What does baseball, specifically the Savannah Bananas, have to do with selling office furniture and leading and building a successful, sustainable business? Well, we're going to uncover just that in another conversation today with just me and you.

Sponsor:

We'd like to thank our presenting sponsors, Avanto, services and software that streamline how you operate and The Collaborative Network, a platform where leaders in the contract interiors industry unite.

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Sid:  

Welcome back or welcome to the Trend Report, your inside look at the people, products, and ideas shaping the future of workplace design. I'm your host, Sid Meadows, and I'm glad that you've joined me for this 10-to-win episode. One idea, 10 minutes, and practical takeaways you can use today. Today, I want to talk about courage. Now, not the kind that we like to talk about in theory, but the kind that actually requires you to do something uncomfortable. And honestly, courage is one of my favorite topics. Now, the inspiration for this episode comes from the book Fans First by Jesse Cole, the founder of the Savannah Bananas. And this book was recommended to me by a friend. And whenever I get a book recommendation, I jump right in. And in this case, I listen to the book on Audible, and I just got to tell you, it is absolutely fantastic. But this isn't a sports book. This is a leadership book. And more importantly, it's a customer-first playbook disguised as a wildly successful story.

Sid:  

So let's dive into the Savannah Bananas and the courage to do business differently. It was a failing business. And instead of doing what most leaders do, which is cut costs, play it safe, copy competitors, Jesse Cole asked a very different question. What if we made this unforgettable for our fans? Not better, not more efficient, unforgettable. And friend, that question changed everything.

When you really think like, what does courage look like doing what others won't do? Jesse didn't just tweak baseball. He reimagined it. He capped the games at two hours. No bunting. And my favorite one, I think, is the fans, if they catch a foul ball, it counts as an out. The players are dancing mid-game on the field. They have walk-up songs. They're wearing yellow tuxedos instead of traditional baseball outfits. From the outside, it looked crazy. People were bad mouthing Savannah Bananas. They were ruining baseball. This is crazy. But from the inside, it was intentional.

Here's the lesson for leaders. Innovation often looks irresponsible until it works. Most businesses don't fail because they lack good ideas. They fail because they lack the courage to act on them. But Jesse's philosophy is really, really simple. If it's good for the fans, do it. If it's not, don't. So fans first to him is customer first to us. Now, let's bring this into our world, into your business, if you will. And in your business, do your customers feel like transactions or participants and partners? Are you designing experiences or just taking orders and delivering products? Are decisions made around internal convenience are customer delight. The Savannah Bananas don't ask what's normal in baseball. They ask what would make this amazing for our fans.

Sid:  

We'd like to thank our supporting silver sponsors, KiSP, who helps furniture brands visualize and sell products before specification. Navitas Credit Corp. Navitas makes great workspaces affordable, turning furniture projects into easy monthly payments. Web Configurator Services, the leader in AI-powered online product configuration and quoting.

Sid:  

The mindset applies to any industry, especially ours. But here's the uncomfortable truth. Being customer first often means challenging tradition, challenging how things have always been done. You've heard that. This is the way we do it, this is the way we've always done it. This is why we do it because we've always done it this way. We can't do that anymore. We have to challenge internal resistance. We have to look at the leaders that are old school and not thinking forward and saying, hey, we can't do this because that's not how our industry does it. I hate that term. Our industry does it this way, so that's why we have to do it. We have to look at challenging the fear of looking foolish or people perceiving that we're crazy for doing something. Jesse Cole leaned into being different. Most leaders just try to blend in. The blending in rarely builds customer loyalty. Rarely builds customer loyalty.

So here are your ten to win lessons from fans first. Stop benchmarking competitors and start obsessing over your customers. Your customers' experience beats efficiency. Courage, my friend, is a true leadership skill. Being different is risky, but forgettable is fatal. Your customers want to feel something. Small moments create amazing big loyalty. Culture shows up in experiences. Tradition should be questioned, not protected. Listening means questioning. And fans don't just buy, they belong and they share who you are and what you do because of the experience they had with you. The Savannah Bananas didn't win by playing better baseball. They won by rethinking what the game was for.

And that's the question that I'll leave you with today. What would change in your business if you truly put your customers first? Even if it meant doing things differently? Think about that for a second. What would change in your business if you truly put your customers first, even if it meant doing things differently? And that, my friend, is today's 10 to win. If this episode made you think differently, I encourage you to pick up the book Fans First and challenge yourself to look at your business through the eyes of your customers and not your competitors.

Sponsor:

We'd like to thank our community bronze sponsors, Catalyst Consulting Group, RESEAT, and Staffing Plus.

Outro:

Thanks for joining me today on the Trend Report, your inside look at the people, products, and ideas shaping the future of workplace design. Go out there and make today great, and we'll see you in the next episode. Take care, everyone.