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Cooper Associates are delighted to announce the firm has picked up another award – The Acquisition International Award for Business Excellence having been named as the South West’s Best Mortgage Broker.

Acquisition International highlight the work done by those firms whose dedication to innovation, customer care and the continued growth and improvement of their business has seen them forge ahead of their competitors and raise the bar within their industry. The comprehensive selection and judging process ensures the awards are always a true representation of the market in question and that all winners are at the cutting edge of their industries

Samantha Cooper, Managing Director commented: “To be recognised as the South-West’s Best Mortgage Broker is a just reward for all of the hard work our team put in. We couldn’t be happier that our firm has been recognised with such a prestigious title.

Samantha Cooper undertook a 60 second interview with Acquisition International:

Who are your clients?

We’re fortunate in that our services are applicable to most. We look after a range of clients from those looking to purchase their first home up to landlords with extensive property portfolios. Our business clients come from a wide range of backgrounds and we deal with SMEs to LLPs. We sponsor the England cricketer Jos Buttler who is also a client and look after many other sporting professionals. Our company ethos is “we treat every client as our only client” and this applies irrespective of who we are dealing with.

What makes you unique?

Our service proposition and this is an area in which we are award winning. It’s all too easy for firms to say they deliver an excellent level of service. Actually delivering it is an entirely different matter. Every client coming through the firm has two designated points of contact, their adviser and their administrator. All of our administrators either hold or are studying for their own financial qualifications ensuring when a client calls in, their query is usually answered at first contact. Our administrative to advisory ratio is almost 1:2. In most financial firms, administrators can be looking after up to 12 advisers at a time.

What’s your biggest challenge facing you at present?

Probably regulation which has changed significantly over the last few years, Regulation is absolutely essential for protecting clients but care needs to be taken to avoid creating unnecessary barriers within the mortgage market.

What’s your company’s biggest challenge?

Ensuring our service proposition remains central to the firm’s core values and having the controls in place to achieve this. This was much easier to implement when the firm was in its earlier years. Now with three offices and over 40 staff the firm’s management team have a real focus on ensuring this is delivered.

What business/business person do you most admire and why?

I will be told off for sitting on the fence with this one! There are too many firms and individual to choose from. I admire any business that puts clients first and considers its staff a key asset. A business’ success is largely down to the collective effort of all of its employees. More importantly, I admire firms that encourage their people to develop and provides them with the time and resources to do so.