Elections have come and gone. So many intrigues, suspense and power plays were seen. To be candid, I enjoyed the whole ‘event’ from a distance as I did not participate deeply. As a business savvy, I took a time out to think about the whole event and to draw out lessons from it, which I can apply in business. I decided that I will be sharing it with you. Who knows, you can learn one or two things from it. These are the lessons I learnt:

BRANDING IS IMPORTANT
I once wrote about the importance of branding in business. These 2015 elections, especially in my State, was a typical example of what branding can do for you as a businessman or woman. PDP in my State is a brand name. People are so used to that name that whenever anything election is brought up in the state, PDP will be almost the only name they know. I remember in my booth, no matter the level of psyching from the opposition to voters, majority of the voters still consciously or unconsciously chose to vote for the umbrella.
THE LESSON: Work hard to offer good service delivery and steadily advertize and market your business at every opportunity to ensure that your business name rings a bell in the mind of your target market. Try making your business to be the first name that comes to the mind of a potential customer whenever he or she is thinking of buying a product or service in your industry.
Becoming in a brand in your industry takes time and constant effort. But it is worth it at the end as it gives your opponents more stress to conquer you. Maybe I will write on branding again in my future articles.

NO GUTS, NO GLORY
The governor-elect of my State is a man of guts. The obstacles before him were too many to surmount. If he was chicken-hearted, he would have run out of the race after observing the hurdles ahead which seemed impossible. Sincerely, only a handful of people believed he would make it to the end. The questions that kept trickling in were: “where has it ever happened that a deputy took over from his boss? It has never happened and can never happen”. If he had listened to this, he would have fizzled out of the race. But he maintained his stand and fought to the end.
THE LESSON: A businessman must have the guts to take risks. You may have it in mind to start a particular business, but the hurdles ahead of you might make you give up the idea; the people around you might also not support it by giving you examples of those who have tried and failed in the business or how impossible it is to start and run such business. But if you will develop a lion-heart and go after your goals without minding what the chicken-hearts around you are saying, then you will most probably succeed. Remember to take calculated risks, not stupid risks.

ROLL WITH THE STAKEHOLDERS
As a businessman, it is very important to know the “who-is-who” in your industry and make frantic efforts to make them know you. Be friends with them, because the powers they wield can work for or against you depending on how your relationship is with them. Their contacts and followers can give you the needed aid to turn around your business.
The governor-elect in my state understands this very well and so ensured that the stakeholders in the political arena were on his side. Their contacts and followership helped to give him the victory which he sought for.
So, look around and find out the stakeholders in your business. Hang out with them, make friends with them, help them in ways you can, and ultimately, they will offer you help when you need it.

FIND YOUR COMPETITORS WEAKNESS AND CAPITALIZE ON IT
Let us look up to the National politics. The opposition knew the weaknesses of the leading party. They knew they had corruption and security issues which the voters were all angry about. They capitalized on it by promising the voters to give them security and ensure a corruption-free country. The voters fell for it. In the State level too, it happened. Think again and you will understand what I mean.
THE LESSON: In business, monitor your competition, find out their weakness and make it your strength. If your competitor is known for being rude to their customers, ensure you preach and show by deeds that you are polite and empathetic to your customers. That way, you can curry their favor and make them patronize you, leaving your competitors. Always capitalize on the weakness of your competitors.

FOCUS ON YOUR STRENGTHS NOT YOUR ENEMIES WEAKNESS
Another weakness that was exhibited by the ruling party on the National level, was constantly criticizing the opposition. Instead of focusing on telling the electorates what they have done and what they are going to do, they spent quality time telling the electorates how bad the opposition was. This did not help them in any way. In my State too, much time was spent criticizing the governor elect on how brutal he was and stuffs like that. But it ended up giving him more publicity which is what he needed.
THE LESSON: “Bad publicity is good publicity”. That is a popular saying in the business world. Don’t advertise for your competitors by constantly telling your target market how bad your competitors are doing. Rather, focus on telling them how good you are doing and presenting your strengths and what you have to offer to them. Borrow the idea of what to focus in your advertising, from the business lesson above. This will give you a good edge.

DON’T UNDERESTIMATE YOUR COMPETITORS
That you have built a brand doesn’t mean that the brand cannot fall. It will only take time, more work form your opponents and a laxity on your side, for you to fall from the top brand. This was the case between PDP and APC on the national level. The PDP underestimated the power of the opposition and took them for a ride. By the time they realized it, it was late for them. The APC on their own side, realized the hard work they needed to win the ruling party and so started early to work, plan and strategize. It paid off for them in the end.
THE LESSON: No matter how popular your business is, don’t ever feel you are so on top that you can never fall down. Always keep building your brand at all times. Have you wondered why MTN still advertises, even though they are adjudged to be the biggest telecom company in Nigeria? It is because they need to keep staying at the top. They keep advertising to ensure that they are always evergreen in the minds of their customers. This is what you should do. Whatever you did to get to the top, continue doing it to remain at the top. The mentality of “I have arrived” should not be found in you.

Finally, I hope you learnt one or two things from it. Remember that this is purely my thoughts. I tried hard to ensure this article in not partisan in anyway. But if any party or persons thinks it infringed on their right or stepped on their ego, I sincerely apologize for it.
If you have your own lessons, I will appreciate you share it with me through text, email or Facebook (www.facebook.com/patlextechnologies). I will love to learn from you too.

See you at the top.

SOURCE: http://www.patlexgroup.com/resources/130-business-lessons-from-the-2015-elections