Mark E Shellshear.

The sales person who walks up the stranger and says, “Can I help you?” Mostly is told. “No, I am just looking.” If we ask the stranger a favourable question like, “How are you?” And we have a big friendly smile, most likely they may reply in kind. “Well thank you, how are you?” Now we are starting to befriend them and not sell to them, of course we will get to why they are People don’t go to galleries, Art fairs or enter your Art booth because they don’t like Art, the thing is like most Artists, they don’t like strangers. Your first priority in selling is to stop being a stranger as quickly as you can and befriend them. They much prefer to buy from someone they like. To often sales people try to close the sale before it has even opened. Befriend first, sell second.  

One of the most important tools we can use in the selling process is kindness. Be sympathetic to what the other person is saying and their ideas. Everyone wants to think they are a nice person and unselfish in their own estimation. And people want us to confirm what they think about themselves. Most people are starved of appreciation and understanding, we all want someone to listen to us, to notice us and tell us we are doing well. The best way to get people to cooperate with us is not to point out their faults and criticise them, but to appreciate them and encourage them. It takes no talent to find faults, it takes a rare person to take the time to find something to praise. Always follow the golden rule, treat others the way you want to be treated. .

Persistence is necessary but not enough. Persistence must be combined with experimentation. Doing the same thing over and over like the way we market our Art work is persistence, but if we are not selling our Art then we will need to change and experiment with how we sell our Art. We need to persist and find a better way. No results, so then try another approach. There is a way to solve your problems you just have to find it. Attract solutions by believing solutions are available and learn as much as you can on sales and marketing and be brave enough to experiment. I hear of Artists who want to give up because they just are not selling and my answer is always, find another way to sell your Art. Often the blockage is with us and how we think and our old belief systems, don’t just do what you have always done if it is not working, that is persistence, so stop, think this through, learn all you can and experiment and find another way. And of course there is always ...

If you doubt what you do and criticize what you do, you will limit your chances of success. You have to love what you do. You have to be interested in what you do. You have to do everything you can that will lead you to your success. If you criticize yourself, we will agree. If you believe in yourself, so will we. We were told as children that it was wrong to praise ourselves, it is more important that others do. But what if they don’t, I am in big trouble? I have noticed that the Artists that tell us that their Art is beautiful, wonderful using all positive adjectives seem to sell better than those who don’t. Why is that? If the Artists loves their work I probably will also, I will at least look harder at it. If the Artist says it’s not that good and they can do better, we will agree with them. Do not sell yourself short, because we will believe you. You must convince us of your amazing talent. You must be your biggest fan. You must believe in ...

Now that the corona virus is here with us the internet is becoming the main place to sell Art and everyone is scrambling to sell their Art on it. As everyone puts their Art up on social, if you want to get noticed you will have to stand out. You will have to be different. You will have to get peoples attention through your videos, by story telling your Art and writing your blog. People tell me there are no sales right now because of the corona virus. Yes, there are no sales if you are trying to sell like you did before corona. But if you are doing new, brave things because of corona, you will get sales, one Artist I work with has sold more than 100 over last few months, so there are sales on the internet. You will have to get peoples attention. You will have to experiment. You will have to innovate. You will have to stand out. Everything has changed.

As artists we will have good days paintings and bad days paintings, that is just life and we are all experiencing it, so concentrate on two things. Concentrate on painting you and what you are seeing and experiencing in your world, paint you. Take the ordinary you are experiencing and feeling and making a wonderful story out of it in paint . Then tell us why you painted it and make us part of your painting we want you to invite us into your world, so we will see the painting as you see the painting and we will understand the painting like you understand the painting. The creator should always tell us their story of the Art otherwise we might misunderstand what you are trying to say. Make us part of your world by telling us why you painted it .

Many Artists spend so much time trying to decide what is the correct price on their paintings. It becomes the subject they are always concerned about and talk about, some even become obsessed about the subject. Wouldn’t it be better to become obsessed about selling, rather than the price of your work? Be obsessed about the sale, be in the moment that someone buys your work, be observant, learn all you can, ask for their email address and get permission to send them your monthly newsletter and thank them for buying your work. The big prices will come later when you are well known, right now we want sales so be obsessed with selling your Art and getting known. You bring great value to yourself and your client when you obsess about that amazing moment when someone decides to buy your Art work. Getting sales and getting know, that is what we must be obsessed about.