Discussion: Are Promotional Sales Appropriate in the Art World?
Recently, I received an email from an artist announcing her “End of the Season Sale.” According to the email, this is the fifth consecutive year she has held the sale….
Utilizing the Off Season
For many of you, the deep winter is the off season. Because my gallery is located in Scottsdale, and because Arizona is so blazing hot during the summer, our art season is exactly the opposite of a lot of other art markets who do most of their business during the summer. Our traffic declines dramatically during the summer, and as a result, so do our sales.
Our summer slow-down is long too. People often ask me when our “off” season is, and I reply that it begins when the temperatures climb above 105° fahrenheit and ends when the temperature drops back below 105°. This usually corresponds with dates in mid May and mid October. This means that we have five long months without much activity in the gallery.
Cultivating your Brand as an Artist
It’s easy to see that branding is important to large corporations, but did you know that you can implement branding principles that will help you sell more of your art? So what is branding?
What is the Scariest Thing you Face as an Artist? | Overcoming Your Fears
I’m sure I’ve only scratched the surface of the fears you face as an artist, and I hope you’ll share others in the comments below. Whatever your fears are, however, the important question is how can you overcome them?
I have several suggestions from my experience as a business owner. I don’t mean to imply that fear can be easily overcome, nor that these suggestions will revolutionize your life by helping you instantly vanquish your fear.
Artists: Better Serve Your Customers by Knowing Who they Are
spend some time analyzing your past buyers to see if you can discern common traits among your buyers. Understanding who your buyer is will help you better target your art marketing efforts to reach them. If you know who your buyer is, you will be better able to place your art in galleries or other venues where your buyer can see your work. You will be better able to say the right things about your work in your artist’s statement to appeal to the buyer’s sensibilities. You will be able to price your work in a way that will fit your buyer’s budget.
Ask a Gallery Owner | Installing Artwork in a Collector’s Home
As a gallery owner or artist, you are likely to have the opportunity to deliver and install artwork in clients’ homes. In today’s session, I’ll share some insights and experiences…
Becoming a Better Art Salesperson | The Power of Silence
One of the most powerful, and yet most underused sales tools is silence. Many salespeople mistakenly think that selling is a process of talking potential customers into buying something. While establishing rapport and creating narrative are important, we often make the mistake of saying too much. I’ve listened to salespeople fill every moment of an encounter with talk, never giving the buyer a chance to commit. As your client finds an interesting piece and you move toward the close, silence can be far more powerful than talk.
Becoming a Better Art Salesperson | Are you Chasing Away Your Buyers?
Certain phrases will give art buyers just the excuse they need to abandon their purchase. Learn the phrases you should avoid when selling art.
Selling art can be a real challenge, but the moment of the sale is exhilarating. Your artwork has just been, in a way, validated. The purchaser has said to you, “I think your work is good enough that I’m willing to part with my hard-earned money to acquire it.”
For many artists, however, the sales come far too infrequently. While sales are not the only measure of success for an artist, sales not only validate the work, they allow and encourage you to create more.
Breaking the Ice – Starting Conversations with Potential Art Buyers (and anyone else who crosses your path!)
Several months ago, my wife, Carrie, and I attended a live performance of the Phantom of the Opera at Arizona State University’s Gammage Auditorium. The show was a part of…
How to Handle an Art Sale that Doesn’t Work Out
above: the artwork hanging in the client’s home I recently had a client call to ask if she and her husband could see one of the pieces featured in Xanadu…