6 steps for selling yourself and your tattoo services

One of the rewards of being a tattoo artist is being able to do what you love. But here’s the hard truth: all the talent and skill in the world won’t bring you success if you can’t close the sale. Given the growing acceptance and popularity of body art, means more competition, and more choices for potential clients. Selling tattoos can be just as hard if not harder than creating them, so here are a few tips to get you master the art of (pardon the pun) inking the deal.

Know your client

Along with knowing your art form comes knowing your client. Is this their first tattoo or do they have their entire body covered with ink? Why have they come to you for their tattoo? You should know their what motivates their choice and understand how you and your shop fit into the decision. When you know the “buying habits” of your client, you can use that info to develop a more comprehensive plan—that means repeat business. Put yourself in the best position to get a “yes” by focusing on what most concerns your prospective client.

Believe in yourself

It’s an age-old sales maxim that believing in your product or service is essential. It’s the same whether you’re selling toasters or tattoos. You will never be effective selling something you do not believe in — and that includes yourself. When you exude passion and confidence — without being an a-hole rockstar — you break down the wall of doubt and earn the trust of your client. It is your ultimate goal to have a client believe in you, trust you, and see that you’re coming from some place much deeper than just making money. Once you achieve this, you will absolutely, positively be more successful.

Sell the relationship

It’s especially true