Magic of Selling Art: Absolutely the best book on selling Art! It unveils the magic in a step-by-step guide for you to succeed every time.

By Jack White

Magic of Selling Art is the most complete book on selling art ever written. Reveals the secrets of master salespersons in layman's language. For individual artists as well as professional gallery staff. Filled with vignettes of Jack White's selling experiences and written in his clever Texas wit, Magic of Selling Art teaches how to soft sell in hard times. A must read for anyone in the retail business of art.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Mar 29, 2011
• ISBN: 9781257191789

Book preview

Magic of Selling Art

By Jack White

Copyright 2004, 2010 by Senkarik Publishing

All rights reserved by Senkarik Publishing. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems.

ISBN: 978-0-557-33378-3

eISBN: 978-1-25719-178-9

Magic of Selling Art

Introduction

Magic, by definition, is the art of producing a desired effect through the use of various techniques—illusions, sleight of hand or other deceptive devices. All too often people think of selling as being the same kind of trickery. In this book I will dispel the myth that there are magical supernatural powers needed to master the art of selling. I will break down the steps required and supply you with the tools necessary to become a master salesperson. You will learn to sell in an honorable manner. No sleight of hand or chicanery is needed.

My mate, Mikki, and I recently attended the Heisman Award Dinner in New York City. While in New York we had a negative sales experience, employing negative methods I will not teach in this book. Ones that are fraught with fraud, and should they be employed in your career would sadly, destroy any chances of success. Some artists and galleries do utilize some of these deceptive techniques in their sales process but in the long run, it will destroy them.

We were looking for a digital camera. We knew New York City would be very competitive in pricing and we headed out to search for the best deal we could find. We compared prices at several different stores, and the best we found was $1,150 for the camera we wanted. Finally we walked into a camera store that was willing to work with us to make the sale. The salesman bonded with us, showed concern, answered all our questions, and best of all, he was willing to beat all of his competitors’ prices. The camera we were interested in recorded images onto a small CD, which held around 190 images, and the battery was rechargeable. He would sell it to us for $1,010 and toss in some extra CD’s. He was our kind of guy.

All went great. We agreed to the price, and even without us asking, he tossed in a nice carry bag. I gave him our credit card and just as I handed it to the man behind the counter, another clerk distracted my mate, trying to pitch another item. In a flash, the man processing the credit card handed me the slip to sign, while at the same time showing me another gadget that he could make me a bottom line deal on. I signed the credit card slip as I glanced at the printer he was trying to sell me. I could hear Mikki talking and declining a high-pressure sales pitch from the other clerk. My mind was distracted between her sales pitch, my clerk’s sales pitch, the printer, and consequently never checked the amount that had been written on the credit card slip. Get the picture of what was happening here? It was not until we returned to the room and the store had already closed that we noticed we had been overcharged $100. We were ticked to say the least. We were scheduled to leave very early that next morning and could not do anything until we returned home.

Our first action was to phone Visa and tell them of the overcharge. The lady handling our complaint said, I hate to tell you this, but they didn’t charge your card for the $1,110 you say they did. They actually charged your card for $1,289. Stunned, we realized we had been ripped off for $279.

Send it back, I shouted loud enough for the Visa lady to hear my anger.

She agreed and told us, Make sure and send it FedEx with signature required.

Guess what? You don’t have to guess, I will tell you. The store refused to accept the returned camera. We finally were able, after much time and trouble, to reduce the bill to the original price agreed upon in that camera store.

Were we sold? NO, we were conned. The store employed five men and so that I don’t get accused of racial profiling I will let it stop at that. They set out to cheat us and were far better at what they were doing than we were on our end.

Anyone who thinks this type of behavior is selling is dead wrong. But it is this type of chicanery that is, sadly for those of us trying earn a living as salespersons, what many people relate to as selling.

Our wonderful trip could have been ruined and discolored had we let a band of thieves get away with it. However that was not the case; and it was actually this incident that prompted me to write this book. I want to set a standard for those of you wishing to earn a living selling art. I want to create a manual that will give you the knowledge to learn to work smart and provide specific tools that will enable you to sell your product and yourself to your customers.

That incident reminded me of a robbery that occurred shortly after Mikki and I became one in heart and soul. We worked and lived in a wonderful artist loft with over 6,000 square feet of space, hardwood floors, great northern light and eighteen-foot ceilings—a dream space. We left for a West Coast trip, and when we returned, we found our studio had been broken into, ransacked and robbed. They had located the jewelry I had given Mikki; her favorite set of Kobe pearls, diamond rings and a ladies gold Rolex watch. It was not the value of those items but the sentiment attached to them that caused such distress; it was the depth of love and sentiment attached to each and every one of those gifts from me to Mikki.

