The Best Way to Utilize Sales Maps

When you think of a map, you likely think of a road map that you use to get you from one destination to the next. Sales maps, and all business maps for that matter, exist to get you from where you are, to where you want to be – which is your goal.

Sales maps are a tool you can use to visualize all your opportunities for making sales, as well as the follow-up tasks that come with that sale. Having a way to visualize these steps will not only make the entire process of sales seem less chaotic but will also allow you to see all the opportunities you have to hit your sales goal. Think of it as the floor plan to a house. You map out the front door and then map out the path you will take to get to the kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and so on. A sales map does the exact same thing!

I like to start my sales map with a central goal: make more sales.

From this central goal, you can branch out into different buckets, and then branch those buckets out into smaller, more refined buckets and to-dos.

For example, you may have a bucket called “Places to Sell Art” and in that bucket, you have things like studio, website, social media. Now, you can see those three avenues and easily assess what you need to do to get those up-to-date and ready for sales mode.

Another example might be your communication process. You can break this down into things like a customer relationship management system, a follow-up schedule, and how to handle objections. Do you have all of those in order? If not, now you know and can make a plan to move forward.

Being successful in sales has a lot to do with planning.

Planning your inventory, showings, phone calls, and so on. The more you plan, the more organized and confident you’ll be, and your potential buyers will pick up on that feeling as well. Use a sales map to break down every component of your sales journey and prepare what you need from there.

For more helpful tips on sales and building your art career, check out my Art MBA program. We go over everything from securing a gallery, to organizing a customer relationship management system. In the sales modules, I cover this topic over 10 videos with templates and give you the essentials on ‘How to Sell Your Art’ so you can dive right in. As a seasoned art gallery owner, I never found this information in the industry and have learned and refined my skills the past 21 years so you are essentially getting an art gallerists guide to selling your art in this program!

You can learn more about the program and enroll here.