Artist's that want to make money! Hi, Rachel here again! I'm a mixed media artist that wants to share tips on strategically aligning your art in the right areas so that you can enjoy more profits!
Are you already affiliated with an art venue online or in person or have you established yourself as a business? If so, then this post is going to really help you along the journey!
If you haven't developed a business relationship yet as such this post can still help you in you many ways! Have you ever wondered what to say to a business when selling your art? Have you ever been frightened by this avenue at all? What have you done so far when selling your art to another business? I would love to hear your replies in my comments!
Thank you for being such loyal readers! You have came a long ways so far! In this post, Part 2 of the 4 Part Series 2 I am going to reveal what goes on behind the scenes of a B2B transaction, then give you a sneak peek inside your competitor's strategy before this snippet though I am going to show you how I break down one of my customer segments. In Part 3, I will dive more into a competitor analysis for both B2C and B2B.
-This post contains affiliate links. These are links that will open in a new tab within your browser once clicked. When you make a sale I receive a small commission with no additional cost to you!
In the last post I mentioned how the customer segments within the business model canvas that I tailored to the art world was going to come back into play. Here is my breakdown of the customer segments as a starting point in case I lost anyone.
B2B customer segments
Let me explain! As this probably might appear contradictory to the entire business model canvas that I've been talking about.I've split my customer segments for the B2B side of business into 5 different main areas: Interior designers, hotels (directly which is less corporate focused and more Bed and Breakfast tailored), galleries concerning volunteer areas within business sectors, advertising (I made this a customer segment because companies need an artist for many aspects of their marketing campaigns especially billboards, sides of buildings, visionaries such as you that can make things happen) and home and garden shows (totally different than the side hustle art and craft shows).
Now from here we are going to take it up yet another notch by using an empathy map for the B2B side of things! My last post we did the same map but with B2C. For each of these segments above they are going to have a different map. I will be doing an empathy map shortly for just one of the segments to show the difference.
Empathy Mapping
Here is the basic empathy map thanks to Empathy Maps: Walk in your customer's shoes
.Now we are going to transform this empathy map into something more useful for the artist's world of B2B!
Who?
I decided to start with interior designers! Businesses that cater to making a place look beautiful! As a human being making decisions that appeal to all aspects of their conformity, think of this entity as just another person to make things a bit more simpler as the complexity gives even myself a headache. When you start to break down a company into human beings it makes things more relatable and people humans again!Questions to think deeply about
What situation are they in when choosing a venue to decorate with artworks? What frame of mind? What goes into the equation when choosing a business to buy original art from?
What Do You Want Them To Do?
There has to be a reason why we are breaking this entire map down once again for specifically business to business negotiations and why I am doing another post on this.....well I will let you in on something....when negotiating with a business you do not necessarily have to be partnered with an established business....sometimes negotiations are like a game of poker....I hate to say this and I do not believe it to be deceitful or I would not be posting such do not take that the wrong way. What I mean is that you do not have to reveal your entire "business game plan" upfront to be considered reliable, high quality, and a business that will end up with the deal in the end. This is one of the pieces of the competitor puzzle that they are highly failing at!Questions to think deeply about
What decision do they need to make (other than choosing you or an art venue that you are partnered with as their art "go to")? How are you going to establish your credibility and presence for them to want to chose you to do business with? How were they purchasing artworks prior to them considering your art and how are you going to make sure the final decision goes through in your favor?
What Do They See?
What is already out there? What is it exactly that is stopping them from chosing your competitors? Where are they at in the decision process at this point? What do they already have in front of them in terms of the other decor arrangements?This is where your palette choices and creative abilities are going to come alive! These people within the business that are making the decisions want something that meshes with the other decor that has already been planned. Within this sector, art is usally the most versitile and most interestingly utilized. I've viewed a condimium high rise living space prior to market when in the process of choosing an art "go to" to accomodate the lobby, reception area, and elevators with welcoming creations many years ago before I began creating mixed media artworks and setting up shop. In the end, the company chose a lucative option that did not credit the artists accordingly (unbeknownst to the interior design company) which ended up being a negative move on their part and the other business' part also however, recovering from it they compensated the business that supplied the artworks with a non-profit grant that never went back into the appropriate funding and everything fell through. The interior designer's side of business probably felt as if they never saw it coming as it was a reputable art "go to" in the past. As you can imagine that spot quickly became vacated by their competition who they still rely on to this day. As I cannot tell the exact information on this situation due to nondisclosure agreements, these situations do happen unfortunantly!
