How to Coach Lenders from Order-Takers to Problem Solvers

An order-taker answers the question the client asked. A problem solver finds out what the client is really trying to get done, before quoting anything. A client who rings asking “what’s your rate?” is rarely asking about the rate. They are asking whether this is going to work, and a lender who only answers the rate question has handed over a number and learned nothing. It is worth coaching this more than almost anything else, because the gap shows up across the whole pipeline, from how many enquiries convert to how often a file falls over late.

What an order-taker call sounds like

The client says they want to refinance and asks for the rate. The lender gives the rate, asks for documents, and books the next step. Nothing in that call was wrong. It was polite, quick and accurate, and it was also completely forgettable. The client will ring three more lenders with the same question and choose on price, because price was the only thing the conversation was about.

Here is a typical example. It’s an illustration of a pattern most lending teams will recognise, not one client’s story. A couple ring to refinance and ask for the rate. The lender quotes it and sends the document list. Two weeks later the application stalls: their fixed rate expires in under a month, and one of them has moved from full-time to casual work since they last borrowed. Both facts were there on day one. Nobody asked “what’s prompted this now?”, so the lender found them at assessment, with the deadline already close.

What changes when the lender asks one more question

A problem solver takes the same opening and stops before the quote. They ask what has changed, what the client is trying to achieve, and what has to be true for this to work. The answers are usually where the real loan is: a settlement date that is tighter than the client said, income that does not fit a standard assessment, a deposit with a gift in it, a renovation that has not been approved yet. None of these show up in “what’s your rate?”

That is the whole shift. It is not a technique or a script. It is the habit of finding the friction before the client has to name it, then dealing with it early instead of discovering it at valuation or approval.

A pre-call checklist

Lenders should run through these before they pick up the phone to a client or a referrer, and be able to answer them in under three minutes. If they cannot, the first job on the call is to find out.

• What has changed? A new job, a rate rise, a separation, a property they have found. Something prompted this call.
• What is the deadline, and who set it? A settlement date, a fixed-rate expiry, an auction. The real deadline drives everything else.
• What would make this fall over? Income that is hard to document, a valuation that could come in short, a guarantor, a cooling-off period. Name it before they do.
• What have they already been told? By a broker, an agent, another lender. You are often correcting an assumption.
• What does a good outcome look like for them? Lowest repayment, fastest settlement, most flexibility. These pull in different directions.
• What is the next step, and who owns it? End every call with one clear action and a date.

How to coach it

This does not stick in a training session. It sticks in call reviews and one-on-ones, using a real call the lender made that week. Ask them what the client actually wanted, then compare that with what the call delivered. The feedback works best in a simple structure, set out in the SBI framework: the specific moment, what was said, and what it led to.

A good call review takes about fifteen minutes and three questions. First: what did the client want when they rang? Second: what did they get by the end of the call? Third: what one question, asked early, would have closed the gap? Let the lender answer all three before offering a view. The third answer becomes their focus for the following week, and the next review starts by checking whether they asked it. One question a week, chosen by the lender, does more than a list of ten handed down by the manager.

What does not work

Forcing a long discovery script onto every call. Clients can tell when they are being run through a form, and a lender who asks six questions in a row sounds as scripted as one who asks none. The aim is one or two good questions, asked because the lender wants the answer, followed by listening. Some clients genuinely just want the rate. Respect that, and give it to them.

Proactive also does not mean pushy. It is the same discipline as asking for the business: say what you see, then let the client decide.

Where to start on Monday

Pick one call a week. Before it, run the checklist above. After it, write down one thing you learned that the client did not say at the start. Do that for a month and the question habit builds itself, which matters more than any framework, including this one.

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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.