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I wanted to wait a little while after attending the Zapp conference to digest and try some of the suggestions that were presented to me in Houston.  I was close to overwhelmed with ideas on improving my sales.  I learned better ways to set up my booth (like not focusing so much on matted prints).  I heard about the importance of social media in the art world and was presented with wonderful ideas on ways to market myself (after I figure out all the ins and outs).  It was great to meet both artists and art fair directors and learn about their experiences in their professional journeys. 

So, last weekend I thought I would try a new tactic for sales.  I completely rearranged my booth to have it feel more open and only had a few matted prints available.  I’m a photographer, so this was kind of scary to me.  What I learned was that this was not the exact right thing to do.  My sales on Saturday were awful.  I was fortunately able to change what I was doing for Sunday.  I brought my table back into my booth and added about half of the matted prints I usually offer.  While my Sunday sales were better, they were barely enough to have me break even.  I know Sunday sales are almost always slower, so I’m thinking that if I had had my matted prints to offer on Saturday, I probably would have done better.  I did agree with the jury panel at the Zapp conference that I was focused too much on the matted prints, but my response was too drastic.  Often, matted prints are all I sell.  There are shows where I don’t sell off my walls at all.  It was a risky move that I learned was not a good idea.  I am an optimist though.  I just think that if I hadn’t tried, I wouldn’t have known.  Oh well.  So… for my show this upcoming weekend, I will try to find a balance between having matted prints to offer, but trying to sell off of my walls a little more successfully.  We’ll see how it goes…