Why pricing should be the last consideration when selecting a promotional staffing agency

Focus should be on staff quality and customer engagement rather than price!

All too often clients contact us, along with a handful of other agencies, to provide pricing on promotional staffing – my answer is always the same!

Are you sure you would like the most cost effective solution to your promotional staff needs? What does a cheap staff member look like versus someone that is driven and motivated?

Shouldn’t a brand focus primarily on the best potential match for that brand’s needs?

If you need the cheapest possible promotional staff, then unfortunately we won’t be as competitive as an agency, that pays its staff the minimum wage. We feel that to ensure the highest possible quality of promotional staff, it is vital that they are paid competitive rates and feel valued and fairly reimbursed.

What we like to focus on, is staff being proactive, engaging and driven to ensure your customers feel an emotional connection with your brand. I recently had this conversation with a company who still thought that his purchasing decision would be based on price. It just so happened that the event he was asking us to supply staff to was an exhibition that we would be attending on behalf of one of our other clients – needless to say I thought I would pop in to see how he had got on!

The promotional staff that he had employed were not able to speak English to a conversational level and they looked like they were really unhappy to be attending the show. When they did interact, they interacted with each other rather than directing potential customers to the exhibition stand! I felt like approaching the client to show him the difference between his staff and the promotional staff that we had supplied – but felt sure he would have realized for himself!

If, as a brand, you are attending any event, exhibition or activating your brand through any channel, you would have already forked out a fair amount of investment! It would be a sin not to capitalize on the time you have to interact with your customers, in the most engaging way! Focus on winning customers, rather than purely filling your exhibition stand with people!

On the other hand, I would like to invite any clients to come and work as part of the team to understand how difficult promotional work can be, but how rewarding talking to your customers can be!