{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"EP60: Jesse Cole - Fans First! Running a Baseball Team in a Yellow Tuxedo!","description":"Dancing grandmas? Baseball players skydiving to their positions? Just a normal day at the office for one of the most exciting, interesting, and big-picture thinking owners in sports, and my guest on the Mark Your Mark podcast, Jesse Cole. Oh, did I mention the yellow tuxedo and top hat that he wears more often than not? \u201cI found out only 200 fans were coming to the games, and the team had been there for seven years. I made ten phone calls out to the community. The first seven phone calls no one had even heard of the team, the next two wouldn\u2019t work with us, and the last one hung up on me. That was my first day in the office.\u201d Jesse has completely transformed how baseball fans experience the game at the ballpark, and he\u2019s just scratched the surface! If you stopped going to games for any reason, you have to hear this episode! \u201cAs a kid I never would\u2019ve said yeah one day I want to be the owner of a baseball team. I just wanted to play the game. I was a kid who was hungry, who was in love with practicing, playing batting practice with my dad, fielding ground balls.\u201d  Jesse and his Bananas will make you laugh, his team will make you cheer, and you\u2019ll have a great time watching baseball again! This was a rollicking episode to record, laughs at every turn, and lessons learned throughout! Happy listening! \u201cI believe if you aren\u2019t upsetting anyone you aren\u2019t doing anything. We embrace criticism, we\u2019re ok with it. That means we are doing something that\u2019s interesting, different, and exciting. If you play it safe you\u2019re in trouble.\u201d  \u201cI tore my shoulder Junior year in college, and that was the end of that. In that moment it was realizing that you\u2019ll never do what you always thought you would do the rest of your life. I broke down and was emotional, I thought about the advice my dad gave me with staying positive, and it was tough, and at that moment I had no idea what I was gonna do. But also was the best thing that ever happened to me.\u201d \u201cI learned then that I fell in love with playing the game, but I didn\u2019t love watching the game. When you get injured and you have to sit and watch the game you realize the game wasn\u2019t as executing as when you used to play.\u201d \u201cI heard over and over again that people didn\u2019t like baseball, they didn\u2019t want to take their company to a baseball game. They all thought it was too long, too slow and too boring. After the calls, and meeting with potential fans, I realized we could no longer be a baseball team. I called the team\u2019s owner and told him we can\u2019t be a baseball team, it needs to be like a circus. Our players need to have choreographed dances, we need to have grandma beauty pageants, I need to get in the dunk tank, we need to have Salute to Underwear nights, we need to make it ridiculous.\u201d  \u201cWe stand against that boring game of baseball that so many people hate, and that we are going to try to make non-stop fun and exciting. We are standing for the fan. The fan deserves the game back. It\u2019s not just about the players, the money, the owners revenue, it\u2019s about the fan experience.\u201d   Make sure to catch the Savannah Bananas live starting on May 28, 2020 vs. the Macon Bacon! Go here to get all the info you would need about the team and my favorite team owner Jesse Cole!  https:\/\/thesavannahbananas.com\/ If you see him tell him I say hiya!   Learn how to put your company\u2019s customers into fans with Jesse\u2019s Fans First University https:\/\/fansfirstu.com\/. His model truly works, make sure you give this a look, you\u2019ll be thrilled you did!   Some Topics we talk about in this episode:    2.35 - Welcome  3:00 - The man in the yellow tux  4:25 - A shared passion for the fans first experience  5:10 - 42 page spread in entrepreneur magazine  6:00 - The spark for baseball  7:00 - A new perspective of baseball  8:00 - The injury  9:35 - That\u2019s where it all changed  11:45 - Just start! 12:05 - I fell in love with the idea of getting people excited  13:35 - The internship  14:50 - I never questioned what I am doing  15:10 - People didn\u2019t like baseball so I changed that  15:40 - We need to make the game a circus  16:55 - Our game is not a game, it\u2019s a show  17:15 - Measuring the success in moments  18:10 - The best show in sports  19:45 - Proposing marriage at the Gastonia game  21:25 - Taking over in Savannah 23:00 - We embrace criticism!  23:20 - This is who we are and it\u2019s outrageous  25:40 - What do you stand for? We stand for the fan.  26:15 - Making it interactive, against the traditionalists of baseball  28:40 - Already a waitlist for 2021 30:50 - The idea book 32:00 - We put ourselves in the customer\u2019s shoes and go undercover   33:45 - Test things and consider your next at bat  36:00 - Fans first experience workshops 36:30 - Your fans are your biggest marketers  36:45 - PFT - Perfect Fan Testimonial 40:45 - Bringing fan first to the world 42:20 - What\u2019s the leadership style of the post office?  42:50 - Hit Your Mark  43:10 - Nomar Garciaparra and Pedro Martinez 43:50 - First time booed on a podcast! 46:15 - How I want to be remembered 47:00 - Thousands of thank you letters 47:45 - Caller ID Unknown was Simon Sinek 49:30 - Play the long game, don\u2019t reach out to ask 50:40 - The human connection How to get involved   Be sure to connect with me on Social Media @MarkMoyerCoach and go to my website, www.markmoyer.com to get access to the tips and strategies that my coaching clients get directly.   If you would like to be a guest on the Make Your Mark podcast and\/or know someone else who has either been an athlete, in a role within the sports industry, or a military veteran, and have made a successful transition into a new role, I\u2019d love to hear from you! Just send me an email Mark@MarkMoyer.com and we\u2019ll discuss!   If you would like more information on how I can get you unstuck and moving forward with your transition, let\u2019s talk. We can see whether it makes sense to work directly with me, or I can give you other options, but don\u2019t let your transition wait another day, let\u2019s connect!   Be sure to subscribe and leave me a quick review on iTunes. Your reviews and ratings will help me reach more people with ways to make their mark in life, business and career!   How are YOU going to Make Your Mark today? Go get \u2018em! ","author_name":"Make Your Mark","author_url":"http:\/\/www.markmoyer.com","html":"