Stop Chasing Customers and Start Creating Fans!

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Stop Chasing Customers and Start Creating Fans!
What does Jesse Cole, founder of Savannah
Bananas, collegiate summer baseball team based in
Savannah, Georgia have to say about building a
great business? Stop chasing customers and
start creating fans!
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Under his leadership, his team has gained
popularity for their unique fan experiences and
marketing strategies and Jesse presenting during
the Friday morning keynote at ITNation this
week. It was fun, educational, and inspirational!
He taught us the 3 core components of creating
loyal fans which in todays highly competitive
business landscape, creating fans, not just
customers, is the key to sustainable success.
1 Eliminate Friction
Look in the mirror and make that change, as
Michael Jackson famously sang in Man in the
Mirror. This principle applies to businesses
looking to grow. To start, identify and eliminate
friction pHoowintcsaninI hyoeluprycouus?tomer
experience. Imagine yourself in your customers
shoes and pinpoint what hinders their journey
with your brand and
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your competitors. For baseball, people who arent
raving fans point out that the games are long,
boring, and expensive. After Jesse himself took
the time to go through the entire process as an
attendee to many baseball games, he felt the same
pains that the other attendees did.
Its a long walk from affordable parking to the
ticket booth. Once you buy the ticket, you
realize that hotdogs are 12 and your favorite
beer is 14 dollars. Bring your kids and this
expense really adds up! Jesse then set out to
remove the friction from the experience he
standardized pricing, eliminated extraneous fees,
and shortened the game to also include fun and
entertaining players and staff.
Micro-frictions, like voicemail or invoicing
processes, can accumulate and drive customers
away. To be a friction fighter, leaders should
go through the customer experience themselves and
resolve these issues. Sometimes, doing the
unscalable (addressing unique customer concerns)
can pave the way for scalable fan-building
strategies. Creating a script to turn a negative
experience into a positive one is invaluable.
Even when things go wrong, your approach can
leave a lasting impression.
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2 Understand What Business Youre Really
In Leaders, What business are you in? What
business are you really in? These questions urge
you to think beyond your products and delve into
the realm of relationships. To create fans, you
need to make people think about you, not just as
another vendor but as a unique and trustworthy
partner.
Jesse came to understand that if attendees avoid
baseball games because they are too long and
boring, that he wasnt really in the sports
business, he was in the entertainment business.
This then allowed him to think differently about
how to execute on growing the business, i.e. his
fan base.
Differentiation is the key. Stand out from the
crowd and be willing to go through the messy
process of finding your greatness. Leaders should
empower themselves to do something different and
then inspire empower their teams to follow suit.
3 Experiment Constantly
To stand out and create fans, you must constantly
experiment. Most teams sell t-shirts and hats.
Savannah Bannanas did that too, but also created
and sold their Official Dolce Banana underwear
selling out of those consistently.
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Pete Rose and Reggie Jacksons stories underline
the importance of persistence and positivity. You
cant have the most home runs unless you have the
most at bats! Keep swinging hard, even if you
strike out, and maintain a positive attitude.
Conclusion
To sum it up, the road to creating fans involves
eliminating friction, redefining your business in
terms of relationships, and constantly
experimenting to stand out. Remember, its not
about chasing customers its about creating
loyal fans who will stick with your brand through
thick and thin. Embrace these three steps, and
youll be well on your way to building a
dedicated following that supports and promotes
your business.
Address - 238 Littleton Road Suite 206 Westford,
MA 01886 Phone no - 1 (978)-923-0040 Email Id
- sales_at_seceon.com Website - https//www.seceon.c
om/