Spring into Primer with complimentary data imports

We want every Primer user to start off on the right foot. Therefore, we offer complimentary data imports and personalized one-on-one training. No start-up fees or time commitments required.

Our meticulous import team does a fantastic job taking your information from compatible sources (including spreadsheets, csv files, file folders or other databases) and fitting it into your new Primer database. We look to accommodate your schedule and work quickly. We want you to be able to use Primer's database as soon as possible for more efficient art business operations and better sales.

Your first day of use starts with a dedicated training session via Zoom and includes follow-up support via phone, Zoom or email. We can train teams together or have several individual sessions to more specifically focus on different job requirements (such as spending more time on registrarial needs like record creation and locations or taking a deeper dive into our sales tools). After you start, we also offer a periodical best practice analysis to make sure you are using Primer to the fullest, if desired.

We are now reserving import spots for Spring. Contact us for a demonstration of Primer art software for galleries and collections or Primer art software for artists. We would love to bring you -- and your history -- to Primer.

Extra time to be extra prepared

With a full week between Thanksgiving and the Miami fairs, this year there is no reason not to be prepared.

NOW: Create your Art Fair exhibition page in Primer. Add works as soon as the records are created (even if you don’t have every detail like titles or final images). Use Auto-Sort to arrange works by artist and other criteria (size/price/etc).

Contact your VIPS and any potential clien that you saw in Miami last year to see who needs fair passes or previews. This group is easy to search for in Primer by simply using the “Find Contacts” button from last year’s fair record and/or doing a quick search for your tags such as VIP, Collector, or Art Advisor.

Week before: Send out your preview. Some clients may prefer the traditional pdf preview which can be made in seconds. However, using viewing rooms means you can continually update the works’ status when reserved or sold.

We recommend having your main booth viewing room and also consider preparing viewing rooms for each individual artist that you are featuring. While our viewing rooms are fast to make on the fly, art fairs are a good reason to spend some extra time utilizing more advanced options. Experiment with color schemes or a dynamic gif as your header image. Keep the viewing rooms open in separate windows on your iPad or iPhone and you can airdrop or text them to clients on the spot.

Pro tip: Get a QR code printed on vinyl to attach to your booth wall. Use the same QR code year after year and have it lead to your link page which can be edited and updated with viewing room, social media and website links. There are free QR code makers or companies like Beaconstac provide easy to use link pages with QR codes for a small annual fee.

At the fair: Keep your art fair exhibition page open in Primer. After a client interaction, take a minute to sit down and record important details from your conversation. Link their record to artworks they liked, enter new contact information, and send an immediate follow up text/email with a personalized offer or invoice. Taking this immediate step every day means you can leave the fair secure in the knowledge that your new contacts are all safely in Primer’s cloud server and will automatically be backed up. Plus capturing those subtle details will provide you valuable insights later as you continue to build the client relationship.

Pro tip: For works under $5,0000, encourage clients to Venmo you on the spot. Zelle is also a great option for fee-free immediate payment. Still, be ready with a credit card processor on your phone, like the Square app which does not require any contracts or set-up fees.

Primer support is always happy to provide free one on one Zoom tutorials on best practices for using Primer at an art fair or any aspect of daily art business admin and sales. Please reach out to schedule an appointment for yourself or a colleague.

Primer "allows me to feel like I am great at my job"

We care deeply about our users' experience and are grateful that it shows in reviews left on independent software review site Capterra. Here are some recent accolades -- thanks to our clients who took the time to leave these thoughtful comments.

"Our gallery has tried many databases over the years and never has enjoyed customer service until Primer. Primer is constantly updating their systems and improving ways to sell artwork efficiently. Couldn't recommend enough!" (Gallery owner, New York City)

"Primer is a system that could only have been built by art world veterans who truly know and love the ins and outs of the business, from top to bottom and back again. Everything is designed for maximum efficiency and functionality in a way that allows me to feel like I am great at my job and provides my clients an exceptional level of service." (Gallery owner, Los Angeles)

"Primer is trusted for me as one of the best software for art galleries and art advisory companies. It is well designed, clear, and offers everything you need in one place. I especially love that it's one fee without a bunch of add ons and extras. This software is absolutely worth the subscription fee." (Art advisor, New York City)

"I've been using Primer for close to a year now, it has completely changed how I function as an artist and administrator. I no longer dread when someone asks me to send them a pdf of my work. In a matter of moments I can put together an online viewing room. Primer makes sales, inventory management, and contact management super easy. It can really be used by artists at every level. I have lots of experience with other inventory management systems and Primer is one of the only ones that makes keeping track of production costs, exhibitions, press and sales very simple." (Artist and studio administrator, New York City)

The best art database and the best customer support Whether you need a zoom screenshare, email reply, phone call or prefer to use our help center powered by zendesk.

