2 Do your homework. Study that medium; study the style of all the artists in the world in that medium you can.
3 Do what 99% of people won't do.
4 Create your own style. Stand out from the crowd. TV show producers look for this and it also eliminates most of the competition.
5 Offer your art in a wide price range. Have something for all wallet sizes.
6 Always give the customer more than they expected to get.
7 People love to deal with professionals. Present a class act. Always present yourself, art and business in a professional matter. That includes having a logo, letterhead, business card and the merchandising that accompanies your art.
8 Sell your artwork merchandised with a certificate, folder and a brief biography/profile, especially if it is a one of a kind piece. People appreciate this and it also documents the piece for future reference. Tell a little about the piece in a description such as the title of the piece, what type of medias were used in creating it, the style of art it is, its size, the year it was created and always sign it.
9 Don't be afraid to be different. Do not follow a trail, make the trail for others to follow you.
10 Always price your art so you have room to barter. Leave yourself say 10% for this. A certain percentage of people love doing business this way. It makes them fell good. Caution do not take this too far!
11 Give a small percentage {3% is good} discount for customers paying in cold cash versus say credit cards.
12 If you accept credit cards and the customer is paying for the artwork with a credit card, offer them a two or three-payment plan if the purchase is say over $100.00. This will generate more sales and give some of your customers a chance and way to buy and own your art. This is especially good during the Christmas season.
13 Have a quantity buying discount schedule. This works well for companies and corporations that like to buy gifts for their employees and during the Christmas season.
14 Always respond and return phone calls and e-mails as promptly as possible. It makes one extreme difference! Preferably within 24 hours. When I phone or e-mail people a lot of times the first response over the phone or line they write in their e-mail is thank you for contacting me back so quickly.
15 Hard work! Long hours! These are the two most important factors that will help you create your own luck.
16 Remember all criticism is are people stating their opinions. Should go in one ear and out the other. After all, you are the one expressing yourself! Only a small percentage of people are going to like your art. All artists have their followers.
17 Remember that there are three ways to do anything in life the wrong way, the right way and your way.
18 Believe in yourself and know when your art is among the best. You will know this from the body language, facial expressions, and the eyes {eye contact} of the people viewing your art.
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19 Convey a positive attitude at all times and only associate yourself with people that have positive attitudes about you and your work. Get rid of the nonbelievers and pessimists!
20 Never give up no matter how hard it gets. Have persistence and determination.
21 Don't listen to relatives, friends, neighbors, and coworkers or any one else that gives you that line of bull that artists starve!
22 Be a jack-of-all-trades master of none. Learn as much as you can about business, self-promoting, advertising, merchandising, photography or any other subjects they will help and save you money in your business. After all an artist is an entrepreneur. The only one that can truly sell your art is you!
23 Treat all clients as if they were made of gold because they are precious.
24 Never do commissioned work without a written and signed contract!
25 Even with a written and signed contract never start work on a commissioned job without first receiving 30%-50% deposit upfront of the total price!
26 Never sign or sell a creation you are not proud of!
27 Pricing their artwork is very difficult for most artists! There are so many variables involved. You should always price your work, regardless of where it is being sold. You should include shipping and handling in the USA in the retail price. Most people will not take the time to contact you for a price and they hate to ask. Also people will think you are playing the price game. Here's how it goes. The first person or couple of people that contact you, you quote a price. If they accept without hesitation you will probably assume you are not asking for enough and raise it. The next contact you raise the price. Vice versa if you do this say a couple or three times and they do not buy you will probably assume you are asking to much and lower the price. The problem is that customers know this. Pricing your work shows professionalism, shows you have confidence in yourself, you have put a price on yourself and that you are not playing the price game. Remember price is a matter of opinion; you are not going to please everybody!
28 Have an unconditional 100% money back guarantee, the longer the time period from the time of purchase the better. Include that shipping and handling will be paid by you to return the piece back to you within that time period. Your customers will believe that you must have a lot of confidence in the piece to sport such a powerful guarantee, which in turn gives them a lot of confidence about buying from you.
29 Never sell your pieces on auction places like ebay or Ubid. You are not going to get anything for them. The majority of people that place bids at such auction places are only looking for bargains. Handcrafted and art pieces have no place at these types of auctions. Once you start selling at the low price levels, you will have one heck of a time ever getting more for your work. I once had an art critic and appraiser tell me when he looks at a piece, he arrives at a certain price in his mind, if the price the artist is selling the piece for is under priced he turns around and walks off, never giving the piece or artist another thought. The reasons being are the artist could not possibly know their self, have very much confidence in their self, know how much talent they actually have and apparently is not too worldly as to know what the finer material things in life sell for.
