Where to go? How to reach my potential clients?

[Sophie Ploeg]

Leslie, thanks so much for your reply. Yes, I thought that as well, better put my minimum price on my cards next time....
Just had the first meeting with the auction winners. I was not expecting them to take me up on it anymore, as so much time has passed since the auction, but I am happy to do it, as it will be good PR to have a portrait hanging on their wall. We're now in the stage of picking out photos, or maybe making them. This is the tough part.

Thanks for the tips.

[Joan Breckwoldt]

Hi Sophie,

I have a suggestion that you might find helpful when talking about prices. I think that if you have someone who calls you then that is great! Direct marketers hope for only 1-2% return on mailers. My suggestion would be to try and NOT tell them the price over the phone, to try and meet with them and show them the quality of your work. I live in Houston and people pay over $1000 for a photograph at some of the photography shops in town. There is so much more involved with painting a portrait, this may need to be explained to the potential client. If nothing else, you've shown them your work and made personal contact and maybe at a later date they'll come around to thinking a portrait is 'worth the money'. Or maybe after they shop around, they would come back to you after they realize the going rate for portraiture.

I do understand it's difficult when someone is on the phone and they ask you outright what your prices are. I suppose the right answer would be to hedge, but I doubt I could do that. Maybe you could give them a wide range of prices over the phone if they insist. I think the goal of the phone conversation should be to set up a meeting where you show them your portfolio.

I hope this helps, I used to do free-lance graphic design work and I think the same principles apply. When I got a call from the yellow pages, my goal was to set up a meeting and get to their office and show my portfolio. I also never told anybody "I don't know" when they asked me some technical question about printing, etc. I would always tell them I needed to check and then I would get back to them. I always had to guide the client and practically TELL them what they wanted, I found most of my clients knew almost nothing about having brochures printed and letterheads and logos designed. 90% of it for me was acting like I knew what I was doing.

Good luck. Keep posting, I enjoy hearing how you are doing. What do you mean by "making pictures" with this latest commission you have from the auction winner. I've thought about donating a portrait to an auction (or part of one???). I would like to hear how it goes.

Joan

[Sophie Ploeg]

I am impressed with all the warm and supportive posts here. Thanks again Joan. You gave an excellent idea about NOT telling prices but trying to get a meeting. I totally understand what you mean. After all, the woman who called has seen my card on a memoboard with a (detail of) ONE painting on it. She might or might not have looked at my website. Seeing originals is always a different experiences compared to seeing things on the web. I so wish she'll call back....

Thanks for your encouragement on the auction commission. with 'making photos' I meant 'taking photos' I suppose (my English....forgive me it is not my mother tongue).

I donated (to a children's charity in the UK) a portrait commission in september and only heard from the auction winners last week. The couple want their two children painted ( I donated a single portrait, so they've upgraded and will pay me the difference). No time for sittings, so photos will have to do. They had a few photos for me to look at, but I told them they were not sharp enough. They said they will take some more when they have the kids together (one is in boarding school so hard to get hold of). I offered to take the photos myself (I would prefer that) and they'd keep it in mind. I am now going to wait for whatever they come up with and see if I can work from that. I realised during my visit (not much experience here ) that they (as your former clients) knew nothing about the whole thing and I could have been much more confident and insistent on what I want and need.

I'll post my work as soon as I have something!
Thanks again for your kind encouragement.

[Michele Rushworth]

When a prospective client contacts me, I encourage them to look at my website first. It has several samples, an outline of my procedure, and my price list on it. If I didn't have a website I would tell them my pricing on the phone.

If they are still interested, then I go see them with my portfolio book and I bring one or two original paintings. I think people who are unfamiliar with painted portraiture are often surprised at the prices and I don't really have time to go see people in person for whom it's a financial impossibility.

I've also never seen any photos a client took themselves that would be adequate as reference for a portrait painting.

Your time is your most valuable resource. I'd recommend you screen all prospective clients by letting them know your prices up front, and paint only from the very best reference that you shoot yourself.

[Mike McCarty]

I had the good fortune recently to sit in on a marketing discussion with Peggy Baumgaertner.

It was her practice, when responding to initial contacts (whether on the phone or in person), to find as quickly as possible a point at which you could speak the phrase - my prices start at $$$. After speaking this phrase you should remain silent, listen and observe how the recipient deals with this information. More often than not they will give you, whether verbal or through their body language, an indication as to whether you should continue the discussion or get on with your grocery shopping.

Now, she would say, lets all say it together - my prices start at $$$ .....

[Sophie Ploeg]

Great info here Michele and Mike. thanks!!
Michele, I know....photos taken by the clients are probably not so good. I have still much to learn as my commissions so far have been long-distance and hence, with photos from the clients. Here is an opportunity for me to photograph and compose myself, but I don't want to insist. I suggested it to the client and will wait their response. One day...I am successfull enough to turn down bad photos....till then I'll have to be creative with the reference photos I get.
Thanks for sharing your experience.

