In the Art Marketing Minute Podcast, you’ll learn how to sell your art, how to market your paintings, and everything else you need to know in order to have a successful art career. Each episode answers questions from artists by host Eric Rhoads, author of “Make More Money Selling Your Art,” publisher of several art magazines and newsletters, and author of ArtMarketing.com. 

In this Art Marketing Minute, Eric Rhoads explains how to handle rejection as an artist; and how to come up with a price on the spot.

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 83 >

 

Submit Your Art Marketing Question:

What questions do you have about selling your art? Email Eric today at [email protected] (include your name and where you’re from) to hear your question answered on an upcoming Art Marketing Minute Podcast.

FULL TRANSCRIPT of the Art Marketing Minute:
DISCLAIMER: The following is the output of a transcription from an audio recording of the Art Marketing Minute. Although the transcription is mostly correct, in some cases it is slightly inaccurate due to the recording and/or software transcription.

Announcer:
This is the Art Marketing Minute with Eric Rhoads, author of the Amazon best selling book, “Make More Money Selling Your Art.” In the marketing minute we answer your questions to help your art career brought to you by artmarketing.com, the place to go to learn more about marketing. Now, here’s your host, arts magazine publisher, Eric Rhoads.

Eric Rhoads:

In the marketing minute I try to answer your art marketing questions and all you got to do is email me your questions, [email protected]. Question from Marcia in Philadelphia who says, Can you speak to handling rejection as an artist rejection from an art gallery or rejection from a show? Thank you Marsha. rejection is a part of life. rejections a good thing because it gives us a thick skin, we get used to it, that it doesn’t bother us. But as artists, we take everything so personally, because we’ve personally invested ourselves in creating our art. But if you understand that rejection is part of a process, that it’s nothing personal, that it’s supposed to happen. You never got 100% on every test, when you were in school. That’s, you know, that’s kind of like rejection. That’s self rejection, I suppose. But it’s nothing more than things just aren’t a fit. So don’t take it personal. For whatever reason, you’re not a fit for a show, maybe you’re you know, maybe you’re not ready, you want to know if you’re not ready, rather than looking at it as Oh, they didn’t like my work looking at it as well. Maybe either I wasn’t a fit. Or maybe I need to work on my work a little bit more, you know, we all have to get better. I have this friend who’s a sales trainer name is Pam Lantos, she would stand to people on stage one of them she would stuff their clothes with $100 bills sticking out of their collar, their pockets and everything else. And she would say to the other one, ask him for the order. And she’d say, that person would say, well, will you buy this from me? And that person would say no, every time they said no, that person would pick 100 pick $1 bill out of their clothes. And she kept asking, and they or they kept asking and they kept saying no. And they kept getting $100 or the 100. They kept getting the dollar bill, I’m all confused. Anyway, the idea is to train you to understand as a salesperson, and it’s really true for an artist to the more times you ask, you’re going to get a lot of rejection. But if you get rejection, it’s going to lead you to more dollars. So you just got to keep asking and just look at rejection is one more step towards getting into a show or getting into a gallery or getting the money. So anyway, I think that’s a very important point to consider. rejection is part of life.

