Where Lending Teams Find Business When the Market Slows

When the market slows, a lending team finds business in three places that don’t depend on new buyers showing up: existing clients whose loans deserve a genuine review, referral partners who need to hear from you more often (not less), and refinance conversations that a rate-uncertain client is actively looking for a reason to have. I’ve coached lenders through more than one slow stretch over 30-odd years, and the teams that keep writing business aren’t the ones working harder on the same activities — they’re the ones who shift where they’re looking.

Start with the loans you already wrote

The single most under-used source of business in a slow market is your own existing client book. Every loan you’ve settled in the last two or three years is a genuine reason to call: has their situation changed, is their current rate still competitive against what’s available now, could restructuring save them money or set them up for whatever’s next. This isn’t a sales call dressed up as a check-in — if their rate isn’t competitive anymore, telling them that is the review. I’ve had lenders on my team resist this because it feels like giving away business they’ve already banked, when the opposite is true: a client who hears from you unprompted with a genuine improvement is a client who refers you to their sister, their workmate, their neighbour who’s just started asking around.

Referral partners need more contact when volume drops, not less

The instinct when things slow down is to go quiet with referral partners because you feel like you’ve got nothing new to tell them. That’s backwards. A slow market is exactly when a broker or an accountant you work with is also feeling the pinch and more open to talking through what’s actually happening for their own clients. I coach my team to treat a slow patch as a reason to get back in front of referral partners more often — not with a sales pitch, but with something useful: what we’re actually seeing in serviceability assessments right now, what’s changed in how a particular client type gets approved. That’s the kind of conversation that keeps you top of mind when their client does need a loan, instead of them defaulting to whoever they spoke to last.

Refinancing is a live conversation right now, not a stretch

When rates are moving or uncertain, existing borrowers are already thinking about whether they’re on the right deal — you don’t have to manufacture interest, you have to be the one who reaches out before they go looking elsewhere. The lenders on my team who do this well aren’t running a generic “check your rate” campaign, they’re picking specific clients whose fixed rate is rolling off soon, or whose original loan no longer matches their situation — a client who’s had a pay rise, paid down a chunk of principal, or whose property has moved in value — and having a specific, numbers-based conversation with them. That specificity is what makes it land as helpful rather than as a sales call.

What I actually tell my team to stop doing

The generic advice in a slowing market is usually “work harder, stay positive, network more.” I tell my team the opposite of vague: pick one existing client today whose loan you haven’t reviewed in over a year and call them. Pick one referral partner you haven’t spoken to in a month and set up a coffee. Look at your settled files from the last six months for anyone whose circumstances have likely changed. That’s three concrete actions, not a mindset shift — and mindset shifts don’t show up in a pipeline report, but three actual phone calls do.

The market slowing doesn’t mean the work disappears — it moves

New-buyer volume is the part of the market you don’t control. Your existing book, your referral relationships, and the refinance conversations sitting in front of you the whole time are the parts you do control, and they don’t slow down just because new lending across the industry does. The teams that keep performing through a soft patch are the ones whose managers point them at those three things specifically, rather than telling them to try harder at whatever they were already doing.

Written by Michael Wignall, who’s spent 30+ years in banking and home lending across the ACT, Illawarra, and Riverina regions of NSW.

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Written by Michael Wignall, Lending Area Manager with 30+ years in banking and home lending across the ACT, Illawarra, and Riverina. Got a question or an idea for a post? Get in touch.