Page 129 - Trump Never Give Up: How I Turned My Biggest Challenges into Success

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T R UM P: N E V E R G I V E U P

the only hotel company that also serves as the developer. If the
Trump name is going on a building, there is a huge amount of
preliminary due diligence and ongoing management work to be
done. The only way to ensure quality is to stay on top of all
the issues.
This process is a complex jigsaw puzzle, and there are a lot
of factors to consider because we don’t allow the Trump name
to be associated with anything that hasn’t been carefully con-
sidered and scrutinized. We receive proposals constantly, all of
which are evaluated, but we will not be interested in 99 percent
of them. We are also approached by over 300 developers per
year who want to partner with us. So we have to take an
aggressive approach to evaluating deals. We vet each proposal,
analyze the deal, and check out the sites personally. When
something is a “go,” we review budgets, do predevelopment
planning, and then start the bid process. We deal with contrac-
tors, subcontractors, and we negotiate the final price. Every
construction document has to be reviewed by our team. Next,
we start weekly construction meetings and sales and marketing
meetings. We speak to representatives on our job sites every
single day. Nothing is left to chance. That’s one reason for our
success.
Because we have many international developments now, one
thing we deal with is securing financing in foreign countries.
This can sometimes be complicated if the country has a track
record of political instability. If we get in at the right point
in a real estate growth cycle, it may still be relatively inexpen-
sive to build there, but with good growth potential, so we
will take advantage of the opportunity. It would be easy to
get complacent because we’ve had a lot of successes, but we
know there is always risk around the corner. We avoid being
complacent by being diligent in our preparations. Thinking
you’re foolproof is a good way to set yourself up for a big
mistake.

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