Mike....indeed,...my prices start at $$$...suppose it is the best and most honest way. I like Joan's suggestion though. Making sure they see what that 'high' price is for...

[Michele Rushworth]

One day...I am successfull enough to turn down bad photos....till then I'll have to be creative with the reference photos I get.

The only way you'll get "successful enough" will be to create your very best work every time, and that will be with your own, top quality reference photos.

Weak reference can only produce weak paintings, even in the hands of the best artist. Getting the best reference is by far the most important step in being able to create your best work, and hence build your career. I can't state this strongly enough: don't waste a single day working on a painting from reference that is anything but terrific.

You can easily learn how to take great reference photos by studying the photography threads on this site, or get a couple of photography books from the library. It's not that hard to learn, nor do you need special equipment, but doing it right will make all the difference.

[Sophie Ploeg]

Of course I know you're right....just need to tell the clients....

[Debra Jones]

As you know we are kicking a lot of the same roadblocks.

A very odd sort of phenomenon is happening lately. I have been doing those puppy portraits, a lot from friends I already had, but they were taking my brochures and sneaking them into vets offices where other artists had material. One of them put it in the holder of the only visible competition. She makes a glossy post card with a single sample picture and her name and Pet Portraits on the card. On the back is a description of her work, that she can take photos or work from yours and a phone number and address block. Last week this woman called ME. I think she is feeling me out to perhaps buy (that is the cynical side of me) her business or just pass on her pastels and oils. She said she is going to move out of state and apparently is not the most computer literate in the world so she believes her client base will be left behind. I have shut my mouth and listened.

I will be meeting her next week at my earliest opportunity and what I have already garnered from her is pretty valuable.

Aside from the previous good advice of making the statement about your price, she has made it clear that you DO have to wait for them to ask! If they don't consider it an issue, neither should you. She assumes they are buying something they want and she will provide it. Because I do not ever buy without making sure I have the best possible price does not mean that EVERYONE works that way. I do know these people who see things and buy them (not really my art so far but -) in the mall or online. I have had a friend who recently started a store on Amazon remark how surprised she was that someone will buy a $5 item and ship it for $30! I am not one of them, but I want to cater to them. I have to assume they know what they want.

This brings me to the thought that I got drummed into me lately. Unless I wanted my portrait clientele to be Indians on the reservation, I should maybe not paint many Indians. If I want to sell to wealthy successful people, I should begin working on wealthy successful people.

I have donated 4 or 5 portraits to schools and churches and not received ONE commission. All they have to do is call me but nobody does. They just send the cash to the charity. However the last friend who asked, said I was not putting a brochure or book out, I was going to SIT there at the event and show them what I did. I did a picture right through the auction. I actually had a bidding war going. The winner upgraded to the only double portrait I have done so far and I made a 200% profit over the price of the donation.

Something becoming very clear to me is to aim high.

I am also realizing that you are doing much more homework than I am. I have my little sample brochure which I thought would cover me, but I am now beginning to actually organize print-outs on glossy paper in a larger format as a real presentation book. I have had little luck meeting face to face, but it make much more sense to have it ready at all times, just in case.

I think the single stunning piece approach is also a real winner. I recently did an 18 year old girl with a simple white top. Although it is not a real wedding dress, I think it is a nice sample for bride shops. I have a few cowboys. What the heck, I think I will take a card or two to the local boot and saddle places for the horsie set and maybe even the horse show double up with a person and a horse. As Linda said, it is not really difficult to set up a print out and make many different single pieces specific to the general client type.

My point here to myself, is to start thinking that I have the value. I recently saw a really bad artist who was doing crayon drawings of local buildings, smile at my always-friendly mom and when she said "hi", opened his portfolio right there and made a presentation. It was beguilingly direct and he was not offended that she said no. They had a pleasant chat while I talked to the gallery owner. BUT this man is making a sale now and then.

Did I help or just ramble? It is a pep talk for me as much as for you.
dj*

[Michele Rushworth]

One of the best pieces of portrait marketing advice I ever got was written by our own Cynthia Daniel right here on the forum, a couple of years ago. She wrote that if you want to sell to wealthy people the subjects in your samples need to look wealthy.

That means having attractive people dressed in classic (not necessarily formal) clothes, posed in a setting that connotes wealth or at least classic taste. This could be as informal as a boy in a white polo shirt and khaki shorts posed in a nearby garden. On the other end of the scale it could be a beautiful woman in a formal gown sitting in a fancy chair holding roses.

Check out the kind of portraits displayed on the websites of the well established (and high priced) artists who show their portfolios on SOG. Look at what the people depicted are wearing and what the background is.

Debra, your work is wonderful and I know I couldn't create portraits as lush and rich as many of the things you have shown in the "open studio" threads. I think it's just a matter of marketing at this point, and yes, painting the right kind of samples.