How to launch a Client Segmentation strategy at your gallery

First, what exactly is client segmentation? 

Identifying tiers of clients so that you can cultivate them appropriately and set goals for your sales team is important to most businesses. That’s not only tagging them, it’s also implementing a strategy with your team for client cultivation and documenting the overall desired client journey for all of your collectors.

The B word (Business) hasn’t been used nearly as much as it should in the predominantly privately owned and relatively unregulated art world. This is all changing as companies realize the stakes and that there are easier ways to run their businesses. They are turning to other industries with proven play books for bolstering sales teams, employee retention & recruitment, client relationship management and more.

A main area of focus as of late has been Sales operations and Client Relationship Management. These are not just buzz words, they involve strategy, a game plan and a sustained practice.

Here are some basic tips whether you’re just getting started or need to refresh your sales approach to keep up with changing client behaviors and the growth of the market.

1.
Document your company’s definitions for client tiers and how they exit out of the tiers into higher tiers

Sample Client Tiers and Exit Criteria

2.
Now that you have your defined segments and the exit criteria, inform your sales team how to start identifying clients in your CRM. Set a reasonable goal for when they will have all of their clients assigned to a tier or assign a sales lead to do it for the entire org.


3.
Work with your team to set a schedule for evaluating the different tiers. Perhaps it’s monthly or quarterly.


4.
Determine who is responsible for running the reports and presenting the data to the team or to the owners/leadership.

These are all suggestions for how to get started. The next level of Clienteling is using your insights to create personalized offers to your collectors to turn them into loyal, repeat and happy clients. After all, the art world is a relationship business- show your clients how much you care and think about them. Use ARTERNAL’s unrivaled Sales ops tools to help you do just that.