The Five Minute Interview with Marcus Dussard, Sales Director, Castle Trust

Its buy-to-let products provide flexible options for all types of landlords, including holiday lets, ex-pats and foreign investors.

The lender also offers bespoke second charge mortgages for high-net-worth individuals and business purpose loans.

Castle Trust has the risk appetite to do interesting things and the expertise to ask the right questions. If it makes sense, the lender will find a way.

We speak to sales director, Marcus Dussard:

What is the best thing about being in the bridging finance business?

No two days are the same. The complex nature of the cases we lend on means that we get to look at things as a whole rather than following a tick box approach, and this involvement with individual cases means that every day is different.

With short term lending we’re in a pressurised environment where we get to find solutions to all manner of problems, knowing that our solutions are solving a problem for a client and ultimately get them to where they want to be in the long term is why I enjoy bridging.

What keeps you focused?

My ultimate focus is on doing the best I can so that my children have as many doors open to them as possible. I keep a vision board on my phone which helps me to focus on my goals, and this then drives my day to day focus.

The hardest thing about sales is how you react directly after you’ve hit a target. To find the focus to go again after the high of hitting the number strived for is sometimes very difficult.

So, having my ultimate focus helps me to get back to the grind. If you rest on your laurels for too long, you’ll miss the next target, and that isn’t a good feeling.

What qualities do you look for in your employees or colleagues?

The ability to treat others how you want to be treated. It’s actually the way I like to live my life and when you find that quality in others it’s quite satisfying.

Unfortunately, this very simple quality isn’t as common as I would like throughout society. We do, however, have it in abundance at Castle and it’s one of the reasons why I’m still there after six years.

Are you an optimist or a pessimist?

Definitely an optimist!

What did you want to be as a child?

I wanted to play football for Arsenal.  I’m trying not to live this dream through my six-year old son, but I appear to be fighting a losing battle as far as that’s concerned.

What will be the greatest challenge facing the bridging finance industry in the coming months?

One of the biggest challenges at the moment appears to be the big discrepancies between how much clients think that their properties are worth, and the market value provided by surveyors.

With an uncertain political future, it is difficult to draw comparables. But I’m hopeful that the market will become more settled as we move beyond the uncertainty of the next couple of months.

Who or what makes you laugh?

Sadly, episodes of Friends still make me laugh even though I know exactly what they are going to say, because I know every word. It’s the best series of all time.

Do you dread Monday mornings?

I don’t dread Monday mornings, although leaving the house in the darkness while the rest of the house is fast asleep never makes me smile.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

I can occasionally be very stubborn, which can be a gift and a curse I suppose, so I would like to change this. I say this because my 9-year old daughter is certainly following in Daddy’s footsteps in that regard!

With whom would you most like to have dinner?

I’m a huge Arsenal fan and season ticket holder. My favourite player of all time is Dennis Bergkamp. He deserves an honourable mention but it’s not actually him.

This might be cheating as unfortunately it could never happen, but I would love to bring Nelson Mandela back to have dinner with him. Whenever I think I have problems I remember the struggles that he had to overcome.