I think that's the problem. It's very tempting to abstract gender out of the picture by talking about the vacuity of sales staff in general, but gender is involved. There is an established narrative of women as pretty but useless, and the women in question are being fit handily into that role.
Look at it this way: if you talk to enough sales guys who don't know anything, you'll write off sales guys as being useless. But if you talk to enough booth babes who don't know anything, you'll write off attractive women as being useless.
Booth babes aren't defined, like sales people are, by their goals or their training, but simply by being pretty women. That's the only function they serve, and consequently the level that they're judged at. That's the danger here, that it's not just a matter of salespeople getting a bad rep, but establishing an entire gender as useful only as eye candy at conferences.
Look at it this way: if you talk to enough sales guys who don't know anything, you'll write off sales guys as being useless. But if you talk to enough booth babes who don't know anything, you'll write off attractive women as being useless.
Booth babes aren't defined, like sales people are, by their goals or their training, but simply by being pretty women. That's the only function they serve, and consequently the level that they're judged at. That's the danger here, that it's not just a matter of salespeople getting a bad rep, but establishing an entire gender as useful only as eye candy at conferences.