The reality of email open rate tracking and why bigger is better for email marketing.

Creating great email announcements and making sure that clients receive them is important to any business and not specific to the art world. It is our opinion that you should choose a larger company or a company whose only speciality -- their core competency -- is email marketing. These businesses focus significant development budgets and resources on being great at email marketing, including a plethora of designs and a focus on getting through spam filters. Any niche art world company will have a fraction of the development dollars to spend on bulk email services. Dedicated email marketing companies will simply be better at getting the job done.

What about email open rate tracking? It's important to be aware that open rates can be a little deceiving. For example, the iPhone made some changes in 2021 so many emails that appear to have been opened, may not have been. (Some people noticed open rates doubling overnight when the change happened). This article describes the change and how it affected open rates. As valid concerns over privacy grow and companies like Apple and Google respond accordingly, email tracking may become increasingly less reliable.

Have a Squarespace site? Check out Squarespace marketing campaigns. It's not expensive to add-on, and you will be able to choose any images from your site to quickly make interesting and sharp emails. In addition to the other industry leaders (Mailchimp and Constant Constant), people are talking about exciting, new (and more affordable) options like Flodesk and Moosend.

Primer can provide bulk uploads to these services. Please contact us if you need more information on this option.

Not all statistics are equal.

Great dealers provide artists and consignors clear payment statements. Primer makes it easy to be great.

Business can be complicated, and reputation is everything. Build trust with your artists and consignors by providing clear and timely payment statement for work sold. When a work is consigned in (whether directly from an artist or a secondary piece from a collector), Primer will do the math once it's sold -- calculating the correct amounts due, accounting for shares in discounts, commission, costs or processing fees when applicable.

Then, it is quick and easy to make a payment statements to share with your consignors. A new user recently exclaimed that making such statements took hours of their time -- before they had Primer.

Show your consignors all the relevent information. For some, that might be everything: sales prices, discounts, commissions, processing fees, costs, percentages, names of the buyers, etc. For others, it might be a simple flat net fee that you owe them following the sale.

Primer allows you to choose how your statements should look, while doing the calculations for you.

Every single document in Primer can be quickly created and edited before saving as PDFs. You do not need Adobe Pro, Microsoft Word, or other software. Plus all of our docs -- from invoices to works labels -- feature your preferred branding, fonts, etc.

Your documents are a reflection of your business. Don't cut corners (or spend hours) on these important files. Let Primer do it for you in seconds.

Get ready before you are ready

Some newer art entrepreneurs make a misculattion that they aren’t yet big enough or "ready" for art business software. People end up waiting -- not until they feel ready -- but to the point when they feel overhwhelmed and are making mistakes. A key to making art software like Primer the biggest benefit to your company is to start using it from day one. Some reasons why:

1) Having a sophisticated, collective conscience for your gallery so that you don't miss a thing. You will never lose track of a client's nterests, connections, or potential. While it’s important to add new names to your Rolodex, it is pointless to have all those leads if you can't find them and don’t actively culativate the relationships.

2) Dress for success. Respond to client inquries in seconds with beautiful viewing rooms and documents. Give your artists clear payment statements for work sold. Remember to follow up on inquiries, stay on top of exhibition prep, and make art fairs more meaningful. Impress your clients by knowing when they are coming back to town, the name of their dog, or the exact works that they did or didn't like (such as when they missed out on a work that was already sold). You don't have to be a big operation to look and act like a pro.

3) Time is money. Value your time by making time for important activities like client outreach and artist cultivation, rather than wasting it on basic tasks. For example, it should not take you twenty minutes to put an offer togther or get a pricelist ready for your show.