I mention this story because in both cases, they had robbed us; the first thieves for the money, the second robbed us of the sentiment attached to the items they took from us. They both stole our trust. Neither can ever truly be replaced. They are equal in their impact. The camera people pretended to be honest business people. I want you to know at the very beginning of my utter distaste for high-pressure sales people. I will teach you how to be a great salesperson and do it with honor; honoring yourself and your clients.

Whiteism: Things or events can only destroy us if we mentally acquiesce to the unpleasant circumstances.

There is one other sales story I want to relate. It involves a cotton-headed boy of seven at a County Fair in a small rural Texas town. Once a year, my grandparents and I would go to the fair to watch the rodeo, and check out the prized animals. All County Fairs have carnivals. This one’s midway was filled with barkers trying to lure people into their shows. I became fascinated with a man standing behind a card table. He had three walnut half shells and a small pea. Follow the little pea and win every time. he barked. His voice carried into my young ears like a nymph on the high seas. I stepped closer. There was a large crowd gathering. He began to shuffle the shells over the little green pea, asking someone to tell him which shell the pea was under.

No one said anything, so I blurted out and pointed, That one mister. I was right. He did it again and I nailed it for him. He did it a third time and still I was correct. Feeling pretty smug, the barker said, Now, if you think you can do what this small boy has just done three times in a row, place your money on the table.

I watched grown men lose dollar after dollar and never get one right. This was at a time when men worked for a dollar a day. I felt the men just were not watching as closely as I had. My pride in my ability was at stake. I would show them. So I placed my only nickel down on the table. I will never forget the empty feeling I had when my shell turned out to be void of the pea. I knew my Granddad would whip me for gambling. The pain of losing my only nickel gnawed at me more than the beating I knew I would get from my Grandfather. Being cheated out of a nickel stuck with me like a barnacle to a whale. The man with the pea had stolen my trust. He had robbed me of my innocence. The con artist had, of course, palmed the pea. It was not magic…but stealing in broad daylight.

I want to show you the honest way to make a sale and feel good about yourself, and shatter the myth that many carry around as truth when they think of selling. The Magic of Selling Art is about allowing others to enjoy what you make or the product you sell if you are a gallery salesperson. You will learn to give them permission to take ownership of your handywork or art piece produced by an artist/salesperson they can have confidence in.

Selling is an honorable profession that has indeed been tainted by people like the ones I illustrated above. Selling is your child convincing you to purchase a candy bar even though you know it may mean a trip to the dentist. Selling is the husband purchasing a new fly rod when he has a perfectly good older model; a wife buying a new vacuum cleaner with the latest anti-dust gadget when the one she has is still in excellent condition. Selling is communication and relating value, and in the case of art, improvement of one’s environment.

I will try to write in such a way that gallery sales consultants and individual artists will have a pattern to follow. My commitment is to assist all of you to improve your sales whether selling in galleries, or shows or festivals. All of the solutions and answers can be adapted to your specific environment. The process is the same, no matter where you are physically located.

Pure selling is really a one-on-one process. Not like the thieves Mikki and I encountered in New York or used car salesmen, whose selling is done in packs. He may have his co-worker slip past as he is trying to generate a sale and make some remark about having a client coming in at 3:00 to look at that cream puff, creating a false sense of urgency just to make the sale. Then, on the way in a second man will magically appear and say, That car was mispriced. The sticker should be $200 higher. By the time the salesman tells you, I need for you to discuss this with my finance manager, you are primed. The finance manager is nothing more than a highly trained con man with the interrogating skills of an FBI profiler. You are dead in the water and you never saw it coming.

I will not teach high-pressure tactics. No pressure. No fast-talking. No lies. No cheating.

I will teach you the honorable way of closing the sale every time. I will show you the art of persuasion and getting to know you customer’s needs. You will learn to sell by asking questions and waiting for the answer. Once you finish this book, you will be well on your way to your Master’s Degree in the Magic of Selling Art. You will be proud to call yourself a Salesperson.

I tell stories when I sell and you will find this really is just a book of short stories all linked together in a train, pulling you toward becoming a Super Salesperson.

Whiteism: Nothing happens until someone sells something.

Here are the characteristics I believe make a great salesperson:

You have been awarded the title of Salesperson for FREE; however, along the way you will have to pay the price necessary to earn any reward from that title.

It is my sincere hope that by reading and referring to the information presented within the pages of this book, you will begin to understand selling is a learned process. Be malleable in your thinking. Be willing to learn.

Magic of Selling Art

Chapter One

Selling Art

I was challenged to write this book after receiving several hundred letters and emails telling me of the vast lack of real in-your-face information available on how to sell art. Yes, some books have chapters on selling along with various other aspects of running a successful gallery or building a career. But none delve into the down and gritty problems of dealing with the emotions of learning to sell or how to successfully resolve these challenges. Most art books are filled with sample forms, charts to fill out, and letters you can copy. I want more and I know you do too.

