Warren Strugatch, journalist and consultant, and Rob Fishman, speaker and sales trainer, are spearheading a Zoom webinar to help artists learn how to market themselves and close the deal. The webinar is scheduled for Tuesday, October 13 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. It’s called “How To Sell Your Art” and it’s for artists only.
Strugatch, a former Quogue resident, explained, “As you may know, times are tough for artists, and the Coronavirus is making things worse. Many find that more people than ever are visiting their studios (practicing social distancing!) and approaching their booths and tables at markets and art fairs, both in person and online. What I have heard is the more enthusiastically artists try to sell, the more people tend to walk away empty handed.”
So, Strugatch decided to do something by reaching out to a friend and professional. “My partner,” said Warren, “for this program, Robert Fishman, is a professional sales trainer who has a home in Westhampton Beach. He’s developed a program uniquely for artists. Times are especially tough for artists because what they’re selling is their own imagination, their own integrity, and their own vision.”
Then Strugatch lasered in on what the webinar will accomplish by relaying, “Rob will teach market-tested strategies so artists can sell successfully without feeling they’ve comprised themselves.”
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Warren Strugatch, journalist and consultant. (Courtesy Photo) |
When asked about the genesis of the webinar, he said, “This all comes from an experience I had in East Hampton where I was visiting with an artist in her studio and somebody just came and knocked on the door and wanted to take a tour and ended up looking and browsing, but walked out without buying anything. The artist said to me, ‘Since the pandemic began, I am getting a lot more people literally knocking on the door and coming in and window shopping, and sometimes they buy and sometimes they don’t. But there has been a huge increase in that.’ So, I said, ‘It must be bringing in more sales for you?’ She said, ‘Some, yet they look but they often don’t buy!’ That was really the trigger for this.” He continued, “It’s so hard for artists to sell out of their studios or from booths in trade shows, art fairs, at markets, and people do it all the time, but it’s frustrating. I think it’s especially difficult for artists because what you are really selling is your own creativity, your own soul. It’s difficult to start haggling and say it’s really worth $3,000, but you only want to pay $1,500, so we will split it up the middle.”
He further elaborated, “The difficulty and the challenges in selling is and truly what this webinar is about and my partner in it, Robert Fishman, is a full-time sales trainer. The work that he does is putting on programs that individual training, and webinars, and conferences for professional sales people in the business world and people who are used to selling corporate sales – sometimes everything from insurance to cars, to houses… everything.”
Strugatch explained this webinar will give the artists some verbal language to use as “tools” to help augment sales and get better results.
Strugatch is also the host of the talk show “Out of the Question” (OOTQ), performed at various Hamptons venues, including Southampton Arts Center, Guild Hall and Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center. “Every season I’ve done OOTQ, I’ve dedicated one program to artists, bringing such guests as Eric Fischl, Vered, Toni Ross and Rick Friedman to the podium.”
Artists can register at www.eventbrite.com. Tickets are $10.
