Jane Binnion

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Sales Skills for Artytypes – a Q&A with Lisa Hooper of Hoopoe Prints

I have one claim to fame and that is I have been friends with the wonderful artist Lisa Hooper for a very long time. So when I was asked to run a sales skills seminar for Lancaster’s Creative Freelancers Network,  it was a great excuse to do a Q&A with her.

Lisa is the owner of Hoopoe Prints and you will have seen her work on RSPB Christmas cards.

I asked Lisa some of the most common questions that come up for people struggling with sales..

*How do you make contact with your potential customers?  I have collected data from my customers from the start with paper and online records.  I have a Mailchimp newsletter which I send out about every two months. I also have a Facebook page where I post new work and a website which is now a bit tired and which I am going to update this year.  I  advertise locally in low cost tourist booklets and I have a number of promotional cards, postcards and business cards which I leave in shops and businesses locally.
The galleries which I work with also promote my work and there is a very strong local Open Studio event which promotes participating artists throughout the year through social media and newsletters.  I also meet my customers during the Open Studio event of course.
I demonstrate at a local gallery when I have exhibitions there and I always attend Private Views. I also take part in a trade fair once a year where I can meet my customers directly.

 

*What are your thoughts / feelings about the whole sales process?  Selling is definitely an art and there is an argument for leaving it to the professionals. I can now see the difference between galleries which are good at selling my work and those who don’t bother.  The difference is phenomenal and can be down to one individual.

When selling direct it’s very important not to appear to be an idiot, or to air controversial views obviously. No one wants to own a picture by someone they don’t like.  It’s important to engage people without being pushy.  Talking about techniques and processess is a nice oblique entry point.  Always stand up and greet people.  I try to keep my trade stand looking nice.  Get the food and personal stuff out of sight, keep work topped up as it sells, don’t let your husband fall asleep ha ha.  Get help if you are demonstrating so that someone else can meet and greet and handle the sales.  As I sell through galleries and my prints are multiples I have to maintain the same outward price everywhere.  I very seldom negotiate: usually only if people are buying more than one piece or are very regular repeat customers.  I always make sure everything is perfect when it leaves and wrap stuff properly.
You also have to have good strategies when things go wrong: be nice to people who you feel are really being fussy or who change their mind.  Always remember it’s no good them having something of yours which they aren’t happy with, for whatever reason.
If I am posting I enclose promotional material with the print. I always make sure everything is priced clearly.  If I go to a gallery and my work is up without a price, that’s the end of the relationship.  The bottom line with galleries is that they have to display the price and tell you (and pay you) when they sell something. If any of those things are going wrong it’s time to get out. Having said that I strongly believe that good galleries are worth every penny of their commission and I get tired of hearing artists moaning about commission.  If you want to sit in a shop all day and pay for the chip and pin machine and curate exhibitions etc etc, fine, do it yourself!

 

*Do you feel that you are good at selling?   I think I am quite good at marketing but less good at selling.  I just have to rely on my natural instincts and common sense.

*What are your strengths and weaknesses in this area of your business?  Having worked in communications as a public servant for nine years I think I am quite good at thinking about things from point of view of the customer. Also I am a confident writer and buyer of printed materials.  Having images to adorn work is very helpful.  As an artist you can, uniquely, sell your promotional material (greetings cards for instance) which is a huge advantage.  I have sold thousands of cards, all with my contact and web address on them over the years and I have now managed to get a commercial card printer to distribute 9 of my card designs. I also do charity christmas card designs which have enormous print runs.

My weakness is that I am sometimes give a bit too much away.  Also I am very poor at face recognition bizarrely!  So that’s embarrassing when people have met you a few times and you don’t recognise them (again!). Worth working on that sort of thing. Also I struggle a bit with technology. Things like migration of e-contact lists.

