MAGAZINE 
Contemporary Artists
Digest
--Most artists would rather cut off their right arm (... or their ear off !!!), then engage in the entrepreneurial dance that Artcity21 call "SELLING".
--For many artists, that's because trying to make a deal feels like an uncomfortable means to an end.

--But selling your art doesn't have to be forced and awkward. Artists can develop a sales cycle that fits their personality and isn't offensive to the buyer using these C's.
--Confidence, Conversation, Community.

--Confidence is imperative for success. If you want to be successful you must be willing to do things that put yourself out there as an artist and an entrepreneur.

--So on a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your confidence level as an artist?
--It may be best to rate yourself in each of the following categories and then take an average "Go Ahead, Do It Now".

--Artistic creativity and Vision. Technical ability. Marketing and Promotion. Closing the sale.

--Whatever your score is now, that's the baseline to measure your progress.

--If you are able to increase your confidence by one point in each category, what would that look like? How would it manifest when you engage your ideal customer?
--Remember, you control your confidence level.

--True confidence comes from an internal choice, not from external elements... that spin your confidence around like a weather vane in windstorm.

--Become committed to yourself and your art. Choose to be confident. People are always amazed to learn that you are not only the sales person, but the creator of the work as well.
--They are in awe twice over, so leave your fear behind - They are more intimidated by your talent than you are of selling!
--Soak up those good vibes and claim your work and your life as an entrepreneur.
--How can something as simple as conversation be an effective sales tool?
--When you come in contact with a potential customer you'll naturally engage in a relationship ritual known as courting. What you need to realize is that potential customers want to know you so that when they show your work to friends, family and colleagues, they will be able to tell your story.

--Therefore, your conversations should include your story, the essence of your brand. You will want to leave your customers with a strong idea of who you are, every time.

--Artcity21 is not suggesting that all your future conversations be scripted - conversation is an Art by itself - but we would recommend Debra's Fine's "The Fine Art of Small Talk" if you want extra help in this regard.
--Her tips will give you the edge you need to invite prospects to keep your customer happy.

--Think of your sales process as a lively conversation, at a cocktail diner, for example, not a chore - it should be fun for both you and them!

--COMMUNITY - Ever wonder why the airlines create a club rooms and special lounges for loyal customers?. -They do it to build a sense of community.
--Art buyers like to feel as if they are part of your inner circle - AND THEY SHOULD BE!
--So make them feel that way as part of your sales cycle. There are many ways to do it.

--Show your customers that they are part of your "inner circle" community through personalized invitations to openings and events.
--Have an annual function for collectors only.
--It doesn't have to be at the Ritz, why not invite them to your studio?

--Or set up a private showing. People always like to be invited to pass through the velvet ropes, like a VIP Lounge.
--Sales don't have to be difficult or tedious. If you use these tutorials you can easily create a sales process which fits your personality and your market, and encourages art buyers to purchase again and again.
--If you are like most artists, you probably live and work with artists, eat with artists, socialize with artists and recreate with artists - and likely with other fine arts professionals as well. --And when you are on your own, you probably read about artists, visit art websites, and attend art lectures, galleries, museums, and more. You are basically all Art all the time.
--And that's excellent!

--But if you want to maximize your chances for success as an artist, you've got to do more. What kind of more? You have to continually broaden your horizons, or in other words, learn how to present your Art to a progressively wider and wider variety of people in a wider and wider variety of circumstances.

--You see, the problem with the All-Art-all-the-time lifestyle is that the more inside the beltway you are, the more removed you tend to be from typical everyday people who like Art, but who may not know much about it.
--There's plenty of them out there, believe me.
--And when presented with everyday opportunities to talk about your Art with everyday people outside the Art-O-Sphere, the more you risk lapsing into pretentious Art prattle and rapidly rendering any such interested parties ... COMATOSE!
--The worst part about these casualties of incomprehension is that given ideal conditions, some of them may have turned out to be buyers.

--Think about this. Anyone who is interested enough in your Art, no matter who they are, to take time out of his or her harried life to stop and look at it, and ratchet up the scrotumnal fortitude to ask you about it, has to be considered a potential buyer - not immediately, of course, but assuming your impending interaction proceeds in ways that increasingly engage them with either you, your Art, or both.
--The TRICKY part?
--Doing this without intimidating, insulting or overwhelming them, or God forbid, frightening them away.
--This is not easy - having a casual encounter evolve into a sale - but it is possible.
--And the better you get at guiding inquiring minds through perilous intellectual thicket surrounding your Art, the greater the number of sales you will ultimately make.

