In a recent poll conducted by ABC News and The Washington Post, Donald Trump edged past Hillary Clinton with the slightest of margins. With scales tilting slightly in favor of Donald Trump, it would be interesting to see the outcome of the US presidential elections. With few hours left in US elections, it is time to look at some of the important lessons that managers can learn from Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate and business tycoon.

Management Lessons From Donald Trump

1. Know and Love What You Do

Donald Trump advises managers to stay in the learning mode all the time so they can know more about their field and do a better job at managing affairs at the helm of the company. According to him, loving what you do is critical for success. If you do not love what you do, you will end up at the bottom no matter what. On the other hand, if you love what you do, you are bound to succeed. Although, it will take time but the end result would be a positive one.

2. Confidence and Authority

Most people might consider Donald Trump as “overconfident” but he considers it as one of his strength. In fact, he recommends young entrepreneurs to be confident and pursue their dreams with conviction. When you are bubbling with confidence, you will come out on top nine out of ten times.

Donald Trump is one of those billionaires who like to take the driving seat instead of the backseat. He is always in control and in charge of whatever he does. For some instances, when he was not in-charge, he pretends to be in complete control. He is brilliant when it comes to maintaining his persona and reputation as a business tycoon. He wants his followers to ooze with confidence and be authoritative.

3. Establish a Strong Brand from the Beginning

What made Donald Trump so successful? Despite all the difficulties he had to go through early in his career, he worked hard to establish his brand in the initial phase. His core message “Make America Great Again” was clear from the outset he managed to spread it throughout America.

Have a branding strategy and work on building a good reputation early. When your company becomes a reliable and trustworthy brand, the rest of the journey would become smooth. Once the reputation is well established, it would be difficult for your competitors to dethrone you from your position.

4. Persistence and Perseverance

Donald Trump also went through many difficulties early in his real estate career but managed to overcome all of them with the help of patience and persistence. The volatility of real estate markets has put him in hot waters many times but he came out on top every time.

If you love what you do, you can get through hard times easily. Stay motivated throughout your journey and successful will come your way. Napoleon Hill sums it up brilliantly, “Patience, persistence, and perspiration makes an unbeatable combination for success.”

5. Surpass Expectations

Have you ever thought why every real estate project associated with Donald Trump receives a tremendous response? The reason behind the long list of successful real estate projects in Trump portfolio is that his real estate project delivers more than what’s promised. Train your team to exceed expectations of your clients, whether they are making a product or delivering a service.

Margin of error is minimal, therefore; you cannot afford to make mistakes. According to a survey, 70% of customers will go towards your competitors if they had a negative experience with your company. Imbue your team with the idea of underpromising and over-delivering when creating a product offering. This way your customers will be extremely delighted and will result in increased customer loyalty, recurring business and a positive image in the industry you’re operating.

6. Winning is Everything

“If I don’t win, I will consider this a total waste of time”-Donald Trump. That is what winning means to Donald Trump. It is not one of the options, winning is the only option for him. The word “Second Best” does not exist in his dictionary. There are no trophies for participating in a contest, you have to make sure you win if you wanna get on top of the world. Trump is going for the win and nothing less and every manager should adopt the same attitude if he wants to see himself and his team rising above others.

7. One Size Doesn’t Fit All

Trump knows that his circle of supporters will not be huge hence, therefore, he only focuses on those who follow him wholeheartedly. He advises managers to focus on their target audience and customer base instead of targeting everyone with your products and services. Be specific and focus on a niche market to better serves their needs.

Your products and services will never appeal to everyone. Some would love it and others would hate it. Just give what your supporters want without worrying about what your haters think. Take the example of iPhone. Apple fan boys love it but android users hate it but what Apple does? They focus on customers who like their products and keep on delivering year after year.

8. Think Out of the Box

Last but certainly not the least is thinking out of the box. Donald Trump always has a couple of tricks up his sleeve and that’s what he wants his followers to do, surprise everyone. He suggests that if you want to make it big in business, then you will have to think beyond conventional methods and come up with novel, yet, practical ideas that’ll solve your customers’ problems.

With an innovative business strategy, you can easily gain a competitive edge over your competitors. In addition to this, it will help you in standing out of the crowd and get noticed which is critical in today’s overcrowded business world. So come up with a unique idea that’ll give you the wings to fly above others and pursue it till you see it become a reality.

Conclusion

Irrespective of whether Donald Trump wins or loses the race for Oval Office, managers and entrepreneurs can still learn many useful business lessons that can help them in overcoming hindrances and achieving success in business.

Having a winning attitude, leading from the front and surpassing expectations are some of the things that can take your business to the next level as it did for Donald Trump. Be confident and have patience along with persistence if you wish to succeed and leave a great legacy for your followers.