Showing or Selling your Art

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Do you want to sell your work or do you want show your artwork?  Pay careful attention to this question.  Let’s ask it another way.  Do you want to show your house or sell your house?  You probably want to sell your house but you’ll need to show it first.  Do want to show your used car, or sell it?

The branch manager at a local bank in St. Helena asked me if I would like to show my work at that branch. I must ask, “Have you shown art before?”  “Oh yes, for many years.”  “And how much artwork has sold?”  Her answer, “None.”

I replied,  ”Well, thank you.  I appreciate your thinking of me but my business involves selling my work.” Was I annoyed?  A little.  I was there to open a business account. But she doesn’t know me as a businesswoman yet, and she’s probably thinking that I’m a poor artist and she is trying to help.  I don’t question her intentions.

So if you’re just starting out, you may want to show it everywhere that you can and that makes sense. But if you are in business and you’re interested in profiting from the sale of your art it needs to be in front of your target audience when they are in an art-buying mode.  And that’s generally not when they are on their way to make a withdrawal or make a deposit.  So as “opportunities” arise ask if it is one that will help you to sell or show your work.

If you have excess inventory in your studio, then it’s much better to have eyeballs on it then have it stored on a shelf.  But consider if the placement of your work will reach your target market and when they are in an art buying mode.

The Power of Persistence

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The Power Persistence

Last Sunday I was sipping a hot chocolate with my man on Chestnut Street in San Francisco’s Marina district.  We were people watching, as we often do to entertain ourselves.  We frequently play “The Same Game” where we watch people walk by and remark to each other how those clustered together are “the same.”  They may have the same shoes, the same hat, the same purse, and or even the same butt.  It may sound odd but its fun and the results can be fascinating. And it proves that like attracts like.

But that’s not why I’m posting this week.  Out of the crowd on the sidewalk stood an artist who had a stack of postcards that he had hand drawn and then reproduced.  He was a clean-shaven healthy looking young man in his mid twenties.  He walked from prospect to prospect asking if they would like to buy his postcards for $2 each.  Yes $2. If they showed any interest he offered them the “deluxe” black and white booklet version that contained each image for $10.

I had to watch.  So we sat down and listened to his pitch as he engaged each target.  Eventually he wandered over to us to give us his pitch.  I listened and then admitted that I would not be buying. However, as a professional artist, marketing strategist, and business coach to artists across the globe I was very interested in his story.

His postcard drawings where quite amateur, his pitch was too close ended, and his price point was incredibly low but he shared with us that this was his full time gig.  This was how he paid the rent and put food on his table.  Do you think he was afraid of rejection?  He wasn’t a “starving” artist, he was doing his thing.  And despite his clear lack of training this guy was selling it.  He wasn’t “the same” as so many artists, so many people, reluctant to face rejection or to persist.   His persistence inspired me and I hope it inspires you.