06.17.16
By ATN Event Staffing
A team of creatives spend endless hours working with the client to plan the execution of the most perfect, exciting, fun promotional activation possible.
And then comes the day of the of the event: the weather is glorious, set-up went smoothly, the graphics look beautiful, all site elements are working perfectly, the venue is BUSY and everything feels and looks as it’s been planned. It’s a living dream!
But guess what happens?
Turns out as consumers start rolling by, they don’t seem to be engaging with the event. In fact, they are avoiding it altogether.
It seems you are a few brand ambassadors short because some haven’t shown. The brand ambassadors who are there “working” seem to be doing everything but. Some of them are talking to only each other, others are checking their phones, uniforms appear disheveled and essentially your not-so-bright-eyed team are using tactics to AVOID speaking to consumers.
All is not lost! There seem to be a few professionally minded brand ambassadors onsite making great efforts. But you know what they say about a few bad apples…
Unprofessional brand ambassadors in your event space, even just a few, can be so off-putting that not only are consumers NOT interacting with the brand they are now turned off because of rude, unengaged, disassociated staff members.
And this doesn’t happen with just elaborate programs. It can happen even when the activation elements are simple and the planning of such feel like a sure thing.
There are solutions you can use to avoid this problem as long as you actually put them into action.
Whether you have a strategic nationwide event staffing agency partner like ATN or you do it on your own, here are some ways to turn your staffing nightmare into a dream.
1 – Good Communication – Late night and weekend activations can make reaching account managers difficult. In order to troubleshoot and put contingency plans in place, a staffing agency must give you assurance that account managers on call at all times and allow you full access.
2 – Put the phone away!! – Certain universal codes of conduct for staff onsite should be in place BEFOREHAND and this includes a no-tolerance policy regarding phones. This sounds basic but you’d be surprised how many agencies do not address this ever-present problem. Your staffing agency should have back-up staff in place to replace those who are sent home for breaking the policy.
3 – Who’s the boss? – An event may be teamed with 5-30+ Brand Ambassadors. There are plenty of times when the end client has not assigned a manager for the event so even with perfect execution and staff, clients are often confused as to which brand ambassador to go to with any concerns. A staffing agency should clearly assign and identifying a Team Lead in advance. A Team Lead will not be the manager but the main point of contact onsite and make onsite communication a snap.
4 – More than just a pretty face – In order to choose the right people to work your event, BEFORE booking your staff, you should have access to a full complete profile with current photos/headshots and experience. Brand Ambassadors are the face of your client’s brand. Your agency should regularly contact staff members to update their profiles and present to you only those who have updated their information within the past 6 months.
5 – Teamwork – You are dropping a ton of money into event staffing services and it’s common courtesy for agency internal team/executive level members come out to see your experiential events in action. Your agency should make this effort! Never having the interest or professionalism to send an executive or management level person to your events is a big problem. An agency that has multiple offices to come visit your nationwide events is the ideal scenario.
Please contact us here to learn more about how ATN can help with your staffing solutions!