I found that over and over I had been writing small phases of this book while answering the myriad of questions I have been asked, not only from individual artists, but gallery owners and directors from all over the world. The marvel of the Internet never ceases to amaze me. I would have never known the thirst for information without this thing wrapped in plastic and bundles of wire sitting on my desk. My old manual Royal typewriter is obsolete and unfortunately so is most of the information available on selling. It is my hope to bring you answers that are pertinent to the 21st Century. We are dealing with art buyers who have a different mindset than those who purchased from Monet on the riverbanks of France. We live in a time of the need for speed and instant gratification.

Let’s learn to become really good at this game. Make no mistake; it is a game that any one of us can play successfully if we are armed with accurate knowledge and unwavering determination.

This book will be written like one that I wish I had discovered when I first started selling my art. I want to make the information contained in this book so clear and concise that even the most timid artist or the most skilled art consultant will benefit. My challenge will be to write a manual for those who have not sold anything since they first learned the art of persuasion could earn them an ice cream cone on a hot summer day. My promise to you: I will teach you the skills you will need to become a proficient and successful salesperson.

Some words of caution: You will be tempted to jump ahead and look for quick fix answers. Please resist this temptation. There is a reason for each chapter. It may not be immediately apparent to you as you progress though the book but each step is vital to the learning process. Many of you professionals may already be aware of much of what I am writing. For you, it will be a good review. However, in amongst the things you know, I am confident that even the most knowledgeable art salesperson will discover a few new twists and hidden secrets to add to their repertoire. Be patient and stay the course.

Selling is the most important word in commerce, yet Webster’s dictionary does not even list it. There is a large section on sell, but nothing to describe selling. We all have preconceived ideas about selling. Many may view the concept of selling as some fast-talking gimmick or sleight-of-hand trick. I will show you what selling really is. Selling is one person assisting another in getting what they want. It can also be when a person wants something, and they use selling techniques to persuade another to help them acquire the object of their desire. Selling is asking questions and listening to the answer.

I suspect many of you reading this book have confused con artist with Salesperson. Selling should be a required class in all colleges and universities. It is a skill we need and use in all aspects of our lives whether you are a coach, mom, taxi driver, artist or art salesperson.

As children, we all had sales skills. We all started out as master salespersons. I know, I helped a wife raise four children. A two-year-old can be very persuasive. My four children were master sales kids. Each had their own approach and presentation, but the results were the same. Daddy gave in. Somewhere along the line, many of us lose those skills.

I remember my youngest daughter wanting a car for graduation. All of her friends were getting new cars…expensive new cars. She never placed any demands or put any obvious pressure on me. She knew me well and understood what it took to sell me. Volkswagen had just come out with a new convertible called a Cabriole. It was a hot little car in the $15,000 range. Back then, that was considered a nice chunk of change for a car. She had her best friend bring her new car over so I could see it. A subtle move, yet very effective. In fact, the two girls insisted I go for a ride in her friend’s new graduation gift. To my surprise, they even suggested I drive it to see how it handled.

Nothing more was said, but in plain view on my daughter’s desk was a brochure showing the new ivory black Volkswagen convertible. The brochure had a sticker on the cover saying it would be released on the market in May. My daughter’s graduation was in May. She knew I would be in her room building some shelves. Looking back, I suspect the new shelves were part of the plan. Without ever tossing a temper tantrum or pleading, she had been successful in getting me to purchase the car of her dreams. She knew her prospect—Me. She knew what it would take to move me to action. She applied extraordinary pressure without ever speaking a word. This is selling in its highest form.

Whiteism: It’s impossible to earn a living in art without something being sold.

I can see you right now. You are wringing your hands and saying that I don’t know you. You are different. You have never been able to sell anything. This is, of course, not true. You are an excellent salesperson when you have something you believe in, something you are passionate about. In even the simplest conversations, everyone knows how to sell their point of view.

I think that many artists cannot sell their product because first of all, they don’t see their art as a product; and secondly, they don’t believe in what they are selling. For instance, it’s difficult to ask $500 for an art piece when in your heart of hearts you believe it to be only worth $50. You feel as if you are stealing when you charge what the piece is really worth.

Perhaps you are a seasoned veteran and think you know it all. You are being asked by your gallery owner to read this, and you are thinking it is going to be a waste of your time. You will be the easy ones for me to write to because, if I can convince you that I do indeed offer some useful information, then I have truly gone deep enough to teach everyone to sell.