The right tools should prove their worth each and every month, which is why Primer never tries to lock you into a contract or requires a set-up fee. Let the burden of proof be on us.

get great business habits in place before your doors are ready to open.

Basel Miami is bigger than ever -- How to stand out from the rest

ARTnews recently reported "Art Basel Miami Beach Plots Its Largest Edition Ever, With 283 Exhibitors." This amount doesn't account for the exhibitors at other great fairs running simultaneously including 140 at Untitled Miami Beach, 146 at NADA Miami, 155 at Art Miami and more at Context, Scope, etc. Those numbers sound daunting until you pair it with the fact that over 80,000 fair visitors descend on Miami in the week after Thanksgiving.

In preparation, it's worth revisiting some of our tips to be prepared before, during and after the fairs.

1) Choose thre 'right" art fair for you and only participate if you are prepare to put your entire investment down as a marketing expense and as a way to build your potential client lists, musuems connections and even strengthen ties with your fellow dealers in other cities. As a young gallery, NADA might be more beneficial than Art Basel Miami Beach, or perhaps the beachfront vibe of Untitled is best suited for your program. If you are an emerging gallery, look for special opportunities like Untitled's subsidized "Nest" program or Art Basel Miami Beach's Positions. However, you should always prepared for the worst case scenario of zero immediate sales. Sometimes the full financial benefit of a fair isn't quantifiable for a year or more.

2) Use the art fair as an incentive to get great work from in demand artists, to continue momentum for artists in a gap year between solo shows, or as a launching pad for new or lesser known ones. Offering a solo booth in Miami can be an incentive for securing work from a desirable artist that you might share with other galleries. On the flip side, don't stress your artists and bore art fair regulars by asking the same artists for work year after year.

3) Increase your sales potential during the fairs with fast follow-up. Primer users can easily show potential clients available works that are not in the booth and have materials immediately available on those collector's phones. For example, when that visitor leaves to sit down for a coffee in the fair cafe, they may already have a text message with a customized viewing room. Their visit to your booth will stand out and increase the likelihood of a return visit to seal the deal.

4) Sales don't stop when the fairs ends. Primer makes it easy to keep track of the interests and relevant details of potential clients and prompt tailored follow-ups in the months after.

5) As with any large business expenditure, analyze the full cost of the art fair in advance as compared to how else you might spend the same amount of money. If you are simply interested in getting to know a market, you might be better off spending the money to attend as a visitor and maximize your time socializing at events. Perhaps buying an expensive ticket to a high end gala is more beneficial than particpating in an art fair occuring at the same time. (Either way, Primer is there to save the relevant details and give helpful analytics later.)

6) Return next year prepared. When returning to a fair, reach out to those you met in the year prior with VIP offers or previews. It's a meaningful way to reconnect.

The Primer Archives team will be in Miami this December to support our many galleries participating in fairs. Contact us if you would like an in-person meeting. Otherwise, we are always available for personal presentations over Zoom.

Crowds of collectors and art loves arrive at Untitled Art Fair’s enviable beachfront location.

Teamwork does not have to come at a premium

Primer allows our users to grow and manage their teams as needed. There are no exorbitant fees per user or per device (computer, iPad, iPhone). Additional devices are FREE. Addtional users are just $10 a month and can be added or subtracted on a month to month basis. Have a summer intern for 3 months? Add them to your Primer account with restricted access so they can be helpful with admin while learning more from their time.

Effective businesses and studios use Primer to store sales insights, conduct business activites and track big projects in progress. A better understanding of your clients will lead to more sales. For example, you can quickly search for all your collectors who have purchased work but to whom you have not offered anything to recently. Take a deep dive into clients that you may have inadvertantly been ignoring.

Valuable information that is not easily saved now (and searchable later) is information lost forever, especially when working with a team.

Complete necessary admin, sell more artwork, stay more organized -- all in less time -- with Primer Art Software.

Whether day to day in the gallery or managing your booth at a major art fair like Art Basel, it can take a village as your art business grows and evolves. Image copyright Art Basel.

Do artists need gallery representation?

Art galleries can be fantastic partners in buildings artists' careers. However a traditional art gallery is not an artist's only path to success, especially today.

