Setting Groundwork For Future Sales

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="05bfd5a3.jpg"> <div> <B>Setting Groundwork For Future Sales</B></div> <div> <B>347-LOVE-ART  (347-568-3278)   Toll Free 1-877-512-3333</B><B>    Email: </B><A HREF="mailto:mike@mikealbin.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:mike@mikealbin.com"><U><B>mike@mikealbin.com</B></U></A></div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="05cd2043.jpg"> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mike Albin.Com "><U>Mike Albin.Com </U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="wd.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Web design"><U>Web design</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="ma.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Marketing Articles"><U>Marketing Articles</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="sr.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Show Reviews"><U>Show Reviews</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="mt.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Marketing Tools"><U>Marketing Tools</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="l.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U>Links</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#777777" TEXT="#080000"> <div> One of the things I’ve noticed lately is how many artists sit away from their booths reading, listening to the radio or watching a ballgame on tv.  No interaction with the public until someone calls them over to say “hey, I’ll take this one.”  It’s the hands off approach to selling.  “I’ll sit here until someone forces me to get up.”  I also hear “you can’t sell art like you would a car or insurance, people need those things, they don’t need artwork.”  Which I will admit is true!  I’ve also learned over the years that the harder I try to sell our artwork, the less productive I actually am.  What I find works best is to sit in our booth and talk about our artwork, talk about ourselves, meet people, shake hands.  If someone does not want to buy our artwork there are very few things I can say that will make them change their minds.  I’ve stopped try to sell artwork and started selling us.    </div> <div> Sit in your booth and talk about yourself, tell your story, tell the story of your work, the story of certain pieces of your work.  Collectors of art really love to relate to the artists they collect from.  Make lots of eye contact, ask them their names and refer to them by their names while they are in your booth.  “It was great meeting you Richard, would you be interested in receiving information on my upcoming shows in your area?  Collect names for your mailing list.  Set the ground work for future sales.  You plan on coming back to either this show or other shows in this area again.  People that you meet today will come back and buy from you in the future.  You’ll be more successful the next time around.  I haven’t met one overnight success story in any of the shows we’ve done.  It takes time, the more work and effort you put into selling yourself, the faster you will become successful.  </div> <div> How many artists are in each show that work with your same medium.  You hear photographers, jewelers and painters all say the same thing.  “There are 35 other photographers in this show!”  If you are sitting in your booth making connections with people, who do you think they are going to be talking about at dinner tonight?  Who are they going to be telling their friends and neighbors about?  “We met this fabulous painter today, make sure and stop by her booth!”   </div> <div> I’ve heard a lot of artist tell me they tried talking and they still didn’t sell anything that day.  It doesn’t work that fast.  You should be in this for the long haul, you want to become more successful next year than you were this year and again even more successful the year after that.  Lay your groundwork for future sales.  How can you do this?  I’m glad you asked!!</div> <div> 1) Passing out business cards is necessary but you will get very few sales from doing this alone!  Too many people throw them away or lose them.  </div> <div> Print your story in the form of a bio and hand them out to people that are genuinely interested in your work and your story.  </div> <div> 2) Collect names for mailing lists, emails work best and are so easy to do even if you are moderately computer savvy.  Coming to a show, send out an email.  Have a new piece of work, send out an email.  Using a new technique, send out an email.  You get the idea.  Everyone on your mailing list should receive at least 3 emails per year.  Any fewer than that and you run the risk of them forgetting who the heck you are.  </div> <div> 3) Be excited about your work and enthusiastic when telling your story.  If you sound like you are bored, chances are you are boring them also!  </div> <div> 4) Keep a positive attitude, even when you are not selling.  Think of all of the possible connections you can make for sales at future shows.  Those sales will not happen next year if you fail to connect this year.  Do not judge your successes and failures by adding up your totals at the end of the day!  Add them up at the end of the year.  </div> <div> 5) If you have smaller pieces of work encourage people to pick them up, hold them.  Make them hand the piece back to you, never take it from them.  Ever wonder why jewelers always ask you to try something on and there is a mirror right there for you to see how well it looks on you.  Some people become attached to things they buy by touching them first, feeling it.</div> <div> 6) THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT TIPS.  Know when to stop talking!  After you have told your story and the story of the piece, if an interested couple is there staring at a piece or two trying to decide to buy or not.  Stand to their side or slightly behind them and wait for them to ask a question.  At this point give short, to the point answers and then return to being silent.  This also works well with people that have been in your booth for the second or third time.  Stand there looking at them and then the piece they are looking at.  This technique can often close a sale for you.  Some would say this is a form of pressuring someone to buy.  I prefer to say it’s being attentive to a customers needs.  You are going to stay there, not saying anything, waiting to answer any questions they might have.  If someone else comes in your booth while these customers are trying to decide, tell them you will be with them in a minute and focus back on your original prospective clients.  Remember, not a word from you unless you are spoken to first.  If a long period of silence takes place, the only question that should come from you is “What seems to be holding you back from taking this piece home with you today?”  Do not assume it’s the price of the piece is too expensive and they are wanting a better deal!  People can be trying to decide any number of things, where is it going to go, do the colors match, how are we going to get it home, etc.  If you offer a lower price at this point you have just cheated yourself out of whatever amount you just came down by.  </div> <div> Also stop talking after the decision to buy has been made.  If someone finally agrees to buy from you, stop selling!  This is the time to gather their personal information and stop talking about you and your work.  If you start telling them about new projects you are working on, they may decide to wait to see what those pieces will look like.  Don’t talk yourself out of a sale!  </div> <div> 7) Don’t give up on a show too early.  Look at your potential for sales at a show, not just what you sold or didn’t sell.  If two people came in a bought multiple items from you and you had a really good show, what happens next year if those two people don’t come back?  How many cards/bio did you pass out?  How many people signed up for your newsletter?  I had a conversation with an artists at a show recently that had not made any sales.  I can personally relate to this!  He said it was a terrible show and he would not return.  The one thing he said that caught my attention was he had passed out 400 business cards.  There is definitely interest in his work here.  How many of those people will come back next year to buy?  The only way to know for sure is to come back and try again.  I realize there are other factors involved, how far did he travel to get there and how much were his expenses?  I am a lot more excited to go back to a show the following year if I feel our potential for sales are good.  It always worries me if we only sell to two people and we have very few newsletter sign ups.     </div> <div> There have been several shows where we have done poorly one year and then gone back and done really well the following year.  Keep notes on how well you do plus your potential for sales at each show.</div> </td> </tr></table></body>