How Do I Convert Shoppers to Buyers at My Art Exhibits
One of the most important things you can do is to show up early, stay late, and use your time during the exhibit to locate and target potential buyers of your work. I know this sounds so basic, but you would be surprised to learn how many artists just believe the work sells itself when people see it and fall in love with it. Some even get bored with going to their own art openings and don't even bother showing up! So put your good clothes on and get out there. Now that you are out there, what comes next? I like to tell people it is 50% painting and 50% marketing to move what I painted out the door. You need to identify your prospects and categorize them. There are four basic personality profiles that you will find when examining your audience:
1) Analytical - These folks are predominantly less assertive than most, show high organization skills, typically don't like being in charge and are slow to make decisions. They are the ideal worker bees and are reliable people. These people can eventually become your clients, but probably not on the first or second exposure to your work. Definitely nudge them for a second appointment or invite them to your next event.
2) Pragmatic- These are the "take charge manager" types that are thrilled to make quick decisions. These can be your best buying targets with referral resources once they become your patrons. They can decide within 4 seconds that they must have that painting to hang over a particular wall to go with the light they bought last week. They are already seeing the art in their home before even writing you the check. It is up to you to grab their attention, (being certain that they notice your art in the first place) and thusly move them with your unique art as narrated by you when you artfully discuss the meaning of your work and ask if they will need the piece delivered to their home or office. Make sure to thank them for and congratulate them on their purchase. Throwing in an unexpected item like a pencil sketch that you have matted in a matching color will give you the "wow factor" enough to be spoken about when people see your art in this patron's home or office in the future.
3) Amiable- Although they can be fun and friendly, this group is suspicious of fast decision-making, they typically have unlisted numbers, (although that could apply to so many of us these days) they set up barriers to protect themselves and have low organizational skills, coupled with a tendency to be governed by their emotions. Learn how to tap into their emotional triggers though, and you may be on your way to a nice sale while making a friend at the same time.
4) Extrovert- Typically, the extrovert - governed by a short attention span, has business inefficiency down to a science, although surprisingly has a low organizational skill set and will lean toward emotion-based decision-making as well. You may find this one flitting all about acting like she is going to buy three different paintings, yet she is seen running off within minutes because she got a call during the exhibit from someone she was trying to reach for ages. Please don't take it personally, just chock it up to her short attention span. Make a point of talking quickly and getting to the matter at hand the next time you see her. If you can close your deal with her before the next surge of activity, you can convert this shopper to a buyer.
Clearly, if you are thinking of particular people you know and attempting to categorize them, you see there is room for overlap of a couple of categories at a time, and just a signature predominant side (like being right-handed) that sticks out more than the other. For example, you may have a pragmatic analyst type of person that is very organized but is frequently slow to make decisions and has been known to leave the final decision-making to others when the chips are down. These can easily be half the people that you know.
There is one thing that all of these people have in common though. They are in your audience, they have ways to become converted from shoppers to buyers and it is your job to apply your skill set to that mission and uncover their individual need sets to determine the best way to close a deal with them.
Let's assume for the moment that you have greeted a pragmatic analyst type we will call Lucy, and she knows that you are the artist that created the piece that she is standing in front of admiring at a local art opening. Ask Lucy a probative question to draw her out and get her to speak about herself. Everyone knows you are the artist and can create but right now we are interested in finding out what makes Lucy tick. You discover her mother left several estate pieces to her recently (an Asian collection of fantastic kimonos, swords, red satin embroidered pillows, pearl inlaid bureaus with ornate handles and trim and priceless porcelain vases). Lucy needs to redecorate immediately to find a way to incorporate her mother's belongings with her own. You offer to come to her home with fabric swatches, a portfolio of prints you have available for sale, a couple of the pieces she likes from this exhibit, and some good lights to see everything by the following week. Just reassure Lucy it is like trying the dress on before you buy it, and let her know how important it is that the art be exhibited in the right surroundings with the proper lighting and color accents.
Of course, now that you are the artist and expert, it is clear that you need to assist in the color integration of her belongings with your art, which relies strongly upon lighting. This light -both natural and artificial - which can only be observed if you go there and see for yourself and photograph it, is of great importance. How your work is illuminated is an important feature. Show her by turning the exhibit light off and on what a difference it makes in the colors and interpretation of the piece. You may need to have an assortment of light kits for her to choose from when you see her next time. Buy the lights using your own money or credit and give her the receipt or better yet offer to make her an invoice which includes the lighting as well as your art. Make sure to use LED bulbs so your lights are energy efficient and do not get hot or interfere with the longevity of the work from incorrect exposure. I am very lucky to have a brilliant friend who saw my need and developed a light set just for me and my art and now successfully provides the product on the internet for other artists to own as well. You can find that out by following the links on my page here or just email me and I will let you know how to get a multi-tasking LED light kit for your next exhibit or home.
