The ten-minute screen

Ten minutes that save ten weeks

The ten-minute screen is the first call, done with a purpose. Eight questions, in order, and at the end you know one of three things: this cannot close, this can close with a change, or this can close as is. New brokers skip the screen and spend weeks packaging deals that were never lendable. Experienced brokers do the screen on every call and only package the ones that will fund, which is why they close more with less work.

The eight questions

1. What is the money for? Listen for the five situations from Module 1. "Buy the building we rent" and "buy out my partner" and "two more trucks" are each a different loan type, lender and package.
2. How much, and where did the number come from? A purchase price, a contractor bid, an equipment quote, a payoff statement. A number with a source is a request; a number without one is a wish, and you will need to help them build it.
3. How long in business, and what were last year's revenue and profit? Roughly is fine on the phone. Two years and a profit opens most doors; under two years narrows them to SBA, CDFIs, microlenders and equipment lenders.
4. What do you own that could secure it? The building, the equipment, receivables, a home with equity. You are sizing collateral in your head.
5. How much cash can you put in, and where is it? Savings, a gift, a retirement account, a seller note. The answer tells you the equity injection and whether it is real.
6. What is your credit score, roughly, and has anything gone wrong in the last seven years? Ask it plainly. Late payments, a bankruptcy, a foreclosure, a tax lien, a lawsuit. Clients answer honest questions honestly; they hide things from brokers who seem afraid to ask.
7. How fast do you need it? Thirty days means a bridge loan or nothing. Ninety days means a bank or SBA loan is realistic.
8. Who else have you asked, and what did they say? A decline is information. Find out what the lender saw. Never resubmit the same request to the same kind of lender.

The script in the downloads has the eight questions with the follow-ups that get real answers.

Three outcomes

Deal killers are facts that no package can fix: tax returns not filed, an open tax lien with no payment plan, a bankruptcy or foreclosure within the window most lenders require, losses in every year with no story, no equity at all and no way to get it, or a purpose no lender funds. When you hear one, decline on the call, kindly and specifically: "No lender I work with will consider a request while the 2024 return is unfiled. File it, send me the first page, and call me." Half of them call back. The other half would have cost you a month.

Fixable problems are facts that change which lender or which structure, not whether the deal can close: a credit score between 640 and 680, thin collateral, a bad year followed by a recovery, under two years in business, high leverage, a need for speed. Each has a known fix, and the fix is usually a different lender type. Credit at 650 is a credit union or an SBA lender, not a big bank. Thin collateral is an SBA lender. A bad year is a story in the summary and interims that prove the recovery. Speed is a bridge loan with a refinance exit. The Loan Finder's ranking rules are these fixes, written down.

Go means the business is profitable, has been around two years or more, the owner has real equity in hand, credit is 680 or better, and the amount and purpose make sense together. Send the fee agreement before you hang up.

The five-line summary

Before you move to the next thing, write five lines: the situation, the loan types to look at first, a rough size and structure, the lender types that fit, and the problems with their fixes. Add what you told the client and the next step with a date. Send it to yourself, then send the relevant parts to the client with the fee agreement, so that they see in writing what you heard and what happens next. This is not extra work; it is the first draft of the Loan Request Summary, and the Package Builder has a field for it.