THE BODYSNATCHERS AND THE 4 PS

A particular business practice that has always fascinated me is the activity of the professional ‘body-snatcher’. You know the sort; marketing trained, intelligent, qualified and understaffed. They have booked their company into an event and now realise they need bodies to populate their stand. All marketing personnel are duly enlisted, a quick call to sales and ops, possibly logistics and technical and, “Voila!” problem solved.

Well no, actually. Problem created rather than solved. As can be seen on the latest AEO training video/DVD; ‘Make a Stand – The Secrets of Successful Exhibiting’ some people are just not cut out to man the stand. One of the pre-requisites of an effective stand person is the desire to be there in the first place.

What you have essentially is a three way split between Knowledge, Skill and Attitude. Knowledge can be imparted and skills can be practiced and learned, but attitude is considerably harder to influence.

There are typically two models of ineffective stand personnel. The first, at face value at least, appears to have the right attitude – i.e. they ‘want’ to be there. Their problem is that they want to be at the show for the wrong reasons – because it’s fun, so they get a night or two away from home, to look for a new job and a whole raft of other possible reasons. Sometimes their eagerness is less Machiavellian – they just do not know better. This is fixable through training. The other model is the version that doesn’t want to be there, and would rather, to quote Jack Dee, “covering their tongue in paper cuts and sucking lemons” than be interacting with strangers.

The body snatchers would be well advised to remember the story of the 4 Ps.

PARTICIPANTS
PASSENGERS
PROTESTORS
PRISONERS

Participants are your best recruit for manning the stand. They want to be there and they will behave appropriately to ensure you achieve your objectives. They will smile; and look genuinely pleased to meet new prospects and clients alike. They are well versed and knowledgeable – in other words professional.

Passengers, as their collective name suggests, are just along for the ride. They are there for the crack and not too serious about objectives or ambassadorial responsibilities.

Protestors are harder to identify. They are glad to be at the show (hey, it’s better than another day at the office!) and often have a hidden agenda. They potentially could sabotage the best laid plans in the quest of their own objectives.

Finally the Prisoners – they are there under duress and do not mind who knows it and are indiscriminate in whether it is the company or the clients who bear the brunt of their behaviour.

I am a realist and understand that at times we have to work with resources that are available. I also believe that rather than populate your stand with Protestors or Prisoners it is more cost effective to hire in, albeit on a temporary basis, agency staff who can work with your best people to make a success of your participation at a show.