My tour of Scotland

I’ve just got back from a month travelling around Scotland staying in 5*hotels, Air B&Bs, B&Bs, friend’s spare rooms and my sister’s bathroom – another story there – visiting Michelin Starred restaurants, local fish bars, the Butty Bus in Leverbourgh, bakeries and oh so many cafes trying to find good coffee after numerous outings to forage.

After visiting a few places it became clear to me that the experience of eating, drinking or visiting was just as important as the food, and in some cases it made up for below par offerings.

This got me thinking about the relationship between artists and potential buyers and how one can translate a gentle enquiry or someone looking at your exhibition artwork into a sale, and further building a relationship for future sales.

It came down to an acknowledging smile when I approached, eye contact, a simple greeting and an open question to lead the conversation, it really was that straightforward to hook me into staying/eating /booking a room/spending longer looking at their art work and in many cases buying from them. The price became less important and the experience built the joy of buying from someone I was interested in.

The conversation started, I was engaged with them and their offerings, it put me at my ease and a relationship was built.

When I was faced with a sullen response, an artist engrossed on their phone or not standing to greet me left me uninterested and after a quick sweep round the venues I left without buying or taking information about their work.

As a curator I am continually looking for new artists to support either on line via IG etc or in person at #Cafdgg, I am already primed to buy and build a relationship with them; however I feel that so are our visitors to #Cafdgg, as they have made the decision to attend either our very jolly Private View or when it is open to the public so they are already in the mindset of buying, so go on, stand up, smile, chat and let the sales commence in November!