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ART AND ANTIQUES BUSINESS BOOKS FROM THE CONSULTANT PRESS

The Consultant Press publishes how-to business manuals for artists, photographers, art dealers, and small business owners. Of particular interest to art, antiques and collectibles dealers are three titles by Zella Jackson-- The Art of Selling Art, The Gallery Management Manual, and The Art of Creating Collectors. While they're written mainly for art dealers, antiques and collectibles dealers will also find them helpful because of similarities between the two businesses. Both types of dealers represent what they sell as beautiful, historically significant, rare, valuable, and/or decorative; both sell to people who collect; both help build collections; both display and feature merchandise in similar ways.

The major plus point of Jackson's books is that she teaches dealers how to apply sales and marketing strategies used by major corporations. She successfully combines her love of art with her previous job experiences in upper level marketing and operations for "Fortune 500" companies like Dow Chemical and IBM. By applying her principles, dealers learn how to qualify buyers, use team selling, identify customer personality types, handle buyer objections, plan exhibitions and shows, physically arrange their shops or galleries, display merchandise, develop collections, and much much more. She also includes sample forms that anyone can use for purposes like tracking collectors, monitoring business operations, documenting phone and mail communications, recording client profiles, sending announcements and follow-ups to collectors, organizing shows, and recording customer purchases.

Jackson's books are especially good for dealers who have trouble selling, talking about their merchandise, closing sales, or communicating with buyers. She provides all sorts of tips on effective selling and gives readers the confidence to approach potential buyers and convince them to buy. Her techniques seem a little mercenary at times, but you have to remember that she came up through the ranks of major corporations-- entities not generally known for warm fuzzy behavior in the marketplace.

Another helpful title from Consultant Press is The Art of Displaying Art. It too applies to antiques and collectibles as well as fine art and covers everything from how to arrange art on a wall to lighting, labeling, captioning, organizing display space, and making effective use of vitrines, glass cases and cabinets. Author and professor Lawrence Smith taught display and exhibit design at the Fashion Institute of Technology, one of the few places in the country that offers programs in gallery and museum management. If you want your space or shop to look less like a cluttered closet and more like a museum full of important rarities and artifacts, pick up a copy of The Art of Displaying Art.

A Consultant Press title for all business people, no matter what their lines of work, is How to Avoid 100 Small Business Mistakes, Myths, & Misconceptions. The book is written for people already in business as well as those who are just starting out. It covers topics like setting a business up, pricing, overspending, human dynamics, money management, and marketing and sales. Author Gary Schine is president of Business Builders, a consulting firm specializing in developing business plans, venture financing, marketing, and brokering.

The great thing about Consultant Press titles is that they're written in simple language that anyone can understand. Their authors are accomplished business people and consultants who normally charge hundreds of dollars an hour for their services and seminars, but who share their expertise and secrets of success with you in book form for only $29.95-$49.95.

The Art of Selling Art, Second Edition by Zella Jackson, The Consultant Press, Ltd., NY, 1994, softbound, 189 pages, 8 1/2 by 11 inches, $49.95.

The Art of Creating Collectors by Zella Jackson, The Consultant Press, Ltd., NY, 1994, softbound, 127 pages, 8 1/2 by 11 inches, $49.95. The Gallery Management Manual by Zella Jackson, The Consultant Press, Ltd., NY, 1995, softbound, 125 pages, 8 1/2 by 11 inches, $49.95.

The Art of Displaying Art by Lawrence B. Smith, The Consultant Press, Ltd., NY, 1997, hardbound, 127 pages, 8 1/2 by 11 1/4 inches, $29.95.

How to Avoid 100 Small Business Mistakes, Myths & Misconceptions by Gary Schine, The Consultant Press, Ltd., NY, 1991, softbound, 124 pages, 8 1/2 by 11 inches.

Zella Jackson's books and several additional titles are available from Novasearch Consultants, 12130 D'Mar Drive, Greenville, MI 48836 or call 616-225-1402 or visit the Zella Jackson website.

Except for The Art of Selling Art, these and other titles from The Consultant Press, Ltd. are also available on Amazon.com.