Todd Bingham Fine Art-Sales Training for Galleries

Too many Sales trainers try to make you think that if you just had enough enthusiasm and caffeine, that you could sell just about anything. Don't get me wrong, it's important to be upbeat and enthusiastic; but nothing tops training and experience. The "Ten Minute Sales Trainer" books are a compilation of editorials on the more subtle aspects of selling art. They're meant to keep you up on those pesky issues that come up every day in galleries all over America. (We've listed the titles of each, below)

Book is available as a 'printable' PDF download, and as a 'read only' PDF download, $35 and $25 respectively.

Each, just long enough to cover the topic in about ten minutes. You won't find these issues covered anywhere else on the Internet.

sample audio \ sample PDF \ about ordering

One -- 'SELL' Is Not A Four Letter Word: "...one of the most frequent obstacles I encounter (in sales training) is the salesperson's mindset...do they harbor some 'opinion' about selling?..."
Two -- Everybody's In Sales. Even Non-selling Personnel: "...everyone in your company will affect your sales to one degree or another. Even the shipper....everyone should be required to attend sales meetings and to understand that..."
Three -- Increase Framing Ticket Frequency & Size by 'Selling'?: "..you shouldn't have to 'sell' framing, right?...the customer should just be able to walk up to a framing design counter, point to the frame he wants and that's it! Yea, it just doesn't seem to work that way, does it?.."
Four Discounting -- Who Does the Negotating?: "...I recommend you make it a policy that no one but the gallery director should discuss discounting..."
Five -- Discount Create Backdraft From Consumer to Artist: "...what is it about the art gallery business and discounting? Can you imagine if you said to your dentist, 'yeah, great work, Doc. What's your best price on this?..."
Six -- The Conditional Sale: "...well, the customer says he wants it, except (insert objection here)..."
Seven -- The Rejection Factor: "...you hire a salesperson who knocks 'em dead for three months.....then suddenly, that stellar sales person's sales begin to fall off..."
Eight -- The Mysterious Ingredient to the Successful Sale: "...a customer came into the gallery and fell in love with a work of art...we're talking passionate!...but was unable to make a decision and left without buying it. She bought it somewhere else .."
Nine -- Compeition is Good; Competition is Healthy: " when we operate from abundance and sharing we create more abundance. When we operate from scarcity, we create scarcity....”
Ten -- Preventing Job Burn-out: "...selling is hard. Really hard...it ain't for the faint ..how do we keep excited about it?..."
Eleven -- Why Don't Frameshops Have Viewing Rooms?: "..sometimes the conventional method of doing something becomes just that—conventional..."
Twelve -- Viewing Rooms—How Are They Viewed?/dt>: "...in the art gallery business an issue which is loaded with controversy and hotly debated is the viewing room...closing rooms...the killing floor?...should you have one?..."
Thirteen -- Is Selling Sculpture Different than Selling Flat Art?: "...they say that if you can sell widgets you can sell anything...it would follow that that statement would have to apply to flat art and sculpture, right?..."
Fourteen -- The Barnum and Bailey of Selling Art: "... if people don't need art, what makes 'em buy it? .."
Fifteen -- Balancing a Customer's Ideas With Good Frame Design: "...I have often wondered what the result might be of a study focused on the number of customers who enter a frameshop with something to be framed, and leave without having placed an order...?"
Sixteen -- How Does Our Typical Customer Behave?: "...in sellling artwork, in selling anything, we will only achieve our objectives if we know about what we're selling and to whom we're selling it..."
Seventeen The Venerable T.O. Matches Salespeople To Customers: "...in large galleries all across America, it happens: the mismatching of salesperson to customer...often it goes unnoticed..."
Eighteen Closing the Sale with Framing: "...a sales mentor of mine once told me, 'Bingham, once the customer starts talking about framing, she owns it..."
Nineteen --The Artist's Opening: Hosting a Sale not a Freebie: "...at an artist's opening, there are certain activiities necessary that will optimize your sales potential on the Big Night......"
Twenty -- Art Salespeople: Okay No More Mr. Nice Guy!: "...salespeople need their skills honed and polished to close the challenging deals with those not-so-easy-to-deal-with customers....."
Twenty One -- When Bad Things Happen to Good Art Dealers: "...if you feel it's too much trouble to train your salespeople so you know what they're saying to customers, think again..."
Twenty Two -- Show and Sell: Hosting an Artist's Opening: "... The viewing room can be the biggest bone of contention betweeen salepeople on the Big Night.’"
Twenty Three -- Display art: Does It Matter Where You Put It?: " ...One of the things an artist does not do well is hang his own artwork..."
Twenty Four -- Is Selling to Couples—Same or Different: "..in selling, there is something to be learned from the con man..."
Twenty Five -- Retail Customers: Who Are They?: "...as salespeople, what is our agenda? What if selling involved something unethical?..."
Twenty Six -- Getting up for Selling : Motivation?: "...I"m continually pointing out the burnout factor to gallery owners..be alert..."
Twenty Seven -- Retail Customers: Who Are They II?: "....customers are not just obstacles to successful sales. I believe that customers who are walking in our doors are just us in different clothing..."
Twenty Eight -- Selling Sculpture in a Home Show: "...I'll be honest, as a salesperson the last thing I ever wantd to do was volunteer to bring a 90 pound sculpture out to the customer's house..."
Twenty Nine -- Moving Sculpture to Sell it? Why Would You Do That?: "...One of the more subtle and insidious (obstacles to sales) is the tendency on the part of customer and salesperson alike to regard sculpture as “part of the decor,” rather than the product offering..."
Thirty -- TAKING (YET ANOTHER) LOOK AT CLOSING: "...When I do consulting work for dealers, I will often arrive in a gallery and ask the client in what area they feel the sales staff needs the most amount of emphasis, and guess what they say? Sure, closing..."
Thirty One -- IF YOU HAVE A FRAMESHOP SHOULD YOU SELL ART, TOO?: "...I’m going to give you fifteen or twenty reasons why, as a framing retailer, you should expand your merchandise mix to include artwork, (if you haven’t already)..."
Thirty Two -- Publisher and Retailer: The Ideal Relationship: "...from the standpoint of sales, the relationship between publisher and retailer can vacillate between vastly disparate poles: from having no relationship at all, to working closely together hand-in-hand..."
Thirty Three -- FARMING: SOMETHING TO DO WITH AGRONOMICS?: " ...I’ve talked to art dealers who do not know what a farming call is. “‘Farming?’ You mean, “‘framing?’” they ask, thinking that I must have just misspelled it. No, not framing. Farming..."
Thirty Four -- THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ASSUME!: "...A fundamental process that is absolutely essential in selling. Especially these days, when selling art is getting, well...challenging!..."
Thirty Five -- SELLING SCULPTURE TO FLAT ART BUYERS: "...I don’t believe that the challenge of presenting a sculpture to a first-time sculpture buyer is any different than presenting a print or original to a first-time flat-art buyer..."
Thirty Six -- WHY PEOPLE BUY ART: A BENCHMARK IN THEIR LIFE: ..."I maintain one indelible truth about art: even though they might not have thought so at the time, the acquisition of a work of art for most collectors represents a high mark for them. A benchmark..."