In her article "What Should Artists Do If They Want Gallery Representation?" for Artnet News, Francesca Gavin states "a track record that shows consistent production and an interested base can go a long way toward convincing a dealer that you are a known quantity."

Karen Chernick writes "For artists, being affiliated with a gallery can provide the backing needed to continue working. And for collectors, knowing that a trusted gallery is throwing their support behind an artist is a huge vote of confidence and often a definitive market signal." (Artsy)

However, as Gavin notes, "If you haven’t got a gallery, that does not invalidate your work as an artist."

Whether an artist has gallery representation or not, a key to success is great business organization and pursuing proactive sales activities. By having Primer as a CRM, artists can sell directly to collectors in a fast and professional way through offers and viewing rooms. Plus, all their artworks, sales, exhibitions, and other activites are archived and backed up. Primer offer free training and customer support to best utilize your Primer subscription. With a visually oriented design and intuitive workflow, Primer is made for users of all levels of experience.

Later, if an artist does begin working more exclusively with a gallery, they are instantly ready to provide a picture of their career trajectory and collector support. In fact, dealers report that they are more inclined to pick up an artist who has a clear archive of their past sales and collector base.

GALLERIST DAVID ZWIRNER AND ARTIST YAYOI KUSAMA. PHOTO: ANDREW TOTH/GETTY IMAGES. VIA ARTNET NEWS

Get personal and detailed

Sell more art by connecting with collectors more quickly and more personally. Primer’s online viewing rooms can be customized and created for individualized offers in seconds. These private web galleries can be updated or edited in real time.

Viewing rooms provide your client more details specific to their interest or concerns. They provide you with more control over your images and information.

Viewing rooms are unlimited and free with every Primer subscription. Primer Art Software is for galleries, advisors and artists who want to spend less time on admin while still making more sales.

How to make a note

Taking notes. Sounds simple, but Primer makes this everday act more dynamic with related notes. Client loves a work that's already sold? Make one note documenting this fact and it will appear on both the client and artwork's record.

It's a complicated business -- let Primer remember the details.

"Art Fairs Come Blazing Back, Precarious but Defiant" - The New York Times

"The art fair has awoken after a year-long slumber, refreshed and full of nervous energy—while at the same time undeniably transformed" (The Wall Street Journal). As the art fairs come roaring back (and back to back this fall), art dealers and artists are re-evaluating the importance of art fairs. Here at Primer, we believe that art fairs can be highly beneficial... when done right.

1) Choose select art fairs and only participate if you are prepare to put your entire investment down as a marketing or advertising expense. It can be a way to connect with a large group of collectors and curators in a short period of time, potentailly leading to opportunities such your artists being later chosen for a museum show. However, you should always prepared for the worst case scenario of zero immediate sales. Sometimes the full financial benefit of a fair isn't quantifiable for a year or more.

2) Use the art fair as an incentive to get great work from top selling artists and a launching pad for new or lesser known ones. Offers such as a solo booth in Miami can be an incentive for securing a desirable artist. On the flip side, don't stress your artists and bore art fair regulars by asking the same artists for work year after year.

3) Increase sales during the fairs. Primer users can easily show potential clients available works that are not in the booth. In addition, our users can instantly impress new leads. For example, when a collector sit down for a coffee in the fair cafe, they see a message with a custom viewing room on their phone. Their visit to your booth will stand out and increase the likelihood of a return visit to seal the deal.

4) Sales don't stop when the fairs ends. Primer makes it easy to keep track of the interests and relevant details of potential clients and prompt tailored follow-ups in the months after.

5) As with any large business expenditure, analyze the full cost of the art fair in advance as compared to how else you might spend the same amount of money. If you are simply interested in getting to know a market, you might be better off spending the money to attend as a visitor and maximize your time socializing at events. Perhaps buying an expensive ticket to a high end gala is more beneficial than particpating in an art fair occuring at the same time. (Either way, Primer is there to save the relevant details and give helpful analytics later.)

The Primer Archives team will be in Miami this December to support our many galleries participating in fairs including Art Basel Miami Beach, Untitled, and NADA. Contact us if you would like an in-person meeting. Otherwise, we are always available for personal presentations over Zoom.

