Winning The Fight: What Can SME’s Learn

When it comes to the crunch, these are the fighting tactics you should employ to ensure your business KO’s the competition.

After months of hype and promotional appearances, the sporting world stopped yesterday to watch Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor contend in the fight of the year. While seemingly just a boxing match that lasted no more than a few hours, under the surface, this fight was actually the successful product of two incredibly hard-working businessmen, both of whom walked out of the ring with respect, recognition and several hundred million a piece.

While the world saw press conferences and promotional appearances littered with trash talk and intimidation, behind the scenes, Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather were tirelessly training, strategising and promoting themselves for months leading up to the fight. Though marketed to the public as sportsman and entertainers, these two pro-fighters are essentially just savvy entrepreneurs. When it comes to the crunch, we can actually learn a great deal about leadership, management and business by observing Mayweather and McGregor punch on. Here are the fighting tactics you should implement to ensure your business comes out on top.

1. Know your strengths and weaknesses

While coming out swinging is important, sometimes the best offence is a good defense.Understanding your strengths and weaknesses and knowing how to counter them is an essential element of sustaining a successful business. To make your business a winner, you must both nurture the areas of your business that are working well, and acknowledge the areas that could still be improved.

2. Study your opponent

Understanding your strengths and weaknesses is essential, but studying your opponents’ strengths and weaknesses is equally important. McGregor and Mayweather didn’t go into the ring blind; they studied their opponent tirelessly to ensure they were prepared and had the upper hand. In business, it’s important to keep an eye on your competition and analyse their strategies to assess how you can knock them out. What do they have that you don’t? What gives you an edge? What are they doing that you could be doing better?

3. Build a solid support system

A fighter is only as good as the team behind them, and it’s clear that both Mayweather and McGregor didn’t make it to the world title by themselves. Building a supportive, enthusiastic and hard-working team is absolutely essential when it comes to succeeding on a larger scale. Employing the skills, intelligence and support of people who feel engaged and respected is an aspect of creating a successful business.

4. Keep up momentum

As soon as a pro-fighter slows down, he opens himself up to a hit. By staying alert and keeping momentum high, the less likely you are to fall behind and inevitably lose the fight. In a successful business, keeping momentum and motivation up is essential in ensuring you aren’t falling behind the competition. When exponential growth is the aim, you got to keep your head in the game.

5. Keep sight of your goal

When stepping into the ring, McGregor and Mayweather had one thing on their minds: victory.

While physical strength is an integral part of being a pro-fighter, keeping your eye on the prize and not allowing yourself to be psyched out is perhaps even more important. Staying focused and motivated is one of the most valuable aspects of being a good leader. Keeping sight of your goals in the face of adversity is absolutely necessary to create and maintain a successful business