I happened to notice this morning that a gentleman was taking a piece out of the antiques gallery of a near-neighbor. With all of us so crowded together in the mid-19th century commercial enclave that composes Jackson Square, it is hard to keep any secrets. I say this by way of an explanation for those of you who think, as close-watchers of the neighbors that Keith and I have become what we call in England ‘curtain twitchers.’ If we were to so become, we would, without doubt, move somewhere where our neighbors were more, shall we say, comely.
The gentleman who was coming out of the gallery was, moreover, someone I recognized. His wife and he are Angelenos, but stop in from time to time on the way to their home in the Napa Valley. Most recently, I had seen them at the Los Angeles Antiques Show, making a few quick forays through our stand. They kept returning to the same item, but never lingered long enough for me to engage with them. I have had to learn, and Keith continues to remind me, that one doesn’t pounce on gallery visitors, who find my heretofore practiced car salesman’s technique somewhat off-putting. While we try to be quietly watchful, those browsers really interested do tend to declare themselves.
Or so I’ve always thought. The item the gentleman, a lawyer, looked at repeatedly was something we’ve had in inventory for several years and it will go on our sales page in a few days time. As a lawyer, he is not a shrinking violet, but I have to assume, with his repeated return, and repeated looking at the price card, he must have been interested, but overcome by the price. Moreover, the price must have been so much higher than he wanted to pay that he was put off even making an inquiry.
This represents a lesson for us always that, right now, we need to relearn- if it is for sale, price it to sell. Buyers are so skittish at the moment that it is the easiest thing in the world for them to talk themselves out of the purchase. As an example, we’ve had weeklong negotiations recently over a matter of a few hundred dollars on a $6,000 table- last year, the same client spent $20,000 on another piece without batting an eye. However, we did come to terms with this gentleman, and invoiced him. A more striking example is that of a gentleman who made a six-figure purchase late last year. He inquired early this year about a low five-figure item, which he then said he would buy. We invoiced him, and within a day, he reneged- the first time that has ever happened to us- saying he just couldn’t justify spending the money. Clearly, he’d talked himself out of the purchase.
Although I hope a few of my devoted readers take in my last blog entry and realize that now is a good time to make a good buy, my own obligation to clients is clear- make sure that the price on the price-tag is reasonable in the here and now, not the six months ago.
By the way, any of you who read my blog who are not registered with us as private clients, please do so and get first notification of our 4th Annual Summer Sale.