What Are They Saying?
What have they said to you so far? If you haven't made contact with them yet this would be a great time to start planning to do so in some way, shape, or form! What do you imagine that they are going to say?Small business organizations and community artist programs whether already established or you as in yourself establish something is the key to most B2B successes in this department of the customer segments that are not online-based.
Say what?!
Think about it, why would an interior design company want to handle business with a small business without knowing that they already have a well tracked wonderful reputation for being trustworthy and reliable?
Think about it from their side of the fence....if you were a company the person making the ultimate decision according to not only quality, price, and what the consumers indefinitely "want" and "need" what art company would you choose? More importantly, would you make them your art "go to" when this decision needs to be made? This is the frame of mind that you need to be in right now and critiquing your business or affiliations accordingly.
What Are They Already Doing?
This is where a competitor analysis would be extremely helpful that I am going to dive into during part 3. For now, imagine the company that they used in the past and why they aren't using them anymore. Why are they not using them anymore? No, you cannot just go ask them I wish it were that easy!What Are They Hearing?
What are their clients going to say when they see your fabulous artworks hanging in the beautiful modernly decorated reception area while standing in line? What are the potential buyers going to resonate as they view their future high rise condominium with a breathtaking view of the city and your original artwork accenting the adjourning wall that the sun reflects upon perfectly?These aren't the only things that the decision maker wants to hear. They also want to hear the sounds of a business that is going to deliver in a timely fashion, and that they can tell their affiliates and partners all about. Once you are able to get your foot in the corporate door the
What Are Their Wants?
Someone that people have heard of and someone that no one has heard of that is super unique with their style that also fits into the rest of the decor being used per client.These designers work on a schedule usually according to a project (if anyone has been acquainted with project management). Therefore, if they are ahead of schedule and under budget, they are going to be smiling. Ok, I admit that was rather self-explanatory! Think about this business from a human to human standpoint though, what would you really want? I would base it off of what the consensus of the consumers' wants and expectations depending on each location. If I were in charge of finding companies to source the goods for a surgical unit in a large hospital's reception area and corridor I would actually choose a few LLC's for original artworks that I knew super varnished their works that were lively and portrayed something happy with liveliness ensued. That's me though, I'm an artist that set myself up as a business as well as set up shop online with different partners a while ago, I'm not an interior design company and I know its hard to imagine what others are thinking. Its insightful and a step in the correct direction to at least try and brainstorm though and its ok when you are nowhere near what they were really thinking! That's where the fun begins! That point when you realize how far off you were when you finally find the real answers you've been patiently waiting for....sometimes bittersweet!
What Are Their Needs?
- Trust
- Who the artist is partnered with or if the artist has established their own art business for themselves or others, their BBB status, what a google turns up, their followers on x,y,z
- Credible with their product aka if your artwork is labeled and marketed to them as original do not send them a print version in a frame...they will be pissed!
- Timely....remember they are on a schedule and need to meet deadlines...FedEx overnights...just do it!
- Quality...this is not the time to be using unprofessional paint....this should be a given
- Fitting into their budget...they would not have considered you if you weren't but for a competitive outlook keep this aspect in mind.
What Are Their Fears?
- Receiving subpar artwork or art that they did not ask for that is behind their deadline!
- Prices increasing before they even receive anything
- Receiving artwork that is damaged during shipping
- If an artist is requested to be on site for a creation, a different artist showing up with a different way of creating
- Going over budget because the art company did not mention x,y,z
- If the artworks will arrive on time
- If the artworks will look as good as they did in photographs as the planned area for them to be hung was chosen to suit the specific work of art
What Are Their Obligations?
Who are they reporting back to within the company? They might be making the ultimate decision however, they are making a very important corporate decision that affects not only the consumers but also, anyone else working within the department, not to mention the stakeholders, the shareholders, and the big boss of the entire ordeal! If they are a medium to small company their entire legacy might be at risk, so I can only imagine the fears streaming through their minds before a decision is made according to the obligations that they face daily!
As the title to this map implies empathy can make or break a business to business interaction and/or decision in the process. All steps should of course be strategically aligned to suit the best for both parties.
As promised, I'm going to give a sneak peek into your competitor's realm before signing off tonight!
That's my Facebook header created by yours truly that I haven't posted yet....big deal right?! I'll let you think about that before diving into competitor strategies in Part 3 of Series 2 which will arrive in a few days!
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