--The EASY part?
--You already know how to talk about your Art with art people. No problem there. You understand each other perfectly. That's take care of.
--The HARD part is learning to talk to everybody else ( aka the other 99% of the population, pretty much all of whom like Art ).
--The SAD fact is that most artists don't have clue number one about how non-art people respond to their Art ( or how to respond back ... ).
--The DUMB fact is that many of these artists don't even care about that 99% ... and dismiss them as irrelevant.

--Perhaps they see no up side in terms of personal advancement, they enjoy the perks of elitism, they regard confusing the hell out of people as an ego wonk, or whatever.
--The one minor detail they overlook?
--Profit potential.

--You see, at some point you have to think about buyers - those blessed individuals who may actually pay money for the Art you create, each and everyone of those paydays enhancing your chances of making your living making Art.
--And the greater range of buyers you pay attention to, the greater the opportunities to expand your client base, and the greater the probability of your surviving as an artist.

--Who these people are and how little or much they know about Art makes absolutely no difference - as long as they buy.
--And since nobody buys anything they don't understand, it behoves you to acquire the skills to effectively present your Art to as wide a variety of people in as wide a variety of circumstances as possible.
--The Goal !
--Understanding how different kinds of people respond to your Art so that you can learn to respond to their response.
--THE METHODOLOGY?

--You do what's commonly called "Market Research", or put another way, you watch people respond to your Art, and most importantly, talk to people about their responses to your Art. Let us explain.

--The more you know about how your Art affects people, and about what types of information they need in order to maximally appreciate and enjoy it, the better able you are to keep those people in the game, to hold their attention, to keep them asking questions, to progressively deepen their experiences, and hopefully, to make sales or get shows or whatever else you are looking for.

--REMEMBER! - we are focusing on typical everyday people who like Art, not art people.
--You've already got art people covered.
--The most important people for you now are those you know the least about, those you have been ignoring, for whatever reasons, or those you have made assumptions about, but have never bothered to test whether those assumptions are the least bit accurate.

--How do you gather the necessary data?
--One of the best ways is to host a show or soiree or reception or party or gathering around your Art.
--Better yet, have someone host it for you. Contact people you know and ask if they will help you out, especially those outside the art world. Hopefully someone will offer or have access to a space. Then again, if you have to do it all yourself, that's fine too... as long as you do it.

--Hold your event in a non-intimidating location, like a private home or apartment, common area of a building, meeting room, specialty store, or lobby.
--Not an Art Gallery or Art Studio or place where art people hang out, but preferably some neutral area where non-art people generally feel comfortable.

--That way, they will have their guards down and be more likely to respond to what they see and to communicate their experiences. And make sure there's no pressure to buy, just to come, look, enjoy, have fun. Then again, if someone wants to buy something, go for it.

--Invite as many non-art people and as few art people as possible, also minimizing friends, family, and those who already know your Art - they won't be any help.
--In fact, they will distract you from the matter at hand.
--Encourage those you invite to invite friends they think might be interested, and for those friends to invite their friends.

--The goal is to get total strangers through the door - people who have nothing invested one way or another in either you or your Art. Save your fan base later.
--Remember, this is not about people you know; it's about people you don't know.
--Sure, you'll probably feel awkward, but that's exactly the point. You are here to learn, and in order to do that, you have to get brave and explore unexplored territories.
--You see, since most artists have no idea how typical people respond to their Art, they don't know how to speak about their Art in language those people can understand.
--Pretty much everybody likes Art, and they have all kinds of questions about it, many of those questions unrelated to any formal aspects of Art or Art History, questions like how long it takes to make, how much it weighs, how hard it is to move, what you hang it with, what it means, why you put the red circle in the corner, how long it takes to dry, and so on.

--Most importantly, people who don't know that much about Art questions you don't anticipate, some of which will be so off the wall they will take you totally by surprise, some so totally you won't have the slightest idea how to respond.

--A surprise question can only surprise you once, and once the surprise is over, it's time to craft an answer. Why? Because hardly anything is worse than saying nothing or "I don't know ".

--And this is the key - Learning to respond to all kinds of questions from all kinds of people. Experienced artists are good at this; many are so good, they make preemptive strikes on a wide variety of questions before they even get asked.

