UTILIZING TESTIMONIALS

AFGHAN & CORGI PORTRAITS
Copyright 2012. Anne M. Hier
All Rights Reserved

When potential clients visit your website or blog they are not just looking at your portfolio. They need to know they can depend on you to deliver quality work that accurately portrays their pets. As you build your website or blog, be sure to include a few testimonials from satisfied customers. I never solicit these but certainly love to receive them. You should consider testimonials an important marketing tool. Satisfied customers mean a lot, especially to others who are making the decision to hire you. You may think your clientele is interested in your work - they are. But they also want to know they can trust you. Testimonials help build that trust.

Practically all of your customers are hopefully going to acknowledge that they received the portraits and that they are thrilled with your work. Some will send you follow-up pictures of the work framed and in their home. These types of images can provide a real personal touch to your site.

There are two schools of thought on adding testimonials. The first is to go for quantity – listing numerous short quotes to indicate that the artist has completed a significant amount of work. The second method, which I prefer, is to list longer quotes that are quite descriptive and go beyond “Thank you so much for the beautiful portrait of Shep.” Actually, you can probably incorporate a mixture of both on your site. Periodically update these statements to ensure that the majority of your testimonials are current and not all several years old.

One more thing – unless you specifically ask permission, do not list the client's last name, email address, or other identifying information. I usually list the first name and an initial for the last name. If you have done portrait work for a celebrity you may publicly disclose this part of your client list, “Portrait Commissioned by (celebrity's name)." However, do not publish quotes about your work from the celebrity unless you first ask and get written permission to do so. This is because celebrities have a right of publicity to present themselves to the public in a specific manner that they control.

If you would like to read the testimonial for the commissioned portraits pictured above please go my Anne Hier Studio blog.

Learning to Sell Your Art on eBay

SMOOTH FOX TERRIER
Pen & Ink with Watercolor
Copyright 2009. Anne M. Hier.
All Rights Reserved.

           DON'T UNDERESTIMATE
       THE VALUE OF SMALL SALES!

This one eBay sale (under $10), at left, of a small ACEO that is only 2.5 x 3.5 inches, resulted in an additional eight commissions from the client (including a commission for a portrait of her racing pigeon!) Later, I received another commission from a referral by this client to a friend.

A BIG PROBLEM for artists just starting out is putting a value on their time and talent. What is your artwork worth? One way to find out is to sell some of your art on eBay. There are several advantages. You will learn what images sell, what the public is willing to pay, how to provide timely service to your customers, how to price your work for profit and optimum sales, and most importantly, how to start building a customer database.

Most of the time, your eBay online auctions will not bring as high a price for your work as you could get in your studio, a gallery, or through your website. However, I have been selling on eBay since 1998 and fully 40% of my sales are REPEAT CUSTOMERS. Repeat customers are the gold standard in any business. Additionally, many of these clients have gone on to commission portraits from me. Further, I have made art sales throughout the United States and Canada and almost two dozen countries in Asia, Europe, and Australia. I never would have made these sales without the worldwide reach of eBay. Thus, eBay not only is a great selling tool but also quite an effective advertising medium for your work.

Keep in mind that eBay customers like to think they are getting a bargain. Plus, while we all want to get high prices for our major works, you should seriously consider selling to a variety of price point customers. The highest price I have ever received for an eBay sale was $400 for a small painting. However, I now concentrate on pieces that are 5x7 inches or smaller. In particular, I create a great number of ACEOS in both pen and ink and colored pencil. Many eBay customers are not willing to pay $100 for one piece of art. But, I have had plenty who are willing to pay between $3.99 - $10.99 for smaller works. Small sales? Small sales margin? Yes. Nevertheless, I consider these sales an investment in my future business. Over time, many of these same customers have spent hundreds of dollars with me in repeat purchases. Indeed, I have one client who will never bid over $10.99 for any single piece on eBay, yet has purchased over 60 ACEOS total. I can count on her to purchase something practically every time I list a batch of drawings on eBay. Further, she has commissioned a total of 17 portraits from me for herself and as gifts for friends.  And she paid significantly more than $10.99 for the commissioned works. Even better, I am currently working on a portrait commission from one of her friends. Word of mouth referrals are still the best form of advertising. 

 

A loyal clientele is built on trust. If eBay buyers discover they like your work and can trust you for a small sale, many of them will buy more in the future.

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