Structuring the Borrower Conversation
By Brad Hawley, Principal | 7 min read
Walk into your next call on a business owner with a structure in mind, pivot when you have to, and you will get further in forty minutes than most lenders get in three visits.
Years ago I learned a meeting technique that I still use today. It has helped when I have been stuck preparing for a call and when I have gone blank in the middle of one. It has also found its way into parts of my life that have nothing to do with revenue, which tells you how versatile a good framework is.
The technique is called Issue-Evidence-Impact, and it addresses three things. What is the problem? How does that problem show up in the business? And what changes if it gets fixed?
The assumption is that you follow the questions with a solution, preferably your solution, that produces the impact you just established. And the relationship moves.
When I first learned this I was brand new and had no idea what I was really absorbing. The trainer never suggested it was anything more than a “technique.” What I did not see at the time was that Issue-Evidence-Impact was only one way to structure a conversation, and that knowing several of them would turn out to be the most portable skill I had.
Why Structure Matters
Most advice on calling is elementary. It is the set of questions every business owner in your market has already been asked by four other lenders this year: “Tell me about your business” or “What keeps you up at night?” An owner who has heard those twice knows exactly what is coming next and has already decided how much of their time you are getting.
Structure changes that. It makes the call intentional rather than improvised. It is awkward at first, the way any technique is, but once you have internalized it and can switch between structures mid-conversation, your calls get shorter and your pull-through gets better.
Two Requirements for a Structure Strategy
When building your approach, there are two things you need:
1. Learn multiple structures. Start with three that can be deployed across a variety of scenarios. Having options means you’re never locked into one approach when the conversation shifts.
2. Recognize the triggers. Learn to hear the moment in a conversation that tells you to switch. Seasoned lenders do this by instinct. Doing it intentionally is what makes you a professional.
The Core Frameworks
Issue → Evidence → Impact
Issue: What is the pain point?
Evidence: How does that issue show up in the organization?
Impact: What happens when you fix it?
Best for: an owner who does not yet see what their current banking structure is costing them. This is the one that produces the pause.
Problem → Solution → Benefit
Problem: What is your pain point?
Solution: Here is how you fix it.
Benefit: This is what happens when you do.
Best for: an owner who already knows they have a problem, usually because their current bank just told them no. Direct, and faster.
Knowing When to Use Each One
These two look similar on the surface and serve completely different purposes. To show the difference, here is a third structure, Compare-Contrast-Conclude , used to evaluate when each of the first two works.
Issue-Evidence-Impact
You’re helping your audience see what their current arrangement is actually costing them. You are establishing awareness first and the solution second. A borrower who works out the number themselves does not need to be sold on it.
Problem-Solution-Benefit
You define the problem, show the fix, and state the payoff. More direct: “Here is what is in your way, here is how we structure around it, here is what it frees up.”
The conclusion: Use Issue-Evidence-Impact when the owner cannot yet see that anything is wrong. Use Problem-Solution-Benefit when they know exactly what is wrong and want to hear whether you can fix it.
Two More Frameworks Worth Learning
What → So What → Now What
Perfect for the unplanned conversation, which in community banking is most of them. State the fact, explain why it matters, propose the next step. Works at a chamber lunch as well as it works across a desk.
Situation → Task → Action → Result (STAR)
Ideal for describing a credit you structured and why it mattered. This is how you establish that you have done this before without naming anyone you should not name.
Putting It Into Practice
Try putting a structure into your next call, even quietly. Commercial relationships are rarely won in one sitting, so the framework can run across several: the first visit establishes the problem, the second brings the structure, the third shows what it frees up. Or it can all happen in forty minutes if the owner is ready.
Either way, a structure makes you concise and clear at the moment when most lenders are neither. It turns calling from improvisation into a craft, which is the difference between a lender who is busy and a lender who is producing.
Hire Lenders Who Can Run a Conversation
The ability to run a structured conversation is a profile trait, not a training module. Talnted finds the bankers who already have it, and shows you the list before we call any of them.
Get in TouchKey Takeaways
✓ Structured calls beat improvised ones. Learn at least three frameworks.
✓ Issue-Evidence-Impact creates awareness; Problem-Solution-Benefit drives action.
✓ Recognizing situational triggers is what separates amateurs from professionals.
✓ What-So What-Now What and STAR round out a toolkit that works in any room.
✓ Structure does not replace authenticity. It gives it somewhere to go.