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Putting It into Practice
AFTER SPEAKING AT the framing gallery conference, the owner and manager of a small store hired me to consult with them on what they could be doing differently to increase their sales and engage their market. It was a stand-alone storefront in Toronto that carried beautiful pieces of art along with incredible framing services. Great store, beautiful products and services, but still they were frustrated and so I let them vent.
“People come into the gallery and most of them say they’re just looking when I ask if I can help them! Now I have to stand around while they browse and they end up leaving. Or they come into the gallery looking for bargains instead of wanting to buy the high-priced original pieces! What can we do to change that?”
The first thing I asked them to change was their mindset. They viewed most people coming into their store as interruptions, instead of someone raising a hand, expressing potential interest. Next I pointed out the LARGE NEON SIGNS in the window advertising “50% OFF!!!” as to the reason why the bargain hunters showed up.136
We sat down and categorized people who came into the gallery who were “just looking,” then we set up a system to try to “pull and stay” with each group.
People who liked a specific artist’s style. This specific gallery had a few artists who had exclusive pieces at their gallery. They were magnificent. Some of the pieces I would be interested in purchasing myself. They were the main draw that people could see from the window, if they could see around the “SALE” signs. The job now was to set something up so when they identified that desire, you could make them feel special and exclusive. We decided on a VIP list-style of program where they would approach the customer and say, “He’s an exclusive artist with us. We occasionally do private showings and parties with him for our VIP list, would you like to add your name to it?” In the first week alone, they signed up 50 people who didn’t exist before.
People who liked the idea of art, but wanted the bargain. Same idea as above. Instead of despising them for buying the low-margin, bargain-bin prints, we played off the desire by creating a sale e-newsletter. Anytime a big sale was coming up, these bargain hunters would be the first to know. Twenty-five people signed on in that first week, and hundreds in the following month.
People who were curious about art in general. This group was curious about everything from what type of pieces went with the house color scheme, to how to get into the investment side of art. These customers were handed an article about the ABCs of art collecting and care and asked if they wanted to receive a monthly newsletter with more tips and featured pieces. Two hundred people in the first month ended up on the list.
For each group, a small card was created for the person to easily fill out, asking for his or her name and e-mail address. For the exclusive list, the phone number was also requested, because the parties would be small, and it was first-come first-served.
Initially, the owner didn’t want to do any of these methods for many reasons. She didn’t want to write multiple newsletters or e-mails, and she had tried the wine-and-cheese parties before and they didn’t work.137 The owner had a lot of down time during the weekdays, so I convinced her that writing a newsletter to her potential customers was not a bad way to spend her time. She needed to position herself as an expert in art, not just a retailer. A retailer wants to sell you something, an expert advises you along the way.
When it was time to throw the exclusive artist showing party, the owner was not going to just send an e-mail asking the list to attend, she was going to send a nice invite in the mail, which was then followed up with a phone call. The invitation included all the information needed about the event, stating when the party was, and asking if the customer and a guest would like to attend. The gallery could only hold 50 people, so they were asked to commit on the phone.
The night of the party arrived, the gallery was packed, and the owner sold $60,000 worth of art. There were bidding wars and many pieces were sold that weren’t even from the main artist who was featured. Just looking? More like “possibly buying down the road.”
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