Name: Paige Farragut
Age: 42
Where I’m from: Plano, Texas
Where I call home: Dallas
Position: MLB Rangers Senior VP/ Ticket Sales & Service
Focusing on right now: Analytics is the main thing we’re focusing on right now as far as building models so we’re not wasting our time on initiatives that will not bring us any return. So we use Tableau a lot -- we just started really getting into that.
Best advice: It’s giving 100 percent to any task you’re given, no matter how passionate or not passionate you might be about it but giving everything to that position. That’s what I tell people who are interviewing and what I tell people who have been in the company for 10 years. Always look ahead and give everything you can into what’s right in front of you.
A must for a new hire: Integrity and then dedication. If people come in and have integrity and work hard, they’re going to rise to the top. ... People that come to the table with integrity, honesty and commitment to work are going to rise to the top, and you can see those people pretty quickly.
Exec I admire most: I work with our CFO, her name is KELLY FISCHER, and she’s been with the company about as long as I have, so 1999 is when we both started. We’re the only two females on our executive team here at the ballpark, and I’ve watched her. We’re in totally different worlds; she’s the finance side, I’m the sales side. But a few years ago, the Rangers went through a very tough bankruptcy and I watched her. She had to represent the former buyer, the new buyer, the banks -- and everything she went through at that time, she went through with integrity and honesty and, coming out on top.
Best book I've read this year: Two of them. I’m currently reading JOHN MAXWELL’s “360 Degree Leader.” The thing I like about that is that you can be a leader whether you’re at an entry-level job at a company and how important it is to remember all the things you did at a job to get you where you are today if you have a higher position. And you can lead people non-stop whether you’re a rep or a hospitality coordinator or executive vice president of the company. And how important it is to go back to the basics and think, ‘OK, everything you do affects somebody around you and people are watching you.’ I think people forget that sometimes. And then the other book I always go back to is MAX LUCADO’s “Traveling Light” just a feel-good, back-to-the-basics book just to keep things in perspective when you’re worrying about things at work.
First thing in the morning: I’m sitting in front of my computer all day so constantly reading SportsBusiness Journal and different Twitter feeds. Most of my stuff is done online and through MLB At Bat and the At The Ballpark app.
Talking tech: Tableau. I love by it and live by it. I can open on one screen all these dashboards on what types of sales are happening throughout the ballpark. In addition to looking at year-over-year comparisons to see if we’re seeing the same trends from a year ago as it is today, so that’s my everyday thing I stare at all day long.
Must-have music: I like most kinds of music. On the way home, smooth jazz. My all-time favorite is GEORGE STRAIT.
Food for thought: I would love to be a better cook than I am but we do lots of home meals because I want to make sure my kids are eating right. We have a place called Fernando’s that we go to every Friday with the kids. But my husband and I both cook -- but he’s better than I am. I’m trying.
How I unwind: If there’s not a Rangers game, lately I go home, grab the kids and go on a bicycle ride around the neighborhood. They’re finally old enough where we can go on bike rides. And if it’s a game night, I unwind by watching the game. We work every game and then a huge part of my job that I love is on the weekends, my kids can come out to the game. We have a lot of suite inventory here in Texas, so I can make my kids part of my day-to-day worklife on the weekends.
Day in the life: We’re very blessed with a high season-ticket holder base and that’s the foundation of everything we do. So I think as long as we’re treating our season-ticket holders well with benefits and incentives to come back -- and we always make sure they have the least expensive ticket price in the ballpark -- then we build from there. So they’re the foundation and we sell group tickets after that and layer those people in and then we also sell the individual tickets but right now we have 21,000 full-season equivalents, so we’re starting out with that. It’s a lot easier to sell when you have a great foundation, and then doing all the initiatives, giveaways and different fun things to get people out to the ballpark is how we do it.