I want to relate a story that was told to me by Ray Kroc, the man who founded McDonald’s Hamburgers at the age of 57. I was in Chicago meeting with him and taking reference photos for a commissioned portrait I was doing for his boardroom. Not only do I like to take several dozen photos but I like to do a rough oil sketch of the head…wiping out the eyes so when the sitter looks at it, they will not think this is the best I can do. I don’t want them to see the work until I have completed it to the best of my ability. I had finished my photo shoot and was doing the oil study when Ray asked, Jack, do you mind if I make a suggestion? What was I going to do, tell the man who was getting ready to pay me several thousand dollars, No? So I replied, I am always open for suggestions. Honestly, I was getting braced for some artistic suggestions, perhaps something about the pose. Like, he felt his left side was better than his right or something of that nature.

Mr. Kroc leaned back, propped his feet up on his leather topped desk and smiled with all the confidence of a man who had accomplished what no other man in the food industry ever had and said, "Jack, I have a saying that has been my guide for many years. When you are green you are growing, and when you get ripe you begin to rot." He then looked at me like I should have been giving him a standing ovation. I have to be very honest; I was expecting something grander, more profound.

At the time, what I failed to understand was the obvious. What he had told me was in fact very profound. It took me a year or so to begin to understand the depth of his statement. Now that years have gone by, I see his wisdom with more clarity than I did ten years ago, and even more in the twenty plus years since he spoke those words. What he said was profound; it eventually became my mantra…my marching orders. It is what I live my life by. It was one of the most profound messages that I had ever heard, yet said with the simplicity of a country salesman selling Dixie Cups to small restaurants. Those who know the Ray Kroc story know he was just that, a traveling salesman calling on small drive-in restaurants, selling Dixie Cups for their swirl ice-cream machines.

What he was telling me was as long as I learn and remain thirsty for knowledge, I am alive and growing. The moment that I think I know it all, that is the point in my life that I am done for. I challenge you professionals to not become ripe and think you know all there is to know about selling. Study this manual I am writing for you. To the beginner, hang onto my words…study and put to memory many of the simple tools that I will place in front of you. I promise I will get you to where you want to be. I promise both pro and beginner alike, you will be a salesperson by the time you complete studying what I am writing. I know sales and how to sell.

Last month I received a long email from a man who told me this story: I don’t know if you remember me but you came into my store in the early 70s. I was in Denver and you were based in Austin, Texas. I think you had only been painting for a few years. You had seventeen of your paintings with you and I ended up purchasing your entire inventory. At the time, I had just opened my new gallery. I was so convinced after you left my shop that you would one day become famous, I took all your paintings home for fear that someone would buy them and I would later regret it. Thanks to this Internet thing I have finally been able to locate you and tell you how thrilled I am that I had the foresight to take them home.

Do I remember calling on him? No. Do I remember what I said that made him think one day I would be semi-famous? No. I suspect I never said anything that would indicate to him the art would increase in value. I probably told him if your customers buy one, tell them in twenty years it will be worth what they paid for it. They would get to enjoy it, in essence, for free those twenty years.

Not only did I sell him, I made him understand what he was getting had value. It’s like showing folks photos of your children or grandchildren. If you don’t say they are cute then people will think you don’t care for them. If you start to brag then they will say you are prejudiced. The best way is to be honest and tell them how proud you are of the children. Say it with conviction. Say it with confidence and most of all say it with love. Sell your art with the same passion you have for your loved ones.

Join me in a journey that will reward you many times over and lead you up the path to financial success. No field earns more money than sales. The sky’s the limit. It’s up to you.

Please be patient. I want you to learn because by continuing to learn and grow, we enrich ourselves, our art, and our lives. I am laying out a plan to show you the way to improve your skills or teach even those with very little knowledge or experience how to become great salespersons. Please take note: I didn’t say just salespersons, I said GREAT SALESPERSONS.

Harvard did a study of Adult Development, the longest and most comprehensive examination of aging ever conducted. Since 1930, researchers have studied more than 800 men and women, following them from adolescence into old age. They were seeking clues on the behaviors that translated into happy and healthy longevity. Guess what? It was not the parents’ genes, quality of childhood, absence of stress or control of cholesterol, but other factors that determined the length of life. They found the main factors that contributed to a long, healthy and productive life were the following:

Avoiding the use of tobacco.

Good coping skills…making lemonade out of lemons.

Keeping a healthy weight.

Exercising regularly (This is the toughie).

Maintaining strong social relationships (including a stable marriage).

Pursuing education. Working your brain.

I cannot help you stop smoking or keep your marriage together, but I can challenge you to learn. Work your brain. Use this book as a launching pad to your continuing education. Begin to study selling today. Know more than I do and one day you can teach me some new tricks.

Live in the present, enjoy life and good health while it lasts and by all means, find out how to make this selling thing a game. Living for three years on Longboat Key made me determined to not get old like many of the retired folks I saw walking around humped over with a zombie expression. These were people with millions of dollars in riches but

Reviews for Magic of Selling Art

[Aaron Chaz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Truly a great read in the “art” of selling Art