The Rockwood Files

Eight people you meet

Psychology behind booth business

I spent two days last week working a booth. It's something my business partner and I do a couple times each year to promote our company and meet readers in real life instead of just online. This was our ninth year of annual booth meet-and-greets.

Last weekend, the booth was one of more than 140 booths at a holiday shopping event, and there were nearly 10,000 people in attendance. Our booth had a big door prize on display, so we stayed busy as people threw their names into the drawing.

But nine years of manning the booth has taught us something interesting about human nature, so we jotted down this list, titled "The Eight People You Meet While Working a Booth." Which one are you?

The "Something's Fishy" Face. These are the people who don't stop by the booth to find out what it's about. Instead they'll keep a safe distance and squint suspiciously in your direction, with an expression that looks the same as if you'd smelled week-old tuna fish left in the sun. My business partner calls it the "What-you-talkin'-'bout-Willis" face, which is my favorite television reference from the 1980s and a perfect description for this type of leery booth avoider.

The "Let Me Tell You Everything" Chatter. The opposite of the people described above, these shoppers are more than happy to stop and talk for a while -- or an hour. And even though we just met them, they'll offer up an incredible amount of personal information with us, including why they decided to have the mole removed last week.

The "Avoid All Contact" Walker. I will fully admit that, before I had to work a booth myself, I probably fell into this category. If I didn't want to stop at a booth, I'd just avoid looking in that direction and pretend not to see it, so as to avoid any interaction with the people standing there. I now know that avoiding eye contact is oh-so-noticeable to the people behind the booth.

The "Show Me Your Freebies" Shopper. Unlike Type No. 3, these people are more than happy to make eye contact and talk a bit -- as long as there's a good freebie in it for them. Got candy? They'll take a few pieces now and then a few for the road. And they're more than happy to rummage around to the bottom of the bowl until they find the piece they want.

The Grumpies. The description speaks for itself. For no apparent reason, these people aren't happy, and no amount of pleasant chit-chat is going to turn that intense frown upside down.

The "I'm-Nice-But-Please-Don't-Sell-Me-Something" Face. I sympathize with these shoppers because they're completely willing to make eye contact and they want more than anything to be nice, but they really don't want to hear a sales pitch and then have to find an awkward way out of it. We've all been there.

The deja vu Browser. At trade shows, craft fairs or any type of event with booths, people tend to mill around and pass by the same booth multiple times. For the people working the booth, the test is to try to remember to which people you've already said hello, so you don't act like they're brand new visitors when they come back around again. After several hours in the booth, all people start to look the same.

The Warm and Friendlies. By far, these are the best people to meet while working a booth. Not only are they warm and friendly, they're not terrified that you'll try to sell them something and they seem genuinely interested in what you're there to do -- even if it's just to say hello and pass out candy and notepads. Every trade show, craft fair and business expo needs more "Warm and Friendlies."

So there you have it -- the eight people you'll meet while working a booth. Use the list to see how many of each type come by on any given day or identify a new type or two. And if life takes you to a booth event as a visitor, be a "Warm and Friendly." Those booth workers need you.

NAN Our Town on 11/30/2017

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