Booth Babes Draw Visitors to eSubcontractor

(constructionr.com- 11/9/00)

By Judy Schriener

If the Computers for Construction 2000 conference in Anaheim this week is any example, it may be the politically correct new millennium, but sex still sells. Booth babes-those shapely, in-shape, young charmers in short shorts and tight tops-were out in force on the showroom floor. From all appearances, they were highly successful at driving traffic to their temporary employers' booths.

Here is one of the better examples.

eSubcontractor Relaunches Site to Give Subs Web Sites and Intranets

The company says: First, about those booth babes. Two comely Hooters-type honeys charmed and lured men and women alike into the eSubcontractor booth near the back of the expo area. "It's just good, fun marketing," claims Thomas Lennon Jr., CEO of Atlanta-based eSubcontractor. "And it gets the subs' attention." His female event planner designed the skimpy outfits.

Lennon has eight booth babes and hunks (muscle-bound, he says) in his stable. He plans to take six to the National Association of Homebuilders show in Atlanta in February, four women and two men. "They're articulate. They know what they're talking about-we've educated them about our product," he says. He only brought two with him to the Computers for Construction show for a good reason. "Their day rates are extraordinary," he says.

About the service: eSubcontractor launched its version 2.0 of its portal site this week (www.esubcontractor.com). eSubcontractor serves both the residential and commercial construction markets. It has a searchable database of participating specialty contractors, and it strives to make life on the Web easier for its member companies (at $65 per month per member company plus $9.95 per month for each e-mail account for up to 50MB of space). Prior to this week, the site had been mostly a bulletin board site for announcements and scheduling. Now it has 500 templates for subs to create their own public Web sites, as well as their own intranets to manage many of their office functions on the Web. Lennon was even demonstrating wireless capabilities of his services.

In exchange for an equity stake in the company, Net Strategies Corp.and DigitalWebs technology in Houston has become eSubcontractor's development partner. Lennon has on the agenda to expand content, e-commerce capabilities and databases of projects and workers for hire. Within the next few weeks, he plans to announce an alliance with a commercial and residential construction-vertical construction partner to co-brand the service for 4,500 subs in the HVAC and plumbing specialties.

Currently, eSubcontractor has signed up 371 customers in the Atlanta area.

What it means to the industry: eSubcontractor is helping subs in Atlanta create a presence on the Web and intranets for themselves. Until the company can create a national presence and align itself with several credible, capable partners, this is a regional solution. The upcoming alliance with the residential and commercial construction-vertical partner should help the company expand nationally and, with the right partners, could be a simple, easy to execute solution for subcontractor companies.

Judy Schriener says: I heard about the "booth babes" from many men and women at the expo before I tracked them down. There were others representing one or two other exhibitors, one of whom reportedly said something along the lines of, "Collaboration, hmmmmm…you mean, like, you talk to each other?" The eSubcontractor babe-ladies were able to intelligently talk about their product and they were friendly to all. And the booth was nearly always packed with people actually looking at the demos, whereas some others nearby resembled mini ghost towns.

I couldn't resist taking an extensive straw vote of contractors and fellow exhibitors, many of whom I'd seen panting after the women. It was a toss-up as to whether more tongues hung out in drooling anticipation or clucked with disapproval, mock or otherwise. Comments ranged from "It's disgusting-take me there!" to "It's tacky and demeaning--they're only hurting their image in the long run" to "I wish we'd thought of that." Most of the men were amused and attracted, especially the married ones who kept adjusting their ties.

But hey, the sexy sirens' presence got me over to eSubcontractor's booth, and Lennon was a good sport about talking to me about his strategy for using them. (And yes, of course I'm jealous!)

Oh yes, and about eSubcontractor's service, I encourage anything that helps get subcontractors onto the Web. Lennon is doubling the number of templates by the end of the year to 1,000, which should give everyone plenty of choices for the look of their public Web sites. For the intranets, he has very ambitious plans for the features he wants to add, but that will require some hefty partnerships. For the moment, who partners with whom is the name of the game. It'll take more than booth babes to get that done, but Lennon knows that and is striving to finalize those partnerships.

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