2021 Global Art Market Report

Artnet Magazine recently summarized its top takeaways from the 2021 Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report. We were not surprised by this import point " The Gallery-Collector Relationship Remains the Heart of the Industry."

Artnet notes "For collectors, dealers and galleries were the most used channel for purchasing, with 82 percent of collectors having purchased through a dealer in the first half of 2021.

"As for the dealers, 69 percent of those surveyed for the report said that maintaining relationships with existing collectors as their top priority in 2021.[Followed by online sales and art fairs]."

Primer Art Software gives you visual insights into your collectors and potential collectors. Our users report increased repeat sales because they are making better, bespoke offers to existing contacts. Customized viewing rooms with personalized comments for an individual collector can be made in mere minutes adn can be edited or deleted at any time. Seeing what your client bought -- or almost bought -- can provide unique insights in what to offer next.

Primer also helps our users keep track of clients who have not been receiving offers or attention and ways to rengage these valuable contacts.

Artnet's final take away: "Business Is Looking Up in 2021… So Far." Let Primer help you ride this trenc by keeping up with your clients and keep upping your sales.

The Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report written by renowned economist Dr Clare McAndrew

Set yourself up for success

In a recent article, the Harvard Business Review discussed how to set up new employees when working remotely, and their advice can be applied in any sitution.

1. Getting off to a fast start to give your new colleague early comfort and confidence — making him or her feel welcome.
2. Establishing a foundation for strong relationships across the organization.
3. Building an understanding of the culture and how work gets done.
4. Setting clear expectations and connecting the individual’s work to the broader organizational mission, vision, and goals.

One of Harvard's keypoints about getting off to a fast start is "Set up technology before the start date." Galleries and studios using Primer have a partner in this goal. Primer's exceptional customer support and easy to use help desk are available to ensure that new and existing team members are ready to use Primer on Day 1. Training can be tailored to each employee's tasks (i.e. registrarial, sales, financial).

Primer encourages dealers and artists to better value their own time and spend their days on high level work such as creating artwork, curating exhibitions and cultivating collectors with bespoke offers and well timed follow ups. Contact us for a personal demonstration to see why Primer's unique features lead to less gallery management time and more art sales.

Whether you are a new gallery, a new artist or a new employee, set your art business and art career up for success with the right software, relationships and business habits.

Location, location, location

Where is your work? At the studio? At the gallery? In the flat files? En route to an art fair? How much work do you have in storage? Is the total value in line with your insurance limits? Use Primer to track where you keep all your artworks, to see a piece’s current wherabouts and its location history, to figure the total value of works in any one place, and to manage the contents of your primary locations for storing and/or displaying art.

In addition, when it is time to move works, Primer makes it quick and easy to generate and store signed work releases, shipping invoices and all the documents required to keep artwork properly tracked. Primer art software makes it fast and easy for small or large teams at art galleries and art studios to keep on top of these details.

“Groundswell,” a major sculpture by Primer Ambassador Artist Rachel Owens has just moved to its newest location in the permanent collection of the Berkshire Botanical Gardens. This incredible piece was originally displayed at Socrates Sculpture Park in New York City before being acquired by a prestigious private collection for over a decade.

Don't stop at the sale

An art dealer’s service to their client doesn’t end at the sale. Serve and protect your collectors and your artists (and yourself!) by continuing to care for the artworks. When the client or their shipper picks up the work, have a shipping release ready to sign and store in Primer. Make sure the work has a label on the back with the full caption and your contact information. As the artist’s prices increase, provide letters of valuation. Finally, when the time is right, consign the work back in and resell on behalf of your client. Or facilitate a loan or donation to a museum.

All these activities can be easily tracked and managed in Primer, with the appropriate documents created in seconds. Art galleries and art studios of any size can accomplish these tasks and more with the help of Primer.

"Time is the scarcest resource, and unless it is managed nothing else can be managed."

Inc Magazine posed the following questions to small business entrepreneurs: "So if we are working more hours than ever before, why then do most business owners feel like they don't have enough time to grow their business? That seems counterintuitive. You aren't short on time....you are short on attention. Sitting at your desk all day, doesn't create value for your company if you are focusing your attention on the wrong tasks."

