company.

· Additional company-sponsored training courses are also available and team members are encouraged to take ownership of their personal and professional development by seeking opportunities to learn.