Now you have gone from having a lookie-loo shopper to getting a great patron with potential for about 6 sales. You can sell her two pieces from the exhibit, three of the nine giclee prints you brought to Lucy's house to see how they look, and a light kit which you conveniently bring along to demonstrate the importance of using properly. It would be a wise idea to perhaps offer her a discount on the giclee prints for her volume purchase. Her rooms are decorated, she did not have to pay $8000 to a decorator, and with the money she saved, she bought more of your work and had enough to go on a ski trip with her boyfriend to Vermont. It is a win-win scenario for you both. Of course it took more time to close six sales than one, but it was worth it. Right? Please stay in touch with Lucy, make sure you invite her to all of your exhibits and ask her to bring her friends with her so you can do it all over again. Obviously, she is now on your email list as well. Are there any questions? Blog me.
Penfield Hondros
Links: painter-penfield@blogspot.com
https://sites.google.com/site/painterpenfieldsplace
Penfield Hondros is an artist from the Tampa Bay area of Florida. She has extensive experience with solo and group exhibits, displaying, lighting and marketing art locally, regionally and internationally and she can probably help you figure out what you need to do next to stay on top of it all.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Penfield_Hondros
Tile Fact
Everyone who has some major redesigning ideas for their kitchen or bath
has a secret desire to know what OTHER people are doing. Even if they
do not have any intention of imitating or copying others' ideas, they
still want to believe their ideas are not too far out.
The last
couple years have been exciting for hand-painted tile. The overwhelming
trend for kitchen and bathroom tile murals has been tropical fish. In
multi-tile scenes with their natural environment of corals and rocks,
and in single accent tiles to scatter around the room for effect, more
people chose fish as their design theme than any other subject.
One
reason for the popularity of tropical fish as a design theme, I
believe, is because there is such a huge variety of colors that any
preconceived color scheme can be accommodated with some or other
species, no matter what. Even if blue/green is the main color, the fish
can float in their natural color background with no distracting rocks
or brightly colored corals.
Another reason could be because the
idea for hand-painted tiles to beautifully accent a room's decor often
comes, in typical human fashion, AFTER the basic colors have already
been chosen. What theme has so many colors to match with as tropical
fish?
They are also great as an abstract theme as well. They
are as wonderful in a whimsical, cartoonish style as they are in a
realistic style. Kids love the fun ones in their tub and shower walls.
Adults seem to like the more somber, darker colored abstracts, such as
the copper-colored weather-vane look, with a greenish patina, an awesome
mural in the kitchen!
Silhouettes are popular too. Many fish
species have a distinct profile that is easily recognizable in
silhouette. Use varying colors and the effect is marvelous!
Interspersed with silhouettes of other sea items like coral, shells, and
other nautical items, and you have a one-of-a-kind art theme in your
own special space.
Believe it or not, even dead fish, done in a
realistic style, can be painted to look excellent, rather like the way
they look laid out in a market bin. It has a "French poster" look to it
that goes very well in some country-style decors. Of course, this
style works best with food fish, as opposed to tropical fish species.
There
really is no end to the marvelous themes and schemes that can be
created using fish as a basic motif, whether food, game or tropical
fish are used. Work with a tile artist who is open to all your ideas
and she will create a magical space that will be tireless and timeless.
I believe that with so many people catching on to the fish
theme, this will be the hottest trend for years to come. Especially
within all-white tile walls, the bright colors set off anything and
everything you wish to accesorize, and these things can be changed every
year and your tile will always have a color within that matches.
Dy Witt
You can make Green art from recycled materials
I keep reading through these hub posts and see very little on current art forms and what people are making from already used things. I have a background as a ceramist and a painter, and as such, naturally, I lean toward textural work. Have you ever wondered what happens to all of that laundry lint you pull from your dryer every day? Hold on to your cape Batman! Well, you may just see some of it in and on one of my paintings. I’m serious.
A couple of years ago I went to a Green Homes exhibition and was
inspired by someone who paints on hubcaps. Later, I joined a painting
group (see Spin D’Arte on Face book) and began painting on pieces of
metal that had been salvaged from old cars. Oh the smooth glistening
textures are far and away different from painting on canvas. Once the piece is top-coated it can be left for eternity to
decorate an outdoor patio. I’ll bet you can’t do that with your sissy
oil painting! One of my favorite pieces is painted on a piece of red
metal from the door of a ’69 Mustang. One of my recently sold pieces
(“Brown Eyed Girl” see photo below) was painted on an 18 by 10 inch
piece of a white car hood.
