The age of the personality cult

For some reseller businesses the best differential they have from competing businesses is the managing director, or the sales director, or the marketing director. Personalities are becoming as important as products in getting the business noticed. You'll know the firms that have realised this. They are the ones whose executives repeatedly appear in the press, regularly chair conferences or speak at seminars, and seem to have a direct hotline to the journalists.

Some individuals achieve a high profile by themselves, but most are aided by their PR agencies or in-house PROs. One thing is for sure - the world does not beat a path to anyone's door and beg them to be available for comment or speak at an upcoming conference. Anyone who has achieved that kind of presence has gone out there - or got someone else to go out there - and grabbed it.

The truth is that being a personality can be extremely lucrative - although the individual may have to be satisfied with the simple reward of seeing their name in print or hearing the applause from a conference audience.

But the profits of those businesses whose senior executives achieve a high profile as a personality or pundit increase significantly as a direct result of the exposure. The old chestnut about a picture speaking a thousand words counts for nothing next to the maxim of the nineties: An attributed quote is worth a thousand adverts.

Some high profile individuals take the business of building their profile extremely seriously. They spend hours in wine bars with journalists and frequently lunch with feature writers and freelancers.

But it is never time wasted. Unless the publicity machine in some way turns against them, which is extremely unlikely and only happens very rarely in my experience, nothing but good can come of it. It is the ultimate marketing exercise.

Every time the executive's name is mentioned or opinions are quoted, the company name is tagged along, as an essential part of the personality description. Whether the person would still have valid views without the job title is a moot point, and no matter. The bottom line is that the reseller business benefits immeasurably if at least one middle or senior executive turns into a cult figure.

Some individuals have found the experience overwhelming. Once you get on the conference circuit you can find yourself the subject of a constant stream of solicitations from research organisations, industry and professional groups, and analysts as well as journalists, eager for your views and time.

For the conference organiser it means a free speaker at an event, for the journalist it means an easy way to fill copy, and for the executive it means another opportunity to promote themselves and their business.

The best speakers, and those who are independent, can charge to appear at conferences but most appear for nothing.

And if the opportunity does not arise spontaneously, there are plenty of marketing and PR types who can promise to turn you into a media figure.

Through their contacts with the press you can find yourself transformed from a non-entity one day to a much quoted rent-a-quote the next.

You need to be a relaxed type who is naturally outspoken and who finds it easy to strike up a relationship with the notoriously cynical and rude bunch known as IT journalists. It is really not that difficult. Most journalists are continually on the lookout for fresh pundits to quote.

As more businesses realise that they have to promote and differentiate themselves in this way we are seeing a new phenomenon - reseller executives being recruited specifically for their speaking skills and contacts with the press. There is a relatively small universe of executives who are at ease with journalists and are able to chair a conference session with aplomb. They are mostly grossly overworked already and actually have little time to travel to conferences and sit in on panel discussions or sit through speeches. But their salary tags indicate both their perceived and real value to their employers.

The best spokespeople are those unafraid of censure, who can be relied upon to say something controversial without causing ructions. Conference burnout and magazine overload are making executives increasingly selective about which events and publications they read, and pundits who can be relied on to make the experience worth the effort are being courted from all sides. They may not get paid, but may be offered lavish expenses, with hotel and meal tabs picked up. And increasingly they are being offered fees by the conference organisers.

It is a healthy win-win phenomenon which benefits the individual, their employer and the reader or conference delegate. No-one suffers, except perhaps the colleagues of the individual being promoted and quoted, who find they have to do extra work to compensate for time on the telephone, at business lunches or at conferences.

Being a personality can be a full-time job but the benefit to the reseller business which employs individuals who can achieve a high profile is huge.

Annie Gurton is consultant editor of Var World.