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Do This! |
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| Current Issue: May 23, 2005 | |||
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IN
THIS ISSUE
What's Going On:
Announcements /Classes |
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WHAT'S GOING ON : : SELLING
TO THE WHOLESALE MARKET : : : : THE
ART BIZ CONNECTION : : : : Class: THE
ARTIST'S STATEMENT AND BEYOND : : : : ART
BUSINESS WORKSHOPS : : |
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DO THIS:
LEARN FROM THE SALESMEN
For the past couple of weeks, I've written about Malcolm Gladwell's seminal business book entitled The Tipping Point. If you missed those issues, let me recap:
In the book, Gladwell describes groups of people that are indispensable to getting the word out about a new product. In other words, they are the ones who generate the buzz. They "tip" the product or idea--turning it from forgettable to highly desirable. The three groups Gladwell identifies are the most powerful forces in marketing today: Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen. He uses them to describe everything from the success of Paul Revere's ride to health epidemics to the Hush Puppies shoe fad to youth suicides in Micronesia. Fascinating stuff! The first week I discussed Connectors, people who know lots of people, which you can find at http://www.artbizcoach.com/dothis/connectors.shtml Last week's newsletter was about Mavens, people who collect lots of information, and you can find it at http://www.artbizcoach.com/dothis/mavens.shtml Finally, let's talk about Salesmen! Whereas Connectors and Mavens can help you get a foot in the door, Salesmen are the persuaders. Gladwell writes, ". . . the essence of Salesmen is that, on some level, they cannot be resisted." Salesmen are positive, outgoing, energetic, enthusiastic, vivacious people. Did I say positive? The most important thing a Salesman does is to "infect" those around him or her. People naturally react to the whims of a Salesman. The best Salesmen are born with the talent. It's not something they pick up in a book or learn in a seminar. It's congenital. They love people and love sharing their thoughts and ideas with people. They don't study "sales talk," but slip into it naturally. That's why they're so effective. We can't all be Salesmen. We can't just slip into a role that was created for others. But we can learn from them. |
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| KNOW THIS | Someone has to be the persuader. | ||
| THINK ABOUT THIS | The more people you have around you, the more art you'll sell. | ||
| DO THIS |
If you don't have a good Salesman in your
life, try adopting some of their tactics.
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If you use Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox, you can forward this page to a friend by going up to your menu and, under "File," select "Send" or "Send Page." Or just copy and paste this URL into a message: http://www.artbizcoach.com/dothis |
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TIP / FIND OF THE WEEK: More on Postcards In response to last week's tip re bar coding on postcards, Kathy R. Partridge (Clinton, NY) wrote to add: "Regarding postcards . . . postal regulations say to leave the bottom 5/8" of the address side of the card clear so the PO can print their barcode there. If there is any text in that area, they will cover it with an adhesive strip and put the barcode there anyway. Also, only the mailing address can appear in the lower half of the card. If you put another address, say that of your studio (especially with a zip code) in the lower half of your message, you may find your whole mailing gets sent back to you! I've been told that the postal scanning equipment doesn't distinguish between addresses . . . the first one it comes to on the lower half of the card is where it will be sent. [Alyson notes: They're still putting stickers with bar codes on the front of some postcards. Beware.]
"I always put 'Address service requested' on my cards so the PO will notify me of address changes--for the first 6 months (I believe it is) they will forward the card to the new address and notify you of the change. After that (for the next six months), they will return the card to you with the new address printed on it for a fee of 65 cents. It is really amazing how often people move these days! Without Address Service Requested, within a couple of years, I'll bet you'd be wasting probably a quarter to a third of your postage sending mail over and over to people who aren't there anymore. In my opinion it's much more cost effective to pay the 65 cents. You can find all the postal regulations your little heart desires at http://www.usps.com. Also, http://www.modernpostcard.com has layout templates that conform to postal regulations, for all the major design software. "If you want your cards to be delivered a little sooner, bundle them all right side up, facing the same way, with rubber bands in both directions. You can drop them in the box that way. If you do this, they'll all be together and they won't have to be manually arranged for loading into the sorting machines. They'll just take the rubber bands off and pop them into the machines all at once--this may also help if you need the cards to arrive in their various destinations within a consistent date range (like in advance of an upcoming exhibition or something). "Of the postcards I've gotten back, they all look a little worse for wear. I think the sorting equipment can be pretty rough as sometimes there are small scrapes on the image. Plus, there are little colored ink marks scattered here and there and the corners are pretty beat. Oh well. "Now that I've written in, I wonder if this makes me a maven? ;-) " See Kathy's work at http://www.kathypartridge.com ARTISTS RESPOND Read last week's article at http://www.artbizcoach.com/dothis/mavens.shtml "This particular 'Do This' struck a chord with me. My sister-in-law is definitely a Maven. She never had any interest in art until she met me and now she is my most avid supporter. I would say that most of my repeat business, commissions and general sales are because of her. She loves me therefore she loves my work and wants me to make money and be successful.
"My first art fair this year will be at the end of June and she has been priming people to come AND BUY since March. When I email her pictures of my work in progress, she always forwards them to tons of people and adds comments about how interesting it was when I explained what I was doing. She is a born saleswoman and I have high hopes of good sales at my fair. I've bumped into a few of her friends and co-workers around town and they have all mentioned how anxious they are to see everything. "So, I agree, everyone should take
very special care of their Maven. Thanks for the identification. I'm going
to forward this article to my dear Maven."
"I was so happy to read Diane Ronayne's email to you about her enjoyment in being a Connector. I have turned to Diane countless times over the past 13 years and her help is invaluable. I've wondered off and on if I was overusing a friendship. Now I know I'm not!"--Marianne Konvalinka, Boise, ID http://www.greatwideopenart.com | http://www.gypsygalleryart.com Note: See the menu in the upper left of this page to view popular topics from past issues. |
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Copyright © 2005 Alyson B. Stanfield. All rights reserved. I encourage you to forward all or part of this newsletter as long as you include the above copyright information and this link: http://www.artbizcoach.com . Internet Explorer users can forward this page by selecting "File," then "Send" then "Page by E-mail." The Do This! newsletter is sent only to subscribers. You can subscribe using the instructions in the column at left. Instructions for unsubscribing and changing your email address are at the bottom of each issue delivered to your inbox. |
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ALYSON
B. STANFIELD STANFIELD ART ASSOCIATES,
INC. |