The next question coming from David, in San Antonio, who says I just sold my first painting to somebody who was a pastor by when I was outside painting. I was working on it. I had no idea what to charge. So I just made up $100 price was at a good price point. What should I charge in the future? Well, David, congratulations, you sold a painting outdoors when you were painting. That’s a beautiful thing. selling off the easel is wonderful. I’m proud of you. You made a sale. Great. Congratulations. The reality is there’s no way I can answer your question. Is it a good price point? Is it good for you is the question. You know, if you’ve never sold a painting, and you got 100 bucks, congratulations, you paid for your paint and your canvas and a little bit of your time. So that’s a beautiful thing. If you sold a painting, it’s a beautiful thing. Now, if you put a couple hours into it, you get the satisfaction of knowing it’s sold and you got 100 bucks, you can buy yourself dinner. Hey, why not? It’s not bad. Now, the question is, where are you and where should you be? The real lesson here is that you need to be prepared for that question when you’re outdoors painting. You see, it happens all the time. You probably felt a little bit lost, because they asked you and you weren’t expecting it. I’ve sold paintings off the easel a few times the first time was kind of like he just did the little bit, but I didn’t know what to say I was blindsided. When and and i caved in, and I gave a low price just like you did. And you know, that was cool. But when I started planning for it, I decided to try some techniques that I learned when I was younger man when I was in sales. For instance, there’s a concept that suggests you never want to be the one to offer the first price. You want them to offer the first price. So somebody asked me and you can be ready for this. They say hey, how much is your painting? You can say well, I don’t know. What are you willing to pay? Yeah, the reason that’s important is because it can go any direction. Now, they will always tell you a lower price than they’re really willing to pay and you’re always able to say You know, that’s really not quite enough, maybe you could offer a little bit more. And usually there, they’ll bump it up, because everybody always starts low. I know you, you probably do I usually do. Now, what if somebody walked up to you? And they’re thinking, Oh, man, I’d love to own that painting. And if it’s $500 or less, I’m going to buy it. And they walk up to you, and they say, how much is the painting? And you say, it’s 100 bucks. They just saved themselves? 400 bucks. But if you said 500 bucks, they might say, Yeah, okay, cuz that’s the perceived value that they had. Now, here’s another thing you can do. Because there’s a, there’s an old theory called if you talk price, before value is established, you lose. So here’s something I might do. somebody walks up to me and says, Would you be willing to buy your painting? I might say, Well, what would you be willing to pay? And they’d say, Well, you know, I’m willing to pay this, I will oftentimes say, listen, usually, when I finished this painting, I’m going to take it back to the studio, let it dry, I’m going to put some varnish on it, and I’m going to put it in a beautiful frame, and I’m going to ship it to my art dealer, my art dealer would sell this very painting framed for 20 $500. And but as you probably know, the art dealers usually keep about half. So here’s what I’d be willing to do is I’d be willing to sell you for half of that. Because I don’t have a frame on it. Now, they might then say, well, would you cut another 50 bucks, because you’re not giving me a frame? And I might do that. But if you’ve established value, you’ve said, I’m a painter who’s in a gallery. I’m a painter who would normally get 20 $500 for this. I’m a painter who deserves it. And now they might say no, and go away. And that’s okay, too. You have to decide what’s the price point before anybody walks up, you have to know in your mind, but if you just say you blurt out, it’s 20 $500 or it’s $1,000. They don’t know you. It’s it’s like, if they know you, if they have some credibility, if you say, hey, look me up. Let me show you here on my website here. Let me show you on my gallery website. Look here, this, this sells for 2020 $500, the same size. So this is going to go to the gallery. But if you want to buy it from me for half, I’d be willing to do that because I’m only going to get half anyway. But that way you’re not really discounting. Anyway, the point is that you want to be ready. Now there’s other things you probably want to be ready for things like do you give lessons so you can hand them a card or something like that. And so you always want to be prepared for what you’re going to encounter.

Well, this has been the art marketing minute with me. Eric Rhoads. My goal in life is to eliminate the idea of the starving artists to help your dreams actually come true. So if you want to submit questions, simply email [email protected]. And to learn more about marketing ideas, you can visit Artmarketing.com. Thanks for listening.

How to Submit Your Art Marketing Questions: What questions do you have about selling your art? Email Eric today at [email protected] (include your name and where you’re from) to hear your question answered on an upcoming Art Marketing Minute Podcast.

> Visit EricRhoads.com (Publisher of ArtMarketing.com) to learn about opportunities for artists and art collectors, including:

  • Art retreats
  • International art trips
  • Art conventions
  • Art workshops (in person and online)
  • And more!