Show Big to Sell Big

The Question

A mentor visited our studio quite a few years back when we were in the midst of building a new sales room. As I gave him the dime tour, we reached the half-built sales room and began to discuss the sales experience. At one point, I asked him how big my projection screen should be. He responded by asking, “How big is your wall?”

I asked how big my projection screen should be. He responded by asking, “How big is your wall?”

The Solution

At first, I didn’t understand what he was getting at. I told him it was about ten feet high and twelve feet wide. He said, “Then I’d get a 12-foot wide screen.” I nodded as the light bulb went off in my little brain.

He then went on to explain the concept of “acclimation”. He told me I wanted my clients to walk into our studio and get used to huge wall art. To the point, he said, that "anything under a 30-inch print looks really small".

The Reason

The same could be said for the sales appointment itself. When the clients view their images, they should be seeing them for the first time really, really big. Now, size is relative, of course. It doesn’t make much sense to have a 12-foot screen in a 12×12 room. But our sales room is large enough to support it. And we are able to easily show a 60-inch vertical image. That tends to make the 30 and 40-inch prints seem much more feasible. And again, those are typically the sizes our clients should be starting at when considering wall art that is the appropriate size for their homes.

Don’t be afraid to show large prints in your space. As much as you can. If you want to sell big, you gotta show big. Don’t litter your walls with tiny prints. And whatever you do, don’t skimp on the sales screen. How big is your wall?