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Joe Greeley here, with Nimlok Minnesota.

Here’s what’s on my mind: Minnesota Vikings and Booth Staffing

I know, unusual combination, but I think it will make sense here in a second. When you hear “booth staffing”, I know most of you are rolling your eyes, thinking here comes the lecture…I know it’s coming. “Don’t put your coffee in the booth!”, “Don’t sit down”, and “Please don’t be on your cell phone!”.

That’s not what I want to talk about. Quite frankly, if you don’t know these things already, and you’ve been doing shows, you probably shouldn’t be walking around the show floor without a helmet on.

What I want to talk about, is vetting your people. Are you sending the right people to the show?
Here’s where the Vikings come in. Let’s use some Vikings from years gone by – Randy Moss and John Randle. Let’s start with Randy.

Randy was an incredible player – a wonderful play maker, one of the best in the league. Randy could do a lot of things other athletes could not. However, Randy was also very, very polarizing. He did some things, he said some things, that weren’t very popular. Randy’s famous line was “I play when I want to play”. The thing that pops into my head is, “Hey Randy, hope you decide to play on Sunday, cause that’s when the game is, pal.” Randy lost the respect of his teammates, the fans, the press, the whole deal.

On the other side of the coin, you’ve got John Randle. John practiced just as hard as he played. John loved being part of the Vikings – John wanted to be here, and quite frankly the fans wanted him here.

So you look at two athletes, same team, both wonderful playmakers, but who do you want representing your company – or your team – or the face of your team? To me, the answer is pretty obvious. It’s John Randle – he’s my guy.

So here’s the thing, it’s hard to look at your people objectively because you get too close to them. It’s easy to do in any business. They’re probably great employees, however, which ones do you send?

Think of it this way. You’ve got George on your team. George is wicked smart, and he knows the product inside and out! However, you also know that George is shy as hell. He’s going to crumble in front of others, and most of the time he’s going to be hiding so he doesn’t have to interact with anybody. Probably not our guy.

On the other side of the coin, you’ve got Andrea. Andrea is witty, great problem solver, however Andrea swears like a drunken sailor and has no filter! Again, wonderful employees, I’m sure they do a great job in your business, but do you really want people like that to be the face of your business. These are just two examples.

Think of it this way – Herb Brooks once said, “I don’t want the best players, I want the right players”. I agree. You want the extroverts, the charmers, the hand-shakers — the people that will look-you-in-the-eye! People hopefully have fresh minty breath on top of it…but you want to look for the right people.

Do this — do a casting call. Do an audition. Write a script! Have people try out for a part in the show. Do they really, really want to be there? Maybe you’ll find some hidden talent, and they can sing and dance! Maybe even channel Ryan Seacrest! (God, I hope not – he’s pretty punchable…)

But here’s my point. You spent a lot of time, effort and energy getting to the show and going to the show. You want to make sure you have the right people. The exhibit is designed to get people to stop. If you have the wrong people at the show, they’re not going to engage. They’re not going to stay very long, and ultimately you’re not going to be very successful.

You also probably won’t get enough people to stop. Body language will tell you right from the get-go that these people are probably not the ones that want to be there. Your prospects and your clients are just going to walk on by.
So – that’s what’s on my mind!

Let us know how we can help. Thanks!