Sunday, October 30, 2011

12 ways to get customers to sit when it's slow

1. Display a piece of your work on your easel. Or at least have a sign that says
CARICATURES - only takes three to five minutes! Your easel should NEVER be blank. That's missing out on free advertising! Nine times out of ten people look at what's on your easel before they even check out your prices, so why not capitalize on it?

2. Unobtrusively point to your easel or your pricing sign while standing. I like to use a marker to do this so people know I'm an artist ( Maybe it's cuz I'm a girl but often people are surprised that I draw. Which tends to give me a bit of a complex.)

3. STAND. Look like you're ready to draw. Don't be farting around on your iPhone! Kamans policy (the big name in caricatures at amusement parks for those of you who don't know) is that all artists must stand unless drawing. If they do it, it's for a good reason. Standing makes you look ready to roll and customers will more readily approach you if you're standing.

4. Sketch. Either yourself, from your phone, or one of your drawing partners. Looking busy with drawing cam often get a line started.

5. Offer to draw people for free and if they like it they can buy it, but let
them know there's no obligation to buy.

6. Make eye contact and smile at passers-by

7. If you are a sole proprietor, fiddle around with your pricing. Consider lowering your prices if
you hear "It's too expensive" a lot. Or offer a discount for families. Lots of business for cheap = lots of  business. No business for more expensive = no business. Consider adding a quickie profile
drawing for $5.00. I can literally make a thousand dollars in a day at my stand in Pennsylvania with "quicksketch" prices. Just make sure you're not doing erlaborate works of art for that price. It's called "quicksketch" for a reason, folks.

8. Make sure your signage is clear and concise. A picture of a sample above the price and what it's called ("black and white head and shoulders" is less confusing to the public than "B & W" or "black and white face") works very well. I fiddled with this formula for YEARS before I got it down pat.

9. Be silly. Sing. Do a little dance. Making people laugh is half the sale.

10. ASK FOR THE SALE. But don't do it too soon, which tends to frighten people
away. Let them look at your prices first. Then let them know you can help them if
they need it. They'll usually ask a question or two, then look at each other.
THAT'S the time to ask "you guys wanna get a drawing?"

11. Use cleverness in your signage. I write "squirmy kids are specialty" on my
signs, which gets a laugh and also get folks thinking.

12. Educate your customers. Most people want to know the price and how long it
takes. If you answer these two questions BEFORE they're asked, you break down their
resistance that much faster.

The key to most of this is to FIDDLE. Fiddle around with signage, your patter, your sales style. Watch how good salesmen do it, even when you're at the mall. You're sure to pick up a few tips

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