So, I really did use the dryer lint.
I added it to the pigment mixture on the piece entitled “Water Flower 27” (as shown above). What do you think? I put it into an antique frame with a matte of antique beige silk (both of which I bought at The Salvation Army for $2.99 when I gutted an old ugly framed and matted picture I bought). I am doing a series of pieces using recycled materials and plan to exhibit it all together in the future. I became so disgusted with the ugly tote bags that the grocery stores want $2 apiece for that I got a Zazzle store and put some of my art on some tote bags and sneakers to make a fashion statement out of being green. I ordered 5 of them and am giving them away as gifts to get folks to keep thinking “green.” You can find that on my blog page and get creative with your own images if you like.
Lately, I have become obsessed with cigar boxes. There are so many of these beautiful ornate boxes that the tobacco stores often throw away or give away – especially in Tampa. I began doing painting and decoupage on the more plain ones. I even made a couple of pretty neat purses for gifts. I also paint and decoupage nut tins and coffee tins. Why throw it away when you can fill it full of coffee, sugar and tea bags and it looks better than the day you bought it? The decoupage is a great way of recycling all of those old magazines I had trouble throwing out or getting to the recycling center with.
Penfield Hondros
How to Brighten Any Decor with Hand-Painted Ceramic Tile
At one time, ceramic art
tile was only for the wealthy. No more. Today, for the same price as you will pay for manufactured cast resin, imitation marble or other polymer, you can have one-of-a-kind hand painted ceramic art tiles, made by an American
artist who is willing to work with your ideas
and concepts.
| We all have a favorite old pattern or print, maybe Grandma's stitching or an old tapestry. Everything eventually wears out and must be discarded. Except ceramic. Have it painted on tile and installed for all time. Framed paintings do not do well in steamy
bathrooms or near greasy cookstoves, gathering dust and needing cleaning way too often. A tapestry or rug painted on tile will hang beautifully inlaid into any wall. In the hall Dy Witt
|
Dear readers of La Jolie Vie!
Originally I'm a published writer located in Southern Germany, specializing in science fiction, essay ism, radio plays, poetry and young
adult fiction. Around the same time I foraged into journalism (anything
really, apart from sports), I discovered digital photography. From 2003
on, photography became ever more important to me - and finally I've
mustered the courage to try and sell my photos online. Being new to Fine
Art America, I'd like to introduce readers of La Jolie Vie to three of
my finest shots.
The clock of my dreams running backwards:
http://bit.ly/gvcIkL
The museum of garmentology II:
http://bit.ly/hEI4x4
Proceed immediately to ypur departure gate 2.5:
http://bit.ly/eGAadw
The whole of my FAA-portfolio can be found under
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/marcus-hammerschmitt.html
And my largest online protfolio can be checked out at JPGmag:
http://jpgmag.com/people/MH2
See you!
Marcus Hammerschmitt
It's Time to Play
Do you keep a sketchbook? Not the serious one that sits over in the corner of your studio under a pile of papers. I mean a sketchbook separate and away from that one. One that is a source of fun and play, an escape from your serious work. A sketchbook which says, "draw whatever you want", "take the opportunity to be lighthearted and explore". Rob Colvin Click here to see Rob's Artwork |
Print on Canvas - The worth of your Investment
A print on canvas product is mainly better than a common picture printed on the ordinary photo paper. For further information, a print on canvas print is considered to be the most durable kind of artwork that could be a memory for a long period of time. With the aid of the latest technology, the end product of the canvas is more likely similar to the original image and will look natural with the presence of a high quality ink. One more advantage of the canvas is its size. The ordinary photograph has limitations in the range of sizes and they're just worthy to be put in the album. The size of the canvas is obviously bigger and it could range from two to three square meters or more. There are some clients who used to instruct the artist to make a personalized huge canvas to cover up the entire area of the wall in their private room.
Agree or not, we are also worried about the type of gift we'll give to our special someone. We may be thinking of the expensive jewelries and luxury items just to please the recipient or the receiver. But, if you really want something unique and special, why not ask for his photo and bring it to a digital print on canvas company to get a very elegant canvas? Surely, he will appreciate your creativity and effort for giving a personalized item that is worthy to be treasured.
Your Business Partner | Interior Decoration |