Are your sales where you want them to be?
Maybe, like many of the artists who become my clients, they have slowed down. Or stopped altogether.
I’m asked to help my artist-clients troubleshoot the slow sales, and sometimes they want a quick answer. Post more on Instagram. Send more emails.
I won’t do that. I refuse to tell people what to do if I don’t know what they want.
First I need to understand their goals. What do they really want, and why is it important to them? How much energy are they willing to put into it? Then I’m going to ask about their numbers.
I don’t expect you to know your numbers off the top of your head, but I do want you to know where to find them quickly. In episode 279 of The Art Biz, I talk about why artists avoid their numbers and how to make looking at them part of your routine.
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Why business numbers feel scary
I’ve been in business long enough to know that facing reality can be scary.
That’s what numbers are. They’re real. They’re attached to something measurable, and they tell a story you might not like. And they get downright frightening when they’re attached to your art and your art business.
Maybe you’re afraid you’ll get depressed when you see them. Or that low numbers reflect on the quality of your art. Or that you’ll see clearly how high your expenses are and something will have to change. (You can’t unsee the numbers once you see them.)
Even good numbers can be scary. Great results from one project or body of work might be telling you to pivot and take advantage of the moment. But you question whether or not this is the right move.
So you ignore them until tax time because ignoring them skirts change and at least keeps hope alive.
I beg you not to wait. Ignoring your numbers only makes your anxiety worse, because you know they’re hanging over your head. As I often tell you, you are the CEO of your art business. If you’re trying to make a profit, you pay attention along the way.
Remember this: Numbers are neutral. They’re objective data points. They don’t care how you feel. They just exist.
Which numbers to track
If they’re just data, the obvious question is which data? Not knowing what to look for is one more reason you might be avoiding this work.
Start with the two that are on the top of my list with every client.
Money
You know the formula: sales minus expenses equals profit. Track your sales and expenses every month.
Then break sales down by income source, whether that’s venues or types of art like commissions, reproductions, and originals. What was selling?
How many people are on your list? Is it growing or shrinking? Most email lists are shrinking these days, which is okay because there are other ways to stay in touch.
Look at your open rate and click-through rate. A low open rate affects your deliverability all around, so perhaps it’s time to clean your list.
If you only email once a month, 90-day trends will tell you more. And if there are 2,000 people on your list but you aren’t using it, what good is it?
After those two, consider numbers from your:
- Website :: Unique visitors and top content.
- Social followers :: This isn’t something I use to diagnose sales, but can be useful for seeing whether your following is growing and what content is working.
- Whatever else you’re trying to grow :: Submissions, proposals, students enrolled, personal outreach. In case I haven’t said it enough lately, I’m big on personal outreach because it moves the needle more than any amount of broadcasts.
Whatever it is you’re trying to grow, track it.
What you pay attention to grows, so ignoring your numbers is stunting your growth.
Formalize your regular review
Get in the habit of checking in with your numbers. It can be part of a broader business review.
How often depends on your level of activity. If you’re part-time or just starting out, quarterly might be enough. If you’re very busy, do it monthly.
Formalize it because it doesn’t count if you’re trying to keep this in your head. Use a notebook or a spreadsheet so you can compare month after month.
I did this every single month for years. I had a whole binder of monthly check-ins because I knew what one of my coaches told me was true: What you pay attention to grows.
Keep it high level
It’s tempting to add more to your review. To track more. But I caution you against that because it becomes onerous.
You want a high-level picture of the health of your art business to use as a baseline.
Numbers are only part of the review. Look at the activity behind them. What was going on, or not going on, to get you those numbers?
Get curious. “I sold more of this. Why is that?” Or, “My click-through rate plummeted. What happened there?”
When you know what’s behind your numbers, you’ll know what to adjust. Your next step will be based on something (data), not the next great idea you see some marketing person posting online.
These are your numbers. It’s data only you have. You’re the CEO of your art business, so don’t put it off.
The post This monthly review keeps your art business honest (279) appeared first on Art Biz Success.