Upbeat crowd, exhibitors at field days
With an enforced absence of two years, brought about by its cancellation in 2020, the Central District Field Days at Feilding heralded the first event of its type for 2021.
She’s been on the job selling sites to exhibitors virtually since the event started. At the time, Riddell was selling advertising for a rural publication and saw an advert for someone to sell for the field days; she applied and got the job.
In her first year in the role she sold 230 sites and today is selling close to 600 sites.
“I basically work 11 months of the year. At the end of the field days I take a few weeks off, but I am back into serious selling just after the National Fieldays. I came from a sheep and beef farm so I know the basics of the sector.”
Riddell says about 25 exhibitors have been there since day one and she has developed a special relationship with these people.
She says a feature of her job is getting the repeat business; about 75% re-book every year. Some may pull out for various reasons, but regular visitors notice this and often these people come back again.
“The exhibitors are great people to deal with and they know and trust me. In the early days it was different but now most bookings are by email and when you have 100 new exhibitors it’s very hard to get around and meet all of them personally over three days,” she says.
She says rural people are down-to-earth and this makes all the effort worth it.
“I still enjoy it and get a buzz, whether I sell a $500 or a $3000 site,” she says.
