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August 22nd, 2014 - 08:58 AM
by Carolyn Edlund
Frustrated by all those potential art sales you didn’t make? Here’s why they slipped through your fingers.
The average art sale isn’t made on the spur of the moment, on impulse or by one visit to an art website. Making a sale is quite frequently a matter of building trust, and that means staying in touch. It takes multiple contacts to even be remembered by potential collectors, and more to make sales of your work.
“I guess I’m not really all that good at follow up,” an artist confessed recently, explaining why he hadn’t sold all the work he wanted to sell. He was most likely right in his assumption, but he’s not alone.
Most professional salespeople aren’t that good at follow up either, and they are selling for a living! This revealing survey asked salespeople why they didn’t follow up with leads. The biggest reason? Fear of rejection.
And this study explains that 44% of salespeople give up after hearing “no” only once, even though it takes approximately five contacts to land a sale. In fact, only 2% of sales are made on the first meeting.
So if you are feeling badly about not getting back in touch with people who have an interest in your work, you have lot of company. But that doesn’t change the fact that you are leaving a lot of sales on the table if you don’t make a point to contact people who should be collectors of your art.
Comments
Carolyn Edlund
9 Years Ago
Cape Haze, FL
Thanks everyone for your feedback and the benefit of your own experiences. The bottom line is that you must stay in touch with people who have expressed interest. I've often bought a piece of art after thinking about it for a while, or knowing the artist, or having been a fan and finally making that buying decision. The time isn't always right for making a purchase. But it's never wrong to follow up with people who have shown interest - quite often you have a good shot at making a sale.