100 Ways to Get Customers Without Running Ads

With James Sinclair

By the end, you've tested three ways to win customers for a month, and you know what each new customer cost you and where they came from.

A 24-page workbook, two bonus video lessons today and seven more being filmed. A hundred ways to win customers without paying for a click, and a simple way to pick three and test them this month.

£29Pay once, keep it

Buy now, £29

You're buying the 24-page workbook. The video lessons come free with it.

Secure card checkout. Your login follows by email. 14 days to change your mind.

Word of mouth got you here

Then it slows down for a month. The phone stops, the diary has gaps, and there's no tap to turn it back on.

I've got some of the best customers into my business with good old-fashioned snail mail. Back in 2018 my leisure businesses sent out over a million leaflets a year, and in 2019 schools promoted us in return for free tickets. That same year I sent 300 handwritten envelopes to prospective clients. This year we're still putting signs up on the road.

The hard part is picking three out of a hundred. One letter tells you nothing; a hundred a week, for a month, tells you plenty. So the workbook makes you pick three, write down how many, to whom and who's doing it, and count every enquiry back to where it came from.

This course is the hundred, in eight groups. My own story's in there wherever I've done it, and four pages take you from a hundred to your three. Page 5 gives you three phone calls to make before you've watched a thing.

You need to be famous to a few, not famous nationally.

What's in the workbook

Twenty-four pages. The quick win and the picker come first, so you can start tonight.

Where to start: find the line that sounds like your business and open those pages first.Page 3
All 100, on two pages: tick "Do it" for what you already run well, and "Try it" for anything that could reach your customer.Pages 4 and 5
Do this today: three ways that cost nothing but an hour on the phone, with a tally and the words to say.Page 5
Your customer, and where they already are: where they gather in person and online, who already has their trust, and what a new one is worth to you.Page 6
The shortlist: up to six ways, scored on reach, cost per go and whether you can track them.Page 7
Three test cards: how many, to whom, how often, who does it, the budget and the start date.Page 8
Your 30-day test log: cost, enquiries and customers every Friday, then keep, fix or drop.Page 9
The 100, in eight groups: each with a line to write your first step, and my own story wherever I've done it.Pages 10 to 23
Your first 30 days: the checklist, and how to keep the customers you win.Page 24

The eight groups: go and get the customer, borrow someone else's customers, get famous to a few, create something useful and build the list, old-fashioned marketing, get in front of people, make your customers your marketing department, and turn more prospects into first-time customers.

Workbook page: Where do you start? — Where do you start?

Workbook page: All 100, on two pages — All 100, on two pages

Workbook page: The shortlist — The shortlist

Workbook page: Pick three to test this month — Pick three to test this month

Workbook page: Your 30-day test log — Your 30-day test log

Workbook page: Use old-fashioned marketing again — Use old-fashioned marketing again

Six of the 24 pages, as they print.

Two lessons today, seven being filmed

Each lesson opens a section of the workbook.

B1Bonus, watch it today
The Rule of 4
Get a new customer to buy four times in quick succession and it becomes a habit. The New York restaurant that counts visits with coloured napkins.
Opens workbook page 24
B2Bonus, watch it today
Membership Models
Why members stay, spend more and bring their friends, and the Marsh Farm pass that turns someone who came once or twice a year into a regular.
Opens workbook page 24

Being filmed now. Free with the workbook as each one's ready

01
Pick Your Channel
Who your customer is, where they already gather, and the three ways you'll test this month.
Opens workbook pages 6 to 9
02
Go and Get Them
Letters, visits and calls to the people you want, and to the customers you've already got.
Opens workbook page 10
03
Old-Fashioned Marketing
Handwritten envelopes, lumpy mail, leaflets, road signs and vans: what I send, to whom, and what it costs.
Opens workbook page 18
04
Borrow Someone Else's Customers
Schools, partners, reader competitions and joint ventures: people who already have the customers you want.
Opens workbook page 12
05
Get in Front of People
Why I won't go to a trade show unless I can speak at it, plus stands people notice, free shows in schools and networking.
Opens workbook page 20
06
Famous to a Few
Your name in front of the few hundred people who could buy from you, from local community groups to your own book.
Opens workbook pages 14 and 16
07
Make Your Customers Your Marketing Department
Shares, members and advocates: a happy customer telling a friend, made easy.
Opens workbook page 22

Use these on Monday, before you've watched a video

Most of the value in here needs no homework. These come straight out of the workbook.

Tick all 100

"Do it" for every way you already run well, "Try it" for any that could reach your customer. The gaps are where your next customers are.

Ten minutes, tonight

Three calls

Every open quote, ten customers who haven't bought in a year, every old enquiry. Tally who you rang, who replied and who booked.

An hour on Monday morning

The words to say

"You asked us about [the job] back in [month]. Are you still looking, or did you get it sorted?"

Use it on the first call

Where they already gather

In person, online, who already has their trust, and when they buy. From your customer records and your till, not your gut.

Fill it in this week

What a new customer is worth

Your year-one figure is the most any way can spend to win one. Below it, keep going. Above it, fix it or drop it.

Work it out before you spend

Where did you hear about us?

Ask every new customer and write it down. A code on every voucher, a separate number on the leaflet.

Start asking today

By the end, you'll be able to say

Tick each one off as it comes true.

