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7 Simple Lessons Baseball Vendors Can Teach You About Running a Business Baseball vendors have more to offer than good food and cold drinks. For small business owners, baseball vendors have sage advice on how to make the sale and keep customers coming back for more.

By Mike Kappel

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Major League Baseball (MLB) is as American as apple pie. For a good half of the year, fans flock to stadiums to watch America's favorite pastime, eat peanuts and cracker jacks and sip ice-cold drinks. For small business owners, there's something else happening in the stands that often goes overlooked. Baseball food vendors, the MLB's small business sages, are fine-tuning their craft each time they make a sale.

Although MLB is known for the big names on the field, small business owners can learn a lot from the folks working in the stands. Baseball vendors selling beer and slinging peanuts are the hardest workers in the stadium. They've got a lot to teach small business owners in America.

Earning money on commission is all about hard work, knowing your product and customers and making the sale. The best baseball vendors in the stadium have turned their work into a fine-tuned science.