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 Edited by Jessica Thomas
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.
Here are seven lessons ballpark vendors can teach small business owners.
1. Sell what you've got
When MLB vendors start their shifts at the stadium, they choose what to sell and where to sell it based on seniority. This means some vendors have pricier products and work in better locations than others.
Choosing what to sell and where to sell it means everything to a vendor earning a commission.
But missing a good product or losing out on good territory doesn't stop the pros from selling. If it's beer behind home plate or peanuts in the upper decks, the problem is the same — vendors have to sell what they've got to their customers.
No matter what you have to sell or where you sell it, potential customers are looking to make a purchase.
If you're trying to up your sales, here are a few things to try:
- Know your product and what it can offer your customers
- Brush up on your merchandising skills
- Set yourself apart from your competition with a unique value proposition
2. Know your customers and meet them where they are
A baseball vendor isn't going to sell a steak dinner to someone in the stands. They don't have a table or utensils. They're at the stadium to watch the game and eat foods that don't distract from what's happening on the field. A steak dinner simply wouldn't cut it, but popcorn, peanuts and pretzels are quick sellers.
Customer knowledge is a huge part of making the sale. If you don't already know, you need to figure out:
- Who they are
- What they buy
- Why they buy it
Getting to know your customers is simple. Talk to them. Ask them why they buy what they do and why they pass on other items. Their answers could help your store in the future.
Conduct a market analysis to drill down into the data. A market analysis will help you understand:
- The size of your target market
- What potential customers are willing to pay
- Who your competition is and what their weaknesses are
3. Keep track of what works—for you and your competition
Jose Magrass, one of the best baseball food vendors at Boston's Fenway Park, secured his status as a top seller because he kept track of what he and his competition sold.
Tracking inventory helps you know what sells and what doesn't. It also helps you know if certain products have a hot or cold period. It could be that some products are seasonal.
To simplify this process, think about using a perpetual inventory system to help track inventory automatically at your point of sale. This way, you don't have to worry about a spreadsheet or (gasp!) a piece of paper and a well-sharpened pencil.
And if you can track how your competition is doing, you might learn what works and what doesn't, and you don't have to take any risks to find out.
Related: Is It Time to Get Rid of That Disappointing Employee?
4. Plan for hard times
Baseball vendors know that sudden lousy weather or a bad game for the home team can ruin a night of sales. But it isn't enough to endure those bad times. You have to plan for them if you want to be successful.
In the ballpark, that might mean forgoing beer on a cold night and selling hot chocolate instead. For your business, that could mean several strategies depending on the problem.
If you suffer from supply chain problems, you might consider diversifying your supply chain, selling new products or trying new shipping methods.
If in-store customers have dwindled, consider ecommerce to fill in the gaps. If you're already online, you might want to use digital marketing metrics (e.g., website visitors) to see how your online store is doing.
As a general rule, creating key performance indicators for your business, like customer retention, can help you keep track of your business's health on the fly.
5. Be authentic
If you've been to Guaranteed Rate Field (previously U.S. Cellular Field) in Chicago, you might have heard the singing beer vendor there. Mark Reiner would adapt popular songs to match the moment as he poured a beer for a customer. Reiner could sound like every other vendor. Instead, he chose to add a bit of personal flare, and his customers loved it.
This doesn't mean you should (necessarily) sing to your customers. It does mean that you should create authenticity in your business and have some fun on the job. Your business has to make money, but it doesn't have to be a grind.
If you let your personality out, your customers will appreciate it and remember you next time.
Related: Baseball and Business Need Metrics to Hit a Home Run
6. Throw things with accuracy
Baseball vendors are known for their accuracy with a bag of peanuts. It's part of the fun. But before you start working on your hand-eye coordination, think about why they throw the bags of peanuts in the first place.
Peanuts sail through the air at baseball stadiums to save time (and they're easier to throw than a fully-loaded hotdog). Every small business owner in America knows there are a million and one ways to get bogged down in tasks on the job.
Here are some ways to save time in your business:
- Set hard deadlines for big and small projects
- Organize business receipts, payroll records, and other critical business records
- Streamline routine accounting and payroll responsibilities
7. Think about people before you think about your bottom line
Running a good business isn't only about making a sale. Any good MLB vendor knows that each sale is about keeping customers happy.
Offering excellent customer support is crucial to the health of your business. Simply put, keep your customers happy and they'll return the favor.
Not only do happy customers become repeat customers, but they also talk to their friends and family. Think of happy customers as free advertisements. They'll spread the good news whenever and wherever they get the chance.
Related: This Baseball Card Just Sold for an Insane Amount of Money
