Profile: Phil Wilding

“What direction the business was going in. What we were doing to improve IT.

“If you could see me sweating, you knew you’d nailed it and had asked me a good one.

“It was all about gaining trust.

“We got lots of feedback and once we started acting on that, it made a real impact. It was a case of ‘you said, we did’ and the team liked that and reacted positively to it.

“It means people feel empowered to speak up if they have something to input that is going to make the business better, which means we serve our clients better.

“We’ve got great lawyers across a range of departments, serving individuals through to large corporates, so they know the law. That’s a given. So, you have to offer something else and that’s why it is so important to get the culture right because that rubs off on the clients and then they become your advocates.”

Phil’s career path to Wright Hassall and the top job took an unusual route, with each step helping to shape his personality that would ultimately make him a natural leader of people.

He studied Business at De Montford University in Leicester because it was close enough to home in Warwick when he needed his washing done but far enough away to enjoy university life.

“My dad was in business, my uncles are in business and grandparents were in business, so I was always leaning towards studying it for my degree.

“The natural step was to go into sales or marketing but I was also interested in the regulatory side of business.”

He took his first job just four days after his final exam in a sector that left some of his friends scratching their heads!

It was with Schering Healthcare – a global female healthcare provider at the time – and one of the challenges of the job is something most of us can identify with.

“I spent a great deal of time trying to get appointments with a GP,” he said. “We know how difficult that can be. It could take months.

“If I could get past the receptionist then I’d have just a few minutes with the doctor so I’d take in ice creams on a hot day or sort them out with stationery.

“I was selling female contraceptives and we were the only company that was licensed to give the morning after pill.

“In the end, I’d have GPs ringing me saying ‘I’ve just had a patient come presenting with this, what do you recommend?’ I was thinking ‘why are you asking me?’

“My friends couldn’t believe it, but forget the medical stuff, it taught me so much about the sales process and was my first step towards the world of regulation because it is, obviously, a very highly regulated industry.”

His next move was into debt recovery with Equidebt, where he found a real passion.

“Most people don’t go into the world of debt recovery by choice but typically once you are in it, you never really leave it.

“I got into an account management role so I was winning clients, looking after clients and making sure they got what they wanted.

“It was highly regulated, which I liked, but there’s a lot of myth and mystique around it. People associate debt recovery with someone turning up with a baseball bat, but it’s not like that at all.

“We would use telephony and letters, but using legal services as part of the strategy.”

He joined Wright Hassall in 2011 to set up a ‘volume’ debt recovery division that could feed into the legal side of the business.

That division would eventually be separated out to become QDR Solicitors, a separate entity regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Solicitors Regulatory Authority, but still wholly owned by Wright Hassall.

He became Group Head of the business in March 2020 so had to get to know people online as Covid struck and was installed as managing partner less than two years later.

“When I first joined I was a bit starstruck when I came into reception,” he said. “It felt like I was in LA Law, which probably shows my age! Someone younger might say Suits.

“And while I’ve got to know the whole business through and through over the years, I still sit with the debt recovery team.

Profile: Phil Wilding

Born: Bedford

Live: Leamington Spa

Married: Yes

“Each team is different and there are always areas of the market that are busier than others depending on the climate.

“But we’re a people business so it’s all about conversations, seeing where you can help and advise, and making things happen.

“Don’t wait for the time to be right, don’t wait for perfection. We all have a part to play in making the company successful and I want everyone to know their ideas matter.

“There’s no point having a slogan written on a piece of paper, people can see through that. It has to be real and then they will buy into it.”

It’s the kind of business-minded, people-focused mentality that provides the perfect recipe for success…

Hobbies: Not much time between work, the dog and the kids

Children: Two teenage boys

Favourite Book: Birdsong

Favourite Film: Too many to narrow down

Last Holiday: Spain (earlier this month)

Gadget: Swiss army knife