Jesse Cole bought a struggling summer college league team in 2015 and had to sell his house to keep the lights on. Today his Savannah Bananas sell out MLB and NFL stadiums with flaming bats, pitchers on stilts, and backflip catches, and the ticket waitlist runs 3.1 million people deep. Cole opens Equip Exposition with this year's keynote, and his message translates directly to landscapers and dealers.

His mantra is simple: "Stop chasing customers, start creating fans."

How the Bananas built a phenomenon

• Fun is contagious. Cole traces the idea to his days managing the Gastonia Grizzlies, where adding entertainment took attendance from last to fourth. "When our players have fun, it's contagious: the staff has fun, the fans have fun, and the energy spreads throughout the entire stadium."
• Every second entertains. Banana Ball bans the bunt and strikes hitters out in 10 seconds, because "attention beats marketing 1,000 percent of the time." Cole's goal: no fan leaves before the end.
• Attraction over recruiting. More than 6,000 people are on the waitlist to work for the team. Cole credits being loud about the fan-first vision and asking candidates for a "future resume" instead of a past one.
• Zero traditional marketing. "Marketing is not what you say, it's what you do." The Bananas invest everything in the experience and let fans share it for them.

What that means for your business

• Become the only. Stop playing the same game as every competitor. Ask what surprise a customer could get between weekly services, until people say, "You wouldn't believe what my landscaper did for me today."
• Aim for fandom, not customers. Cole's test: would a customer ask if you have merch? "Most landscapers don't do something to create fandom. They just have customers."
• Outthink, don't outspend. The Bananas handwrite letters after every weekend series and send celebration videos when fans buy tickets. Most of it costs nothing.

Catch Cole's full keynote when it opens Equip Exposition, October 21-24 in Louisville. As he puts it, every business is in the entertainment business.