How to Hire the BEST Booth Hostesses
Ever wondered how you can hire booth hostesses who offer a responsive, intelligent and agile service at an event? Look no further because we are laying bare the secrets to hiring the best hostesses.
Hostesses – a word for a by-gone era?
Hang on, we hear your cry, aren’t hostesses from a bygone era, the sexist bit of our history?
We hear you. We’ve written on this before, around the time that darts championships banned walk-on girls and there was a general uproar about grid girls.
And so the word hostesses also took a hit. In America, booth hostess were/are sometimes known as ‘booth babes’. Sometimes ‘scantily clad’ and clearly meant to be sexy and enticing. These women were seen as ‘dumb blondes’ with no more of a role than simply attracting eyeballs to the booth.
All kinds of brands and organisations took to the high ground. They banned ‘booth babes’ from their events. It was said that they didn’t contribute anything. Such as generating leads, some people fond them intimidating and others were embarrassed.
Let’s be clear – the booth hostesses are not the ‘booth babes’ talked about above. A professional booth hostess is one who has the skills, the abilities and the intelligence to offer a valuable service that many of our clients want and need.
What professional booth hostesses offer?
• Manage the booth – they can provide a range of services on the day, including managing the booth, making sure it is neat, tidy and attractive to delegates.
• Specific events – many of our clients host events for event VIPs and other invited guests so that they can introduce a service or product to them. This event may include food and drink. This needs preparing and offered to attendees. In other words, the event needs hosting so that your guests are made to feel important and looked after. This impression is an important contribution to the success of an event.
• Skills – from holding food hygiene certificates to other skills and qualifications, sometimes the booth hostess is the person with the skills that ensure the success of an event.
• Interaction and leads – hostesses can also be more than silent staff swirling around with canapes. They are trained promotional staff who understand the qualifying filter for leads. They know how to engage in conversation, gather information as well as making sure that all the information people receive in ‘on brand’.
What’s in a name?
Sometimes, we get so hooked up on names and titles that we miss what the people are all about. Every marketing expert knows that people buy from people and so when you have a team of pleasant and skilled hostesses making the most of an event and chatting warmly with guests and trade show attendees, you are leaving every guest with the right impression.
Hiring the best booth hostesses means understanding how they fit with the marketing strategy for the trade show or event. It also means making sure that you ask for hostesses who have the key skill set you need. This will ensure the success of the event whether that is catered launch event or a trade show booth at a national event.