 

*Have you made any mistakes in this side of the business? If so, what have you learnt from them? Selling prints by post where there is natural variation in them can be self defeating.  If they vary a lot I might send an additional photo or point out any particular issues.  Occasionally I will only sell prints framed and seen.
I have had issues with knots in frames too.  So consistency is important.
Fading and issues with glue drying out have occasionally arisen.  As above, you have to offer some sort of solution.
I had an offer once from a very major high street retailer for web sales: they wanted about 85% commission and I said no, partly because of the consistency issue but also because I didn’t feel I needed to give that much away.  Was it a mistake? No idea.  Perhaps I would have been the next Anita Klein if I’d said yes.

Very occasionally I have misquoted a price (in their favour), or failed to raise a price and had to let it go.  Better record keeping would help.

*Any other recommendations to artists on selling with confidence?  Always choose galleries with work that is at least as good as yours and avoid selling in cafes and garden centres.

Think about how you appear and act if selling direct.  Look smart, or arty if you like!  If you are selling jewellery you have to look very smart and wear it well.  I once saw someone selling fabulous soap and shampoo who had awful dry looking hair and was putting stuff out on greyish towels.  It looked terrible and was such a shame.  Always think about how you are coming across.
Think about lighting and hanging systems.
Always price work clearly and check for consistency in pricing.
Present work nicely – frames and mounts, wraps for unmounted works, nice packaging for jewelery and small items, display stands for cards and crafts. A browser for prints.
I have bird printed tablecloths (bird art is my thing) for shows and card stands so that they are not flat on the table.  Cloths also mean you can hide spare stock and your own bags etc under tables.
If your stuff looks good you will feel good about it.
Make sure you have a float.

I never bother with chip and pin but you can hire it at shows or for short events and get some good deals running them off smartphones. For some types of selling it’s essential.

images

Lisa’s thoughts on on-line selling

My stuff sells on average for about £200 – £300. I don’t have anything much for the £30 market. People buying from websites in this price range will have seen your work before and may have even met you.  Peope don’t buy £300 prints online without seeing them in the flesh.   Because I’ve always had a website which I built before I started trading I have always been easy to find.  There is no point in me going to one of the online art markets and paying a commission when my customers can find me anyway.
Issues with third party websites are commission, marketing and size.  Some are very cheap but do no marketing, others market the site well but charge almost as much as a gallery for sales, and others like Etsy are so huge you wonder how you’ll ever be seen.  Because I am very busy and am lucky enough to have picked up a couple of excellent galleries,  I have never had any need to explore any of these.  But I do sell quite a bit from my website and even facebook to people who know my work and these are useful, commission free sales.
Then there is the mechanics of online selling.  I have so far avoided chip and pin because of the overhead. I have considered renting a machine for trade fairs but again it isn’t cheap and also there are often issues with performance.  So I rely on people sending cheques and BACs transfers. ( Again I provide a very quick and reliable postal service and I let people know when things are coming and that I have received payment etc.)   The big trade fair I now attend has a cash machine now.  I am not aware of ever losing a sale over this issue but then I wouldn’t necessarily know.  I can also refer clients to galleries, one of which offers Own Art (interest free credit) and also can handle international sales for me.   I have also relied on trust at trade fairs and over 8 years I have never had a problem collecting invoiced money: although I am working in quite a nice niche market and many of my customers are known to me.  I would need to have lost two payments to be worse off than if I had hired a chip and pin machine! 
Finally I have on several occasions taken payments in installments but at no risk to me as the work is delivered at the end.  Some people like to do it that way!

So for me I think all this shows that personal contact, whether through a good gallery or directly, and good service is more important than the mechanics of the transaction. Summer-oystercatchers- Lisa Hooper

To find out more about Lisa and see her fabulous art go to www.hoopoeprints.co.uk/

If you would like Jane to work with you on your sales skills contact her at jane@janebinnion.com to discuss what you need.
To pre-order Jane’s book The Heart of Sales click here 

Jane Binnion is an ethical business trainer based in Lancashire UK. To contact Jane, email jane@janebinnion.com

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