Too many art gallery owners don't value their time highly enough and spend too much of it on tasks that should be automated, like making price lists, or copying/pasting jpgs and work labels, or searching through notes to find the collectors for a certain piece or artist. Likewise, artists lose creative time crafting pdfs of available works for their dealers or collectors, or figuring out where works are, or calculating how many sales they had last year.

Michael Mankins writes in the Harvard Business Review: "Our research indicates that the average company loses more than 20% of its productive capacity — more than a day each week — to what we call “organizational drag,” the structures and processes that consume valuable time and prevent people from getting things done."

Primer saves art dealers and artists hours every month through efficient admin tools, like fast document creation, excellent data organization, and easy yet robust search tools. Instead, our art professionals use those freed up moments to utlize Primer's easy to understand client analytics and offer tool. They have the bandwidth to make connections with their contact list, meaningful actions that lead to more sales and better relationships. As our users will attest: the monthly cost of Primer is a fraction of the value it produces in both time and sales. Primer is not just art software, it can be your gallery administrator, your sales manager, and your business's collective memory. Make your small team function like a big one with Primer art software.

“Time is the scarcest resource, and unless it is managed nothing else can be managed.” Peter Drucker, "The Effective Executive"

Primer makes it fast to find, organize, offer, and sell your artworks. Focus on what you do best.

Zwirner's Father Knows Best.

In a recent interview with Artnet Magazine, legendary dealer Rudolf Zwirner mused on the most successful galleries in today's challenging times, most especially his son, mega gallerist David Zwirner.

"With the pandemic is a real chance to start something new, while keeping on top of this virtual business—but they have to do it much better. One cannot just show inventory. Describe the major work, send texts around the major work, and do not send it to everybody. Send it people who will be interested on a personal level—it needs to be personal even if it is virtual. Very few people can do this. David and his crew are on top because they really explain and invite you in."

Presenting customized, thoughtful offers is THE key to turning your contacts into actual clients. Primer makes it easier to identify potential buyers among your contacts and quickly create personalized viewing rooms for every client.

Contact us to learn how Primer helps you sell more art and bring efficiency to the business of your gallery or art studio.

Where to find new art buyers. Hint: you already know them

Most galleries and artists have hundreds if not thousands of contacts who have expressed interest in their artwork. Ninety percent or more of those people have NEVER purchased something. Why? Because most art professionals don't take the time to understand their potential collectors better and use this knowledge to create compelling interactions and offers.

Many dealers and artists are so busy keeping up with necessary admin that they don't have time to cultivate their valuable contacts and relationships. When they do prioritze this important undertaking, they don't know where to start. That's why Primer has two main goals for our users:

1) Decrease admin time, including faster workflows and documents/viewing rooms that are quick and easy to make and edit.

2) Provide tools to find potential buyers and better understand their history, collecting habits, and general taste. Use your aesthetic instinct to predict what else they might like based on our analytics

We are happy to provide a demonstration of Primer that includes how these sales stratetgies work with the tools we provide.

The future of art sales is bespoke

The future of art sales is "bespoke," "carbon neutral," and "virtual" according to veteran art dealer Sean Kelly. Primer provides virtual tools and client analytics that stimluate productive discussions for our users with their potential collectors. These interactions are based on thoughtful analysis of past interests, leading to more successful offers. Plus, Primer's other features help decrease general admin time to allow for more collector outreach. Contact to learn more about our client relationship manager, easy to personalize viewing rooms and offers, advanced client searches and other features designed to inspire fruitful client relationships.

Stand out from the herd of email blasts and generic pdfs. As Kelly notes, "Galleries, many of which historically were sources of knowledge and connoisseurship, have morphed into global supermarkets, employing teams of salespeople on commission that function like incentivized call centers, inundating collectors with hundreds of scattershot and largely unwanted emails every day." (Sean Kelly, "It’s Not Too Late to Create the Art World We Want. Here Are Four Ways to Do It," Artnet Magazine, June 2, 2020)

Make your offers meaningful -- and convert them to sales -- with Primer.

Primer not only shows you what your clients have bought — but what they were offered and ALMOST acquired. These visual cues add to Primer’s arsenal of client analysis.