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Selling the Invisible4 min read

A couple of weeks back I was speaking to this woman named Katrina. She’s a talented artist who runs this wonderful gallery. Now, when I was young in high school, I loved all sorts of art; watercolors, sculpturing, pen, and ink, etc. I almost went to Rhode Island School of Design, however, never did as my career path shifted. Because of this, I still have that eye of appreciation for fine art.  

I went to Katrina’s website and started reviewing all her work. Absolutely beautiful work. Katrina and I sat down and talked about potentially working together. As we began our conversation, she started telling me about how she had to consistently produce new art for all these reasons that I won’t explain.

I asked, “How much art do you have in your inventory? How many pieces? What’s your average dollar sale on your art pieces?  How much do you sell these pieces for?” As she was explaining to me how much she had in inventory, I was quite surprised. In addition, I was actually quite surprised at what she was selling the art for. I felt it was a lower number because of my appreciation of that art, I felt it demanded a higher price. As long, of course, if Katrina really gets clear on her ideal client and strategic alliances so the right people who would appreciate her work would be looking and would be happy to pay the price. She obviously didn’t have as much confidence in her product as I did.  

I then shared a really interesting story, that I picked up about two and a half months ago. It’s called Selling the Invisible. “An Italian artist sold an invisible sculpture for over $18,000 and had to give the buyer a certificate of authenticity to prove it’s real. Salvador Garau sold his piece entitled Lo Sono, I am, to an unidentified buyer.” Now, this is what the artist said about the piece. “The vacuum is nothing more than a space full of energy. And even if we empty it and there is nothing left, according to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle that nothing has a weight,” the Sardinian-born artists explained, “therefore it has an energy that is condensed and transformed into particles that is on to us.”

Now, if any of you understood what I just shared, God bless you because I don’t have a clue. All I know is some individual bought a certificate of authenticity from some piece of matter, which is really nothing, for $18,000.  

So, when I’m speaking to Katrina who has this beautiful work and she’s selling her work for a lot less, I simply said, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and they will name the price.” First of all, but most importantly, you’re the artist. You make the price and attract the people that are willing to pay that price. Now, as far as Salvador Garau, I would love to see that buyer host an event at his house and explain to everyone coming to the event that beautiful invisible sculpture on his coffee table of which they can’t see. Hmm, that would be an interesting conversation.

I share this with you today because everyone talks about sometimes sales are hard. Some of us have preconceived notions about the term salespeople that might be pushy, greedy, or whatever it may be. But the bottom line is this, if you have confidence and belief in your service and product, name your price, because once you get clear on your ideal client, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and people are looking for excellence. And if that’s the way you feel about your product and service the right people will pay the price. Most importantly, they will get exactly what they want because when you bring the goods, the service, the product with a high level of excellence. You’ll find that’s exactly what they’re looking for. 

In conclusion, very simply, if Salvador Garau can sell essentially nothing, a piece of matter, with a certificate of authenticity for $18,000, I don’t necessarily know what you’re selling, but I’m sure you can get your price if you’re willing to find the right people to buy it.  

COACH MICHAEL DILL is an Award-Winning Certified Business Coach, global speaker, and published author. He is the President of Power & Ice Wealth Creation a strategic leadership company that works with business owners, leaders, teams, and entrepreneurs to both develop a systematized and structured organization while accelerating their mindset, efficiencies, and effectiveness to grow both personally and professionally to achieve extraordinary results. He brings more than 40 years of business and entrepreneurial experience in his leadership, team training, and mentoring practice. Businesscoachmichaeldill.com