Knowing the "Numbers" of Art:
a key to making successful sales
Numbers in Sales
A key to success in selling is to have one's product or service exposed
to prospective purchasers. If I have a painting and nobody sees it, it would
be virtually impossible for anyone to purchase it.
If I show it to 10 people, I have increased the possibility of having someone
buy it. If I show it to 1,000 people I have increased to odds 100x over
the odds if I were to just show it to 10 people. And so on.
Numbers in Life Insurance
The life insurance industry is highly organised. It has been for well over
a hundred years. Insurance salesmen understand the numbers of successful
sales in their industry.
When I first got into sales a friend of mine, a successful life insurance
salesman, gave me some advice. He said, "Rick, sales is a numbers game.
If I mail a hundred prospecting letters per day, to names taken at random
from the phone book, I will get 5 phone inquiries per day. From the 5 inquiries
I will get 1 appointment. From 5 appointments I have each week I will have
one person purchase life insurance from me. If I get one sale a week I will
make a very good living."
Numbers in Real Estate
I went into real estate sales, not life insurance, but I found that the
real estate sales industry, which is also well organised, has its numbers
for success. I was told in my sales training course that if I knocked on
15 doors a day, that I would make $55,000 per year (this was 1981). I found
that to be absolutely true. Basically, I was getting $20. for every door
that I knocked on, whether it was answered or not.
The numbers of real estate, with which I am most familiar, go like this.
The average North American buys and sells a house every 5 years. In other
words, 1 out of 5 will do so this year. Therefore, every fifth house on
the block, on average, will be sold this year. If 1 out of 5 will sell this
year, then 1 out of 60 will sell this month. If I have 5 serious competitors
and, all else is equal, I will get 1/5 of all the business, then I need
to contact 300 houses this month to get one sale. If I work 20 days a month,
I will need to contact 15 houses per day.
The average house sales commission is $1080. If I sell 52 houses a year,
I will earn $55,000. This is statistically sound reasoning and bears out
in practice.
Sales Prospecting Vehicles
There are many ways to find sales. Cold mailing and door knocking are merely
two examples. The main attribute of a sales vehicle is that it puts your
product in front of prospective purchasers. I have seen sales people use
the telephone, the golf course, a social network, a family network, and,
now, the Internet. All to the end of increasing sales.
The vehicle chosen is a function of what works and what the salesperson
is comfortable doing.
Sales Anecdotes in the Visual Arts
The production side of the visual arts is not an organised industry. There
is no sales training available from the industry.
However, examples do exist of artists being successful at sales. Here is
one.
Jim Kierstead began by spending weekends at the street corner with his paintings
hung on the side of a friend's fence. Jim is now a full time professional
artist who sells paintings for an average of $8,000. each. At his most productive,
he produces a painting a day. Most sales are now being handled by a dealer
network. After years of working and selling, there is no doubt that he knows
how many client contacts he needs to achieve the number of desired sales.
What are the "numbers" for the visual arts? How are you playing
the "numbers game"? How many prospects see your works? Have you
set up a vehicle for exposing your work? What vehicle works for you and
your art?
The Numbers for Visual Arts
Unlike the life insurance and real estate industries, the visual arts industry
does not know its "numbers". Nevertheless, the numbers do exist.
How many people purchase art each year? What value are the pieces that are
purchased by the consumer? Do your pieces fall into that price/value range?
To what vehicles would the consumer respond positively? What vehicles for
prospecting am I comfortable employing? Should I engage a dealer to work
the numbers so that I can concentrate on my art?
Conclusion
Selling art takes place in a marketplace. It is subject to the same dynamics
as all other products and services out there. And in competition with all
other products and services for a limited amount of money that exists. To
receive a portion of that money, we must compete effectively by understanding
the dynamics of sales and the numbers that apply to our industry.