I know who I'm after, where they already gather and who already has their trust.
I know what a new customer is worth to me in year one, and the most I'll spend to win one.
I've rung every open quote, every old enquiry and the customers who'd stopped buying.
I've picked three ways, with numbers, names, budgets and start dates.
Every new customer gets asked where they heard about us, and it gets written down.
After 30 days I know what each customer cost, and I've kept, fixed or dropped each test.

What happened when they put it to work

From reviews of my books and podcast, and from owners who've worked with me. This course is new, so none of these are reviews of it yet.

...it's only when I discovered James Sinclair it dawned on me how little actual business experience most of them have. ... James teaches business and marketing from the position of someone who runs multiple real life, bricks & mortar businesses

Andrew J. GardnerReviewing the Business Broadcast podcast

It has really opened our eyes to what we weren't doing. I am absolutely loving it. You can really see the difference now between me and my manager, as I have stepped away from the day to day operations.

Paul KingPaul J King Funeral Directors. Business Accelerator member

Great book that really puts the growth journey into perspective for your team. It made me realise a lot, and I'm already putting it into action in my business and seeing results. Definitely one for entrepreneurs with bigger teams.

Christopher GeorgeReviewing The Dream Team

A great read for any business owner, I have taken a lot of great ideas from this book. I have used the rules of your business on page 43 within my company already and it has made a big difference.

Darren TaylorReviewing The Millionaire Clown

James showed me what was possible - we were around £400,000 per annum and he just made me push to the next level and we're now turning over £1,000,000!

Carmel JaneOwner, Carmel Jane Photography

In the process of growing my start up I think about what James would say. Sales before operations, E+M=S, you want a business with margin, a business with scale, high barrier to entry, the 4 company philosophy, invest 50% of profits into slow pounds etc etc.

Josh WoodeReviewing the Business Broadcast podcast

I was on the podcast a few years ago, when I was only making £20k per year. I went away and implemented some of the knowledge James shared. Since then, I've done £100k, £80k and £100k. Thank you.

David GottThe Lovely Car Company. Podcast guest

At first I wondered what I could glean from a clown about business, but it turns out rather a lot! A lot of thoughts, beliefs and ideas swirling in my head have been articulated well by James and it's great to hear how they work in his businesses, I'm certainly enjoying applying them to mine.

Scott JonesReviewing The Experience Business

James speaks from a place of passion and experience. He's built a fast-growth, profitable bricks-and-mortar business and a dynamic team culture. His talks are fast paced, funny, irreverent and packed with value.

Daniel PriestleyEntrepreneur and best-selling author

What you get

The 24-page workbook: all 100 ways on two pages, where to start, your customer and where they already gather, the shortlist, three test cards, the 30-day test log, and the 100 in eight groups with my own stories
Two bonus video lessons to watch today: The Rule of 4 and Membership Models
Seven main video lessons, being filmed now. Each one lands in your course area as soon as it's ready, free with the workbook
Watch on any device, print the workbook

14 days to change your mind

If it isn't for you, reply to your receipt email within 14 days of buying and you get the full price back. Your access switches off when the refund goes through.

James Sinclair teaching a room of business owners

Who's teaching this

You're getting me

I run over 40 businesses: a £55m group of companies, over 3,000 staff and one million customers a year.

Every lesson is me, on camera. I'm teaching what I actually do in my own businesses, with the real numbers and the real mistakes.

The frameworks are mine. Famous to a few is a line I've used since 2017. And wherever I've done one of the hundred myself, my story's in there: the snail mail, the leaflets through schools, the handwritten envelopes, speaking at the shows I go to.

I started with a clown suit and a party business. Everything in here is what I learned getting from there to a group I don't have to manage.

Who it's for

Most of your work comes by word of mouth, and you can't turn it up when it slows down.
You've got old customers, open quotes and enquiries nobody's chased.
You tried a leaflet once, it didn't work, and you never found out why.
You'd rather win customers you don't have to keep paying a platform for.

Questions

Is this a book or a course?

Both. You get a 24-page workbook: the thing you print and write in. Two bonus video lessons are in your course area today, and the seven main lessons are being filmed now. Each one arrives free, as soon as it's ready.

When do the seven main lessons arrive?

They're being filmed now. Each one goes into your course area as soon as it's ready, and you don't pay a penny more. Everything in the workbook works without them, so you can start tonight.

How do I watch it?

On any device, as soon as your login arrives by email. The workbook is a PDF you print.

How long do I have?

Pay once, keep it. The workbook and every lesson, including the seven still to come, stay yours for good.

Will it tell me what to write on the letter or the leaflet?

No. This course is where the customers come from: what you send or do, to whom, how many, and what it costs. The words that go on the letter are a separate course of mine.

Do I have to spend money on these?

Some cost nothing but your time: a phone call, a visit, a post in a local group. Others cost a stamp or a print run. Each test card asks for a budget before you start, and the test log tells you what each new customer cost.

Is this the Business Masterclass?

No. This is a workbook and lessons you watch at home. The Masterclass is two days in the room at Ashridge House, 19 and 20 January 2027. Every course points there in the end.

What if it's not for me?

You have 14 days. If it isn't for you, reply to your receipt email within 14 days of buying and you get the full price back. Your access switches off when the refund goes through.

100 Ways to Get Customers Without Running Ads

Word of mouth got you here

What's in the workbook

Two lessons today, seven being filmed

The Rule of 4

Membership Models

Being filmed now. Free with the workbook as each one's ready

Pick Your Channel

Go and Get Them

Old-Fashioned Marketing

Borrow Someone Else's Customers

Get in Front of People

Famous to a Few

Make Your Customers Your Marketing Department