--Remember, no matter how uninformed or irrelevant certain questions may sound to you, we can assure you that they are of utmost importance to the people who ask them, and furthermore, that your answers are critical to advancing the discussion, so critical in fact that some of those answers may ultimately lead to sales.

--THE MORAL OF THE STORY?
--In order to effectively transit artland and survive as an artist, you are required to answer all kinds of questions about yourself and your Art from all kinds of people all the time - quick, credible, compelling, easy to understand, and most importantly, with respect.

--Your mission is to give people a grip, to get them involved, and once you master that, you are on your way. --The better you are at getting people confortable around your Art, the better your chances of succeeding as an artist.
--It's that simple and no more complicated.

--ADDITIONAL TIPS - Have several confederates attend your event, listen to people talk about your Art, perhaps even get involved in the conversations. Then have them report back to you when it's over.

--Whenever possible, either at your event or elsewhere, encourage people to talk with you about their responses to your Art. If they ask why, tell them their feedback helps you explain your Art in ways that anybody can understand.

--Pay attention to the most common questions people ask about your Art. These are the questions you should have the best answers for.

--No matter what people say, don't take it personally. In fact, learning not to take it personally is critical to your success as an artist.
--Remember. These are not Fine Arts professionals; they are people who like Art and who respond based on their own personal tastes. It's not always about you.

--If you can't put an event together, invite interested parties to some neutral place to look at and talk about with you about Art. Tell them what you are up to - that your goal is to explain your Art in ways anybody can understand - and encourage them to be direct in their responses.
--You are bright, talented, you've got vision, skills, ability, mindset, and all other necessary ingredients to make your mark in artland.
--In other words, you are good... real good. The right people are noticing, the right opportunities presenting themselves, and it's looking more and more like you are a contender to run the proverbial gamut.
--But you know what?
--Life can get pretty precarious out there in the realm, especially when you are on a roll and everybody is watching, which means that brushing up on the rules of engagement before you engage, becomes increasingly essential to you ultimate and hopefully destined success as an artist.
--You see, what happens when you become the "Darling du Jour" is that all of a sudden you get plagued with attention, not only from those you already know, but you also get rafts of others, overtures, invitations, galleries, and other entities you know little or nothing about.
--Sure, you may recognize some by name, but interacting with them one-on-one, up-close-and-personal ...is a whole different dealie bob, mainly because they've got agendas and you are part of them.

--So what we are going to do here is splay out some basic survival strategies in order to minimize miscues and expedite your upward mobility. Ready? Excellent !

--Rule number one, without question, is to conduct yourself in the Art world as you conduct your life in general - treat people the way you expect them to treat you. No matter how fast your career is accelerating, be polite, courteous, kind, generous, positive, respectful, attentive, and considerate - every act involving any of the qualities bodes well for your future.
--In short, apply all these lessons your parents taught you when you were young , about how to behave in public and you are 90% there. It's that simple and no more complicated.

--You see, a key aspect of career advancement is getting talked about, and when that talk happens, you want it to be positive, not negative.

--When people say your name, you want them to say it with reverence and respect. That's the best way to go by far, and it's the kind of word of mouth that works for you, not against you.
--The Art world is small, news travels fast and you want your news to be good.

--Be a nice person and work to make people like you - not everyone will, of course, but at least you know you tried.
--At the same time, you continue to believe in yourself and in your vision and being nice at the same time.
--The upside is that you increase the chances that the right people get attracted to you and support you. --Benefactors, patrons, art collectors, art galleries, people to invest in your future, people who are driven to help artists in their career.

--In a way you are like a politician. You don't want to have people around hating you. Go out of your way not to offend - consider it part of the game.
--Of course you'll have to deal with downers like jealousy and envy, but that's the way it goes.

--If you have to bend over every now and again, so what? Conciliatory actions are not the worst thing in the world, and best of all, they come back to you tenfold.

--It is in your political and financial best interests to cultivate a social persona that you can use because most people buy Art and buy into artists in social ways. Take your private life and personal feelings out of interactions as much as possible. The instant you start getting annoyed, angry, or offended, things get complicated.

--To repeat, don't take it personally, like you are compromising your artistic integrity - whatever that is - or prostituting yourself to the whims so the Status Quo.
--It's business, plain and simple, so lighten up and enjoy the ride.
   
 
   
   

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