417: How to Sell Art Without Feeling Salesy

So let's move on to today's episode.

Here is the thing that almost every artist gets wrong about selling, because they hear, "Oh, you need to tell stories about your art," which is true, but that doesn't mean that selling is convincing.

Your job is not to talk someone into buying your art, to make the case, to prove it's worth the money.

Artists who think that, the minute a collector shows interest, the artist goes into performance mode, like over-explaining the process and justify the price or ramble about the materials, and then when they get nervous, they do the worst thing of all, they drop the price that nobody asked them to drop.

That's not selling.

That's flinching.

Real selling is much quieter than that.

It's about helping them hear themselves explain why they already want it.

So say that back to yourself, because it's the whole episode.

Really, you don't even have to listen anymore.

You're not here to convince them.

You're here to help them talk themselves into the art they already love, and once you understand that, the whole thing stops feeling salesy because you stop selling at people and you start listening to them.

Now, if you're an artist who wants to make real money from your art without turning into a used car salesman, hit Subscribe.

This is the channel that teaches you the business your art school skipped.

Now, I've been selling my own work for more than 25 years, and I've been coaching artists on how to sell theirs since 2018, and I'm telling you, the artists who sell the most art are not the slickest talkers.

They're the best listeners.

In fact, many of them are even introverted.

Let me show you what this actually sounds like.

[upbeat music] Manners first.