Too busy, too plain and too many

Last weekend I was at the Queen West Art Crawl, as a vendor, but also as a spectator of other booths and shoppers. Here are 3 of my main observations:

1. Although it is good marketing practice to collect contact information from potential buyers (via emails lists, mailing lists, etc), it shouldn't get in the way of the reason people are at the show. If you have a book for mailing lists, a guest book for comments, brochures for future shows, your business cards, a portfolio, all of these things cloud your art. They are actually competing with the real reason you're there - your art. By the time your potential customer has picked up a card, a brochure, signed even 1 of your 2 books and made polite conversation with you, they are too tired to look at your art. So be careful, have enough stuff to engage them, but don't make it too busy.

2. White space is important, but it can also be intimidating. If your booth looks too neat, too empty, customers are afraid to enter. Really. They think 'I shouldn't touch', or 'If there's only 3 things they must be really expensive" or "if there's only 3 things, they must be the 3 things that no one else wanted. Another draw back to the plain booth, is that people buy art from artists for a story (as I've mentioned before) and a plain booth doesn't tell a story. It doesn't say who you are. So you have be somewhere between too busy and too plain.

3. Throughout the show I had some friends visit - which I loved and needed for a bit of a break from polite talk and they even brought coffee. But I did notice that customers didn't ask questions or buy when I seemed 'too busy'. I also noticed that a booth just across from me had 3 girls 'working' the booth. One was the artist and 2 others were her supports. Great for the artist - minus the sales. People already feel intimidating entering tents, then add more people watching them makes it even harder. So when possible, leave your booth to visit with friends (leave in the care of someone while you leave though) or need a break. Don't make your tent the one with too many.

Rain Rain come today

Not usually the chant you would think of when heading off to an art show, but rain can sometimes be helpful for things other than our gardens. It can even be helpful for an outdoor art show - really it can.

This entry took me a few days since getting back from my last show, in the rain. Since Monday I have been hanging up my tent, my table cloths, my curtains and cards to dry. This is definitely not the fun or productive part of a show in the rain.

The productive part is that there's less window shoppers out on a rainy day. Which means that only the die-hards, ready to spend consumers venture out in the rain. So right off the bat, you have to work less to sell more. And on top of that, you don't lose those customers to 1. getting lost 2. getting tired 3. changing their mind. On a sunny day at an art show, shoppers will find something they like, but say 'I will buy it on the way out', or 'I will come back once I've found my friends'. And then they are gone forever (lost, tired, or changed their mind). In the rain, people are more impulsive, if they like it they will buy because they don't want to have to come back if they decide later they really want it.

So, yes in general, rainy days aren't that fun, but my experience shows that rainy days aren't that bad for sales, at least for the amount of work we have to do on those days.

Ok - time to fold the drying tent and pack it up for a rainy weekend show in London!

A Graceful Exit

Have you ever noticed that art galleries can seem intimidating? How about the stores that have a greeter at the door - does that intimidate you? A few years ago, a friend mentioned to me the idea of giving out Artist Directories as a way to gracefully let her non-customers out the door. And you know what? The construction on Princess / Ontario has done that for our Kollaboration show. At first I wasn't happy about this and then I remembered what it felt like to enter an intimidating gallery.

Providing a way for non-buyers to feel welcome to come and welcome to leave too is important so they will come back again when they are ready (or not ready) to buy. Giving them a way to gracefully decline makes them and you feel better; no uncomfortable moment. Whether you do it by handing them information for something else they may be interested in, sending an open invitation with no obligation, or even prompting an excuse for them (the weather, the construction), the KARMA in this has got to be good.

And with that said, NGB has our Mother's Day Open House this Sunday, so come on by, although it may be snowing... :-)

Tips on Etsy

Early in March I participated in a set of workshops about selling on Etsy. Dianne from DiBAjewellery facilitated the advanced workshop and here are some great tips and ideas that I picked up from her session (some directly from her and others from general discussion).

1. Have an Etsy anniversary event
2. Could what you sell also fit under supply?
3. Update it frequently (throughout the day if possible)
4. Bulk up your shop - lots of inventory gives the appearance of being serious
5. Have various price points available to inspire easy sales
6. Photography is key - it's all the customer has to go on, so make it good. Use all 5 slots, all angles including the back
7. Use full descriptions with lots of detail including both imperial and metric measurements
8. Put your location in your profile
9. Use all 14 tags - ideas for tags include 'international', 'gift', colour, full name
10. Create treasury's
11. Participate in Etsy - forums, blog, labs
12. Detail your policies - ie do your items come from a smoke-free or animal-free environment?
13. Use the announcement section
14. Tools to try www.etsyhacks.com and www.craftopolis.com.

Thanks Dianne for all the great tips!

Tooting my horn!

I got a huge wholesale order today - from a gallery in California. Yeah!

I surpased 100 followers on twitter yesterday. Yeah!

I sold a pair of earrings within 30 minutes of posting them to my etsy page. Yeah!

I was featured on the Baby Bundle Boutique Blog this week. Yeah!

Hey, everyone's got to toot their own horn once in a while :-)

Cussing Customs!

Is that what you do when you get a custom order? CUSS? When a commission comes in do you celebrate and curse all at the same time? Every artist I know does. It's definitely a love / hate relationship.

Here are some quick thoughts on how to balance that relationship out a bit more in your favour.

1. Be very clear what you're willing to comprimise on and what you're not. Although they are a paying a customer, you don't have to agree to make it if it is really going against what you want to do as an artist.
2. Be very clear about what they will get at the end - in fact, maybe check in with them throughout the process to show them how it is progressing - that way any red flags can be dealt with early on.
3. Take a deposit before starting.
4. Just in case, do you have a contigency plan if they don't like the end piece? Can you sell it somewhere else?
5. Be clear about timelines - and give yourself some buffer time - I find it's usually hard to get motivated to work on these orders so you need extra time.
6. And most importantly, before starting ask yourself is the project something I want to do, is this person someone I want to work with?

You have to want to win

As I write this blog I have to fight back a little tear (ok that may be a little exaggerated). You see, it's about my Detroit Red Wings and the Stanley Cup. For those of you that watched the game last night you know what I'm talking about, for those of you that didn't, don't worry, this entry isn't really about hockey.

As I watched Detroit last night, from the very beginning I saw, or didn't see actually something different. In game 1 and 2 of this serious Detroit was out to win, this game they seemed to be playing in a Sunday afternoon game, not for the Stanley Cup. Matt (the hubby) says it's the age coming through. Detroit is a lot older team than Pittsburgh (you know like my age) - maybe that's true. But then how come they won one of the games 5-0? Age didn't matter then. I honestly think it was the drive to win. Pittsburgh fought hard last night, right to the very last second.

So what does this have to do with art? Well, today I'm off to do participate in Art Among the Ruins in Newburgh, and I'm playing to win. The last show I went to I think I treated a little like a vacation... fun place to be, fun people to be with, etc. But if I want to win at this game of being an artist, I have to fight. Not literally, but I have to go out there and do what I need to do to win over a few customers. Hopefully you'll hear as the day is drawing closed 'she shoots, she scores' coming from Newburgh.

I'll take the high road

James taught me something last night (not the first time). He was singing a song that I taught him last week when a friend hit him and he wanted revenge - "I'll take the high road, and you'll take the low road and I'll be to Scotland before you..." We talked about what 'taking the high road' meant. I thought the lesson had just went right over his head, but apparently something stuck. And his timing couldn't have been better... for me.

On the weekend I was doing a show at the Distillery District in Toronto. A neat place for sure, with lots of people and lots of wind. The wind storm created some issues and I had some of my display items break. In the midst of cleaning them up, someone had taken one of my rings; and not just any ring but a red beach glass ring (one of the rarest colours of beach glass). Needless to say I was off to a grumpy start that day.

But when I heard James singing 'I'll take the high road..' it reminded me to do the same. Instead of being so bitter about it, I'm going to see it as a compliment. Someone wanted one of my pieces so much that they were willing to risk breaking the law. And I bet they'll be talking about it too! So who knows, maybe they'll buy something from me down the road...

My treasure box

When I'm participating in art shows / sales I have a list of stuff to bring, you know the usual - product, receipt book, pens, credit cards slips, brochures, table clothes, business cards, etc. But I also have my treasure box. And the other artists always love it. So what's in my treasure box? Here's the list:

~ Tylenol
~ midol
~ throat lozenges
~ mouthwash
~ a loonie
~ band aids
~ extra shoes (feels great to change your shoes half way through the day)
~ granola bar
~ fruit
~ hand sanitizer
~ hand cream
~ small blanket
~ a good book
~ allergy pills
~ sunscreen

Just the little things that make the day go by a little bit easier. Now - get packing your treasurer box.

It doesn't hurt to ask

I've had a few things go right for me lately and friends keep asking me what my secret is for being so lucky. Well, the answer is easy, I asked. I've never been afraid of the word 'no', in fact I often see 'no' as a challenge. So, asking tricky questions isn't that hard and asking easy questions is nothing more than making time to do so.

I wanted a store in Toronto to carry my work, so in late January I started looking around for a few stores that fit with my eco-conscious beach glass jewellery and I emailed them asking if they were interested. A few got back to me and yesterday I delivered some of my jewellery to Green is Black in Toronto. All it took was an email asking the question 'would you be interested in seeing my work?' (see my latest work shown here at Green is Black)

I wanted a celebrity or journalist to wear my work, and more importantly, write about my work, so I looked around and found a perfect fit - Gill Deacon (as you heard about in an earlier post). I sent her email asking if she would be interested, and she sent an email back saying yes. 2 weeks later she blogged about it!

Sure, I may have heard a 'no' or two, but I didn't stop asking questions, I saw it as a challenge. So, start asking questions, you may be surprised with the answers!

Why wait 'til you're dead

My husband I were talking about why many famous artists, weren't famous really until they died. Why is that? I'm sure I can spend hours researching this, but I'm going to tell you my theories instead. I have two. They're both connected and it comes down to marketing and sales.

As an artist, when I'm marketing or selling, I'm not creating. When I'm creating, I'm not selling or marketing. And the scale never seems to balance right on this one. However, if someone else is selling for me, then I can spend my life creating. So think back to those famous dead artists.... they got (just go with me for arguments sake) their lives to focus on their art and didn't deal with the selling side. So, no wonder they were good, they got to practice and create often. And if I've taken anything from Outliers (the book I'm reading by Malcolm Gladwell), is that people succeed because of doing, and doing again and doing again.

The second theory is that it's easier to sell someone else's work than it is your own. So, dead people can't sell their work anymore, so others do. They can focus solely on selling and not on creating. They see it from a buyers perspective not an artists. If you don't believe me here, just go out with a friend and try this theory out.

But, I don't think I want to wait until I'm dead. In fact, I know my family doesn't. So, my goal for this year is to change this theory or at least impact it differently. I'm going to work on selling my work actively, but also trying to balance those scales.