I recently received the following note from and artist who has had some great sales after increasing pricing.
Jason, Mike F. here.
I want to thank you and your staff for having selected my wood vases to be
placed in your on-line gallery.And thanks Jason for the advice you wrote in your books. I took it
seriously, and I’m proud to say I had a major break-through in pricing and
selling one of my pieces, actually 7.The story: I met a Chinese business man who had seen my work last summer.
Returning to the US on a business trip two weeks ago, he looked me up and
contacted me. I had a relatively new piece, in which he fell in love
with—but I didn’t know it at the time.Prior to all this, I had re-set my pricing structure on the very morning
he was in town (Portland, Oregon). Between you and me, I had gotten fed up
with the low rate I was using for my pricing structure and said to myself, ‘
If it takes 3 months to sell something at $1500.00, and it would take ,on
average, the same amount of time to sell it for more, why not double the
figure and see what happens’. Sure enough, that same day, I sold my vase
for nearly double the dollar amount it previously listed for—after the
negotiations took place.I knew my work would support the new price. I just had to have the guts to
do it. And since the vase wasn’t in a gallery, I felt deep down, it was a
very good deal for him. I probably could have doubled my ‘double’, for a
true retail value, but since it was not actually in a gallery, my heart
wouldn’t let me do it.Anyway, I thought you’d like to know. The inspiration came from reading
your books, but I had to have the inner strength to make it happen.Later for now,
Mike F.
PS: Before all this happened, I am quite sure I lost a sale of one of my
other vases from under-pricing it. I meet a woman from Olympia, Washington
several weeks ago. She was ‘amazed’ at my work—her words. We discussed the
story about a particular vase she was interested in. During the
conversation, I related a story to her about someone who made a comment on
it only weeks earlier, saying that the vase reminded him of a piece of
glass by Chihuly, the famous glass artist in Seattle, Washington. Well, she
told me that she did own a piece of Chihuly glass, and agreed with the
earlier comment. But after taking one of my business cards, she walked
away. I haven’t heard from her since. I knew I ‘blew it’ most likely
because the vase was so under priced that, like you said in your book, it
probably made her question her taste.I have corrected my error.
Way to go Mike! Do you have experience where pricing effected your sales? Share it below in the comments
About Jason Horejs
Jason Horejs is the Owner of Xanadu Gallery, author of best selling books "Starving" to Successful & How to Sell Art , publisher of reddotblog.com, and founder of ARTsala. Jason has helped thousands of artists prepare themselves to more effectively market their work, build relationships with galleries and collectors, and turn their artistic passion into a viable business.
