You’ve just sold a painting and your new collector is elated! There is a big stack of cash on the table and your collector looks at you and says, “This is all yours just for helping me feel heard and important.”
What? Piles of money on the table for you just to make them feel heard and important?
Record skip… errrreech!
Then you wake up from the dream… You’re breathing heavy, heart pounding – realizing you have 5 collectors that you never made feel important and worse, you never, ever spoke to them again.
What do you do?
First, if you really do have a list of collectors that you treated less than well and never contacted again, you’ll need to reach out to them again and renew the connection, because it’s the right thing to do and because yes, you’ve left money on the table in the form of another sale from them or a referral they share.
It’s a simple as a phone call or a quick email to say hello and that you’re checking in on them and invite them to get in touch if their artwork to see if it needs to be cleaned or needs repairs. Add in a note about what you’re up to, your next show or series and end with another thank you for them just being part of your collector circle.
This is Part 3 of the series on Art Collectors. Read Part 1, where we talk about How to Care for Your Art Collector’s, then in Part 2, I give you 10 Steps to Better Collector Relationships and a copy and past email template for easy follow up or get back in touch.
Depending on how many no-follow-up’s are your list, getting back in touch could be a quick 15-30 minute task:
Gather your list of collector’s and contact info on your desk, open template email, write and edit the new emails (one at a time) for each one, click send, make a note in their file of your follow up and date.
How to make your collector feel important & build trust
By creating an amazing buying experience, being attentive, listening to their concerns and thoughtfully answering their questions, you make them feel important and you build trust with your collectors. When you establish trust with someone, they WANT to work with you, buy more from you and refer you to their friends.
Here’s a quick true story of one of my collector experiences. I sold a large painting to a great couple and had it delivered and installed for them, I also brought along another piece they had admired so they could see it in their home.
They loved the second piece! The installers held it up on their favorite wall so they could decide where it should hang.
We were on the way to selling another painting!
Then I stopped them, “This piece isn’t right for this wall, it’s too small.” I said.
Since it was the ONLY wall they wanted a new piece of art for, I basically was backing away from the sale. But, It was too small for the wall and it was the right thing to do. I knew that they would eventually feel it wasn’t quite right – whether it was that afternoon or much later and be left feeling less than estatic. Not good all around.
“You’re right!” they said, “it needs to be bigger.” So the painting comes down and I begin to gather my things.
“Can you make one like it that fills the space better?” Of course I said yes.
By saying no, I got a BIGGER yes. So the moral?
Build trust and you’ll always win.
In the story, I say the truth that the painting I had that it was the wrong one. They understood that I’m looking out for them – and they trusted me enough to commission a new, bigger piece.
We both win.
There a lots of ways to build trust with clients, but if you don’t have a basic follow-up system in place to help you do what you say you’re gonna do – you’ll have no foundation to build it on.
Here’s a follow-up system I made for you that you can download and use to make your next sale easy:
Instant Download
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Art Collector Series, Part 1
Art Collector Series Part 2
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10 Steps: Better Art Collector Relationships