■ antiques WELCOME In My Opinion Collaboration Once upon a time, at a time long ago in a country far away, there was a belief among show dealers that “It’s the promoter’s job to get ‘em through the door, and my job to sell to ‘em when they’re here.” Dealers marketing shows I’m not sure that that was the case even then, but sure as eggs is eggs, it isn’t now. The show business is fundamentally a numbers game: the more people on the floor, the better the chance of having a good show. (Don’t tell me – we all know the show with huge crowds but no buying, but think, is that better than a show with tiny crowds and no buying?) We can all help to get bodies through the door. We can all help in marketing a show, dealers and promoters together. And indeed, there’s some marketing that dealers can do better than promoters. All the gurus agree that word-of-mouth marketing is the best of all. Word-of-mouth is a message from an individual that you know, like and trust. Now, this is marketing that dealers can do and promoters can’t (or, at least, not as effectively). Your customers do know, like and trust you, don’t they? Then they’ll open and read an e-mail from you: they won’t treat it as spam. And they’ll believe what you say. You do have their e-mail addresses, don’t you? You don’t? Oh dear, then you’ll have to rely on a postal mailing at 47 cents a shot – serves you right for not collecting the e-mail address on every receipt that you write! I’ll bet that 95 percent of your customers have one. Or else you’ll do nothing. You’ll sit back and let the promoter and your fellow dealers do all the marketing for you. If that’s your attitude, you should be ashamed of yourself – you’re a free rider! If you have a successful show, your success has been earned, in part, by your colleagues, and you’ve done nothing to contribute to theirs. I hope you toss and turn all night. You don’t even have the excuse that you can’t afford it. Internet marketing is free; all it costs is time. And if you’ve done nothing, and you have a bad show, don’t come whining to me, the promoter or anybody except your grandmother. She may put up with it, but the rest of us won’t. Now let me turn to the more responsible majority: the many dealers who energetically promote the shows they’re attending. While you’re promoting your presence at the show to your customers, spend a little extra time to promote the show itself. Even your most devoted customers are more likely to attend if there’s something else beside your booth to attract them. You may not like to think that, but it’s a fact. Promoters can help here: they can produce an electronic “mailer” for all exhibitors to forward to their customers. It’ll work better from a dealer’s email address than from a promoter’s. And, of course, the more that show mailers are emailed, rather than snail-mailed, the less cash dealers and promoters have to spend. Get them in the door Bob James, of Armacost Antiques Shows, gives his dealers unlimited free tickets for their customers. Frank Gaglio offered everyone free admission to his Philadelphia show on a traditionally “quiet” day. Bob James offers free admission to customers after 5 p.m. at his Alexandria Show. I applaud all these efforts and others like them, though personally, I think that free tickets targeted to known buyers are likely to be more effective than free tickets targeted at quiet times. The Vermont Antiques Dealers’ Association and the New Hampshire Antiques’ Dealers’ Association both offer free admission at their shows to “young collectors,” usually defined as ‘under 30.’ Whatever. The point is that if promoters are making efforts like these (which do make a hole in their bottom line), we dealers should do whatever we can to back them up and attract people to the show. Continued on page 50 Page 14 ■ Antiques Journal ■ November 2009