Wednesday, September 2, 2009

“Lesson Learned” - Daryle Lambert's Antique and Collectible Blog – I was amazed.


NETWORKING SERVES YOU - Thanks to www.enriquedans.com



I have been trying to sell six serigraphs for over six months with no success, in fact I just got through posting them on eBay again but got no bids. Being at the point of wondering what to do with these prints and knowing winter was coming my thoughts were maybe they would make a great fire. That was until I received an email from David.

These serigraphs came from a very wealthy home where most of the art was in the $10,000 range and up so I knew that the owners had paid a considerable amount for them but after many hours of research I couldn't come up with any comps. Wanting to sell these prints I put what I thought was a very reasonable price on each one knowing that they would belong to someone else very quickly. To my surprise I could find no interest and finally stooped to my last resource ebay to sell them. Still no success and my patience had finally run out.

This is where David comes in with his email like a knight on a white horse. His email read “ Would you accept an offer for all of them. “ I took a deep breath and replied “Yes but I would like for you to call me.” It wasn't long before David called and we spent a rather long time getting to know each other before there was even a mention of the serigraphs. When the conversation finally turned to the prints it was if we had known each other forever. His first suggestion was “ I can sell them for twice what your asking and we could be partners. David's suggestion sounded great to me but what was the percentage that each of us was going to receive. After the percentage had been discussed I knew that I was dealing with an honest man and the first box of prints are on their way to him as we speak.

But what is the lesson in the story you are asking? There is usually someone in the marketplace that has a better sense of the particular market than you if it isn't your specialty. If you can't find the ultimate buyer often it might be in your best interest to work with someone that is a specialist in what you're wanting to sell. In my case David will double my asking price for the serigraphs and maybe more. So by dealing with him I went from owning six pieces of paper that I couldn't sell to receiving twice what I was asking but getting no interest. This business is about networking and not about being the Lone Ranger.




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