Jesse Cole

hey batter batter

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Baseball isn’t trendy.

It’s culture.

😤

And you can’t change culture. Unless your name is Jesse Cole. And your industry isn’t baseball. It’s entertainment?

The year is 2015.

And Jesse owns a sh*tty minor league baseball team. With no budget. No fans. And no hope. (I’m drama, get over it). It’s actually an advantage.

Jesse has nothing to lose.*

And nobody likes baseball. ;)

You go to one game. You have a Dodger Dog. And you think about the $83 spent on beer and parking and merch. (I love baseball, but you know what I mean).

Okay.

Jesse doesn’t work for the Dodgers. He owns a team in Savannah. Which he renames… to the Savannah Bananas.

Naturally, people hate it (No sh*t…The Bananas???).

But hey.

It gets their attention. And it brings us to the Jesse Cole friction audit.

Ask yourself. What do customers HATE. Then build accordingly.

People hate hidden fees. Long lines. Boring games.

Map out the customer journey.

Jesse creates the first all-inclusive baseball ticket ($15, go wild).

It fails hard, fails fast. That’s because. People spend most of the game waiting in line. Sure. Some people will abuse the system. But most people aren’t the Joey Chestnuts. They can’t house 12 dogs.

Lines become manageable once Jesse puts drinks first, food second (harder to hold).

He goes from selling two tickets in three months.

To selling out, BABY. Game after game.

Okay.

Marketing funnels have it all wrong.

Sure. You can track the success of a marketing campaign (lead to opp to sell). But nobody wakes up and says - hey I hope I get five brand emails today.

The Bananas are entertaining.

And it’s why they’re the most followed sports team on TikTok (3 million followers).

We don’t even know we’re being marketed to.^

Players DANCE between innings. They pass out flyers. And they do the t-shirt toss. What’s crazier - Players wanna dance between innings, pass out flyers, and do the t-shirt toss.

Jesse knows.

That you can’t be everything. People don’t remember everything. They remember three things. And those three traits are your personal brand.

For Jesse.

He’s fun, fast, and entertaining.

And those traits also encapsulate his team brand.

Players recruit other players. And most full-time employees start as interns. (Like their drone guy. Who shot “Can’t Stop the Peeling.” Which went viral on FB in 2016, a good precursor to TikTok).

I LOVE SYSTEMS THAT REMOVE FRICTION.

And Jesse learns most from people outside of his industry.

He’s obsessed with a lot of dead guys (like Walt Disney). And some alive ones (like Jeff Bezos). (He learned about the all-inclusive ticket from cruise ships).

At the macro level, fans choose their pitcher. And Banana Ball has a two hour time limit (now no one leaves the game early). At the micro level, The Bananas leave a rap voicemail, reminding fans to pay their invoice.

Okay.

Jesse didn’t start with the Bananas. He started as the General Manager for the Gastonia Grizzlies. (He didn’t think about the longevity of his people or their culture. And it’s why the Grizzlies are no longer a team).

Remember. It’s really hard to change culture. Read books. Listen to podcasts. Obsess over dead guys.

So take one from Jesse Cole. Starting a business starts with your people.

And that’s the skinny.

*BTW. Nothing to lose is a mindset. We like to do things that “look” good. Starting a business sucks. It’s humiliating. But for entrepreneurs (optimists), the risk is worth the reward.

Jesse and his wife lost their dream house when they first bought The Bananas. (And fans wanted Jesse gone when he changed the team’s name to a banana).

LOOK AT THEM NOW.