This transcript records a talk by Colin Sprake explaining the concept of "viral marketers" (also called "sneezers")—people who naturally spread word-of-mouth—and giving small-business tactics to leverage them: identify five viral marketers, gift or give an outrageous deal to secure their advocacy, and creatively work around industry rules to stand out. He emphasizes looking after existing clients through referrals, featuring student testimonials on business cards (photographs on the back), and sending regular gratitude/thank-you cards (a practice he enforces in his business). The tone is practical and motivational, focused on relationship-led growth.
Questions this video answers
About to hit the 40th testimonial.
Over 40 gratitude cards per week.
How many of you know what a viral marketer is? What's a viral marketer, Jim?
Somebody who pushes out an ad and it goes to different people and it's a good ad and everybody, one person likes it, another person likes it and it just goes out like a virus.
Like a computer virus. Like a computer virus. So let's say which is good viral marketer per se is I'll give you an example of a really good viral market that works on a tech side. Which is cool. Exactly. But when you do it as a person, how many of you have people that you know, if you told them something, they would tell everybody? Those people. How many of you say I don't want to tell people stuff because if I tell them they're going to tell everybody. Those people you abuse in the marketing world, why not? So you have to find yourselves. I'm going to give you a tip for tonight. Walk out of here when you go home this evening or back to your office, whatever it might be for you. Look for five viral marketers in marketing. We also call them sneezers. They sneeze and everyone else gets sick because that's what they do. They're so infectious. With like I'm a viral marketer. If I love your product or service, I tell tons of people. That's just who I am. I'm a viral marketer. I love spreading the word about great products and services of the ones I've used. Love spreading the word about products and services. And number one, because our students we to need. When you came in, you would have seen and this is something that's unique to our business. On your chair were business cards. These are our business cards. You can see I'm a wine fan because they're designed to be the size of a coaster. That's why. And they're waterproof. But that's not the true reason why they were designed. They're stain proof. But the key thing is on the back of each of our cards we're just about to do. We're just about to hit our 40th testimonial on the back of a card we're to about when someone says to me, colin, do you know somebody who can do this? I go, let me go through and see us. Because these are all our students. We don't charge them or anything to be on the back of our cards. These are people who've been through our courses that rave about what we do. They give us a great testimonial and it has to be honest and truthful. We get the testimonial from them, we put it on, we get their photograph on the back. Someone says to me, like, for Matt, do you know someone who does amazing massage or chiropractic or whatever? I say, here's Matt's card, go see him. Someone says to me, one bookkeeper got a similar melody. Here's her card. That's what we do for our clients. That's really cool when you can give back to your own customers. Because if they win, I win. That's what business is all about. Hence our company tagline business with Sol. Not just a business making money. Okay, so the number one thing to do to find tonight is five viral marketers. Five viral marketers. Those viral marketers, what do you want to do with them? Gift them your product or service. So some people say, well, I do mortgages. Like, how can I gift them a mortgage? No, you can do like, you know, Rob's at the back. I know Robert does mortgages. So you can do mortgages. You can do their mortgage for them, but maybe give them half your commission back and say, you know what? That's what I would do if I do something outrageous for you. Because you one of those people will tell everyone how great my service was. And all I expect you to do is not mention what I did for you. Okay? But I'm gonna give you an outrageous deal. You do that for somebody that will never stop marketing your product or service. But it has to be outrageous. That makes sense, Rob. Something a little bit different. There's always a way around the rules of the industry. Remember, entrepreneurs, we beg for forgiveness. We don't ask for permission. I didn't tell you that. Shouldn't say it on camera. Edit that out on the camera. But it really is truthful. How many. I mean, I see so many entrepreneurs like, well, I need to get permission to do that. I need to get permission to do this. The city says I cannot do that. Well, find a way around what the city's rules are and do something different. You cannot use a board that stands, sandwich board on the sidewalk, hang it from the roof, I don't know. Do something different. Don't let things be hurdles in your life. Look for solutions. Really, really important. So this is really important, looking after your clients. I cannot say enough. Most important thing when you walk out of here this evening is looking after the clients you have. Not running out to get a bunch of brand new ones and do the same job. Throw them in the database, let them bleed. Really, really important. So please make sure you look after clients. The two key ways. Referrals, outrageous offers. I'm going to talk a little bit about outrageous offers even further in a few minutes as well. This makes sense for everyone. How many of you can do more for your current clients? How many of you send out thank you cards to your customers? Gratitude cards. How many of you send gratitude cards to your suppliers? Wow. Very few. If your suppliers weren't there for you when you were in time of crisis, you wouldn't maybe get some of those big orders you get. Why don't people say thank you for the people that help them in their businesses? It's amazing. I mean, we live by this. We live. We have gratitude cards. These are own printed cards. I live by these. We do over 40 a week of these cards that go out of our office. That's one of my things I do. It's mandatory for myself. It's not. I, I fit it in where I can. That's part of my daily schedule. Why? Because when you say thank you to people, depends how you what your beliefs are. I'm a big believer in whatever you put out there, you get back. How many of you believe in that as well? I'm a big believer in that. So I don't know if it was Oprah or Louise Hay between one or the two of them. Said, when you show gratitude for what you have, the world will give you more to be grateful for. So if you're not grateful for your clients, remember you don't wear the clothes that you're sitting in this room. If your clients hadn't maybe paid you for a job you did for them, you didn't get here in the car. You got here unless they made a payment. So you can make your payment or buy your car, whatever it was. Your clients are gold to you. Look after them like gold, Sam.
