Why buy that painting? #2

Most Artists believe they are validated by the sale.

If you are living by your brush and you have to sell to pay the rent, then selling becomes very important.

Selling is a skill that we can all learn, I am not advocating hard selling but the selling by connection, relationship and permission. Lets look at a sales situation in a gallery or art exhibit and we have strangers looking at your painting.

When we have a stranger looking at our painting and we are talking to them about our painting, we have to keep them focused on the work. Once they have shown interest we then need to bring their imagination into play by asking where will they be hanging the painting if they buy it? They may answer in the lounge room, then gently say, “Imagine it hanging in that room,” you are suggesting that their imagination comes into play and this is very powerful, because we often own something in our imagination before we buy.

Think about some purchases you have made maybe an I Phone, when you were going to buy it the story you were telling yourself was how it will be when you have it and all the things you can do with it. We all do this, if the person looking at your painting is not interested they will ignore your suggestion and move on.

Once you have suggested to them to imagine the painting hanging on their wall and they continue to stare at the painting, be silent just wait until they speak. If they ask any more questions answer in a positive way but do not initiate any questions, just wait. Once they seem convinced or say something positive about the painting you can assume the sale and say “ Would you like me to bubble wrap the painting?” If yes, they will then pay for it.

If no, then just keep talking about the painting and go through the process again. Often people say no the first time because they don’t want to be sold to, but just keep being excited and enthusiastic about the painting. If they leave and you have their details you got that during the connection stage, they will return and you can email them and continue building the relationship.

Selling is not what most Artists think it is, it is talking to strangers and connecting with them and then building a relationship and getting permission to sell to them, no forced selling.

We want to build relationships with these strangers for life so they become lifelong collectors, not just a one off sale. Building the relationship is very important to your longevity as and Artist.

If you depend on your brush to pay your rent then you need to learn the skill of selling.

No sale, no life, that is the reality.