Get the Bank to Say Yes

With James Sinclair

By the end, you've got the pack a lender wants on the desk, every quote turned into APR, and a bank manager who'll fight your corner.

A 25-page workbook, six video lessons that help you put it to work, and the Ready for the Bank? tool. What a lender looks at first, the plan I walk in with, and how I keep the cash in while I borrow.

£49Pay once, keep it

Buy now, £49

Included: 1 online tool, worth £19

Ready for the Bank?~~On its own £19~~

You're buying the 25-page workbook. The 6 video lessons and 1 online tool come free with it.

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

Included in this course

One tool, sold on its own for £19

A workbook is homework. So the pages you'll use most are also tools: open one on your phone, answer the questions, and it does the marking, the totals and the comparison for you. It's on sale in the shop by itself. Buy this course and you get it.

~~£19~~ Included

Ready for the Bank?

Scores your pack in the order a lender reads it, works out your debt service cover and turns any flat rate into APR.

Most owners walk in with the wrong thing on top

You've been told to take the bank a business plan. So you write a spreadsheet, offer the house as security and wait. The answer takes months, or it never comes.

I've raised millions and millions of pounds over my career to grow my businesses. Lenders look at the management first, then whether the business can pay it back, and the security last. Your bank manager has to send your pack up to a credit team who don't know you from Adam, so the pack has to speak for you.

Then there's the quote. Finance brokers talk flat rates because they sound lower. 7% flat works out at 13.2% to 13.7% APR, depending on the term.

This course is the pack I'd want on the desk before I asked for a penny: the checklist, the plan in the order I walk through it, the team CVs, the cover sum and the APR table. With the templates up front, so you can start filling it in tonight.

They want to back great management.

From lesson 3: what goes in the plan, on the board

What's in the workbook

Twenty-five pages. The templates come first, so you can use them before you've watched a thing.

The bank's three questions: management, affordability and security, in ten minutes, in the order a lender asks them.Page 2
The bank pack checklist: everything a lender wants to see, grouped in the order they read it.Page 4
12 months, and when it's finished: profit first, then the revenue, team and culture that make it.Page 5
Team CV sheets: one box per senior person, and the gap a lender will spot.Page 6
The lender's plan: the sections of my own group plan, in my order, ready to fill in.Pages 7 to 12
Flat rate to APR: the table, a worked example and the two-minute spreadsheet method.Pages 13 and 14
Cash moves and the supplier ask: ten moves, my own words to suppliers, and a refinance planner.Pages 15 and 16
Bank manager questions and the accountant beauty parade: scored side by side, before you pick.Pages 17 and 18
The cover worksheet: your cash available for debt servicing, and how many times it covers the repayments.Page 22

Plus the five sections that follow the lessons: what the bank looks at first, the numbers lenders read, the plan you walk in with, keeping the cash in, and the two people who get you the money.

Workbook page: The bank pack checklist — The bank pack checklist

Workbook page: 12 months, and when it's finished — 12 months, and when it's finished

Workbook page: The lender's plan — The lender's plan

Workbook page: Flat rate to APR — Flat rate to APR

Workbook page: The supplier finance ask — The supplier finance ask

Workbook page: The cover worksheet — The cover worksheet

Six of the 25 pages, as they print.

The six lessons

Watch a lesson, then do that section of the workbook.

01
What the Bank Looks at First
Management, then affordability, then security. And the made-up pizza story that shows why.
02
Find the Cheapest Money for What You Need
Banks, suppliers, leasing, angels and crowdfunding, and why APR is the real money.
03
Write the Plan That Gets You the Loan
The sections of my own group plan, in order, and the story that goes in front of the numbers.
04
Keep the Cash Coming In While You Borrow
Never pay early, refinance six months ahead, and borrow to make.
05
Find an Accountant Who Saves You Money
The six things I look for, the beauty parade and the £300 second opinion.
06
Find a Bank Manager Who Backs You
A mobile number, a quick answer, and someone who fights your corner with the credit committee.

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 as templates, scripts and sums.

The bank's three questions

Management, affordability, security. A line or two in each box. Wherever you get stuck is where your work starts.

Do it tonight, in ten minutes

The flat rate to APR table

5%, 7% and 10% flat over one to five years, turned into APR. Fees push every figure up.

Check every quote on your desk

The email to your lender or broker

Asks for every option as an APR with every fee in, plus the total you'd repay and the monthly payment.

Send it before you sign anything

The supplier finance ask

My own words to the food suppliers I spend well over a million pounds with: could you give me 180 days money?

Use it at your next supplier meeting

The bank manager questions

Can I have your mobile number? Will you come and see the business? If the answer's no, will you tell me straight away?

Take it to your next bank meeting

The refinance planner

Every loan, lease and balloon payment, with the date six months before it's due.

Fill it in this week

By the end, you'll be able to say

Tick each one off as it comes true.

I know what a lender looks at first, and my pack leads with it.
I've got a CV for each senior person, and I know the gap a lender will spot.
My plan follows the lender's order, with a one- and five-year budget and cash flow.
I know my cash available for debt servicing, and how many times it covers my repayments.
I turn every quote into APR before I sign.
I've got a bank manager and an accountant who back me.

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 25-page workbook: the bank pack checklist, the lender's plan template, team CV sheets, the flat rate to APR table, the cover worksheet, the supplier ask and the bank manager questions
Six video lessons that help you put the workbook to work
One online tool: Ready for the Bank?
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. Management, affordability and security in that order, the lender's plan, the APR rule and the beauty parade. They're how I raise money for my own businesses.

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

You need money for a new site, new kit or a purchase in the next few months.
You've been turned down, or the answer never seems to come.
There's a finance or lease quote on your desk and it says flat rate.
Your accountant does the year end and you never hear from them.

Questions

Is this a book or a course?

Both. You get a 25-page workbook, with six video lessons that walk you through it. The workbook is the thing you print and fill in. The videos are me explaining how I raise money and what a lender looks at first.

How do I watch it?

On any device, as soon as your login arrives by email. The workbook is a PDF you print. The tool opens on your phone, saves as you go and needs no login.

How long do I have?

Pay once, keep it. The workbook, the lessons and the tool stay yours for good.

Is this financial advice?

No. It's general information from my own experience, and the workbook says so on the cover. Speak to a qualified adviser before you borrow, and take advice before you sign a personal guarantee. It doesn't quote any lender's rates, because they move, so check today's figures before you compare any offer.

Will it get me the loan?

I won't promise that and neither does the workbook. Every lender makes its own decision. What you walk in with is the pack they want to see, in the order they read it, so your bank manager has everything they need to argue your case.

Is this the Business Masterclass?

No. This is six 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.

Walk in with the pack

The workbook, the six lessons and the Ready for the Bank? tool. What a lender looks at first, the plan I walk in with, and how I keep the cash in while the money comes through.