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?
Jesse has completely transformed how baseball fans experience the game at the ballpark, and he’s just scratched the surface!
If you stopped going to games for any reason, you have to hear this episode!
Jesse and his Bananas will make you laugh, his team will make you cheer, and you’ll have a great time watching baseball again!
This was a rollicking episode to record, laughs at every turn, and lessons learned throughout! Happy listening!
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’s customers into fans with Jesse’s Fans First University https://fansfirstu.com/. His model truly works, make sure you give this a look, you’ll 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’s 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’t 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’s 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’s 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’s 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’s 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’t 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’d love to hear from you! Just send me an email Mark@MarkMoyer.com and we’ll discuss!
If you would like more information on how I can get you unstuck and moving forward with your transition, let’s talk. We can see whether it makes sense to work directly with me, or I can give you other options, but don’t let your transition wait another day, let’s connect!