I have talked before about why you should find someone who is successfully doing the one thing you want to do, and then copy them.
However, you do have to be careful that you only copy the ‘right things’ because there are reasons as to why they do something which works well for them, but they won’t work well for you.
A perfect example of this would be the use of a Facebook comment plug-in on a product sales page that would show hundreds of positive comments by happy customers and followers.
You do not see it much these days, but many marketers would use it as a way to build social proof of them and/or of their product.
A list of happy comments and testimonials is powerful. It helps people to make a buyers decision.
When a lot of people are ‘raving’ about you and your products, others perceive you and your products as good and safe.
People fear buying a dud product or being scammed, social proof takes away that fear.
Social proof works brilliantly well when you have a lot of happy customers and followers who are willing to leave a testimonial on social media…
But if you do not have an established following, using a tool like a Facebook comment plug-in can have the opposite effect.
It can create anti-social proof, which is the last thing a newbie needs!
If you have no followers or previous customers, a Facebook plug-in will leave you with no comments or testimonials on your page and it will be noticed.
People could interpret that ‘silence’ as your product is either not selling or people are not happy with it because they are not willing to leave a positive testimonial.
That empty comments plug-in will most definitely harm sales.
So, if you only have a handful of friends and followers on social media and you see a popular and successful marketer using a social proof tool like a Facebook comment, you should think twice before copying what they do in case it goes against you and blows up in your face.
Another thing is that you cannot copy a person’s history.
If someone says that they have been in the industry for 20 years and have made multiple millions, you cannot say the same if you are only just starting out.
Very often, a successful person becomes more successful because they share their personal stories of success, and how they position themselves using that information.
You can only do that once you start enjoying your own success and your success will be different to other peoples.
The other important thing to consider is that you can only copy what you see; you cannot copy what you don’t see.
You should always remember this important saying…
You cannot copy the invisible!
Why is this saying important?
Because it makes you realize that there is a lot going on behind the scenes and under the bonnet that you do not see or know about.
As an example, you can research someone’s sales funnel but if you purchase the initial product and the up-sell product, you do not see what happens next in the funnel with the people who turn down the up-sell.
Unless you actually sit people down and ask them what they do exactly and why they do certain things, there is no way you will know everything, which means that you cannot copy them fully.
This is why you should partake in any mentoring or coaching programs these people do because it is the only way to ask them questions and see what it is that they do behind the scenes and under the bonnet.
Yes, you can observe what people do, and you can spend time researching everything they do, but it could cost you more in time and money than if you simply paid them to tell you what they do.
Imagine that you spent months breaking down and back engineering an email campaign you were receiving.
It would be much easier if you were given a detailed PDF blueprint and checklist of what each email in the campaign contained, why, and when each email was to be sent.
Plus, I send emails to people who have bought a product, and I send emails to those who showed an interest in a product but didn’t purchase it, and those emails are different.
Whichever pipeline you go down, you will miss the other emails and so you simply do not get the full picture.
You see what I mean?
You can’t copy the invisible; you can only copy what you see… and you do not see everything while you are looking in from the outside.
You may think you can see everything when looking through the window, but as soon as they walk into another room you cease to see what is going on.
Copying people requires you to copy the right stuff AND the stuff that you don’t see.
But, because you cannot copy what you don’t see, it makes it difficult to get the results you would like.
I’m a big believer that if you want to achieve the same kind of success someone else is enjoying, you must do everything that you are shown and told by them.
And if that help and advice comes with a cost, then you would be foolish not to pay it.
Copying what you see on the surface can only get you so far.
I mean… imagine trying to recreate a Ford Mustang from only what you can see from the outside.
You may get the external shape and look right, but you’d be missing the two most vital ingredients which make the car move and it pleasurable to drive: the engine and the interiors.
You simply cannot recreate success by looking at it from the outside; sometimes you really need to go under the bonnet and limb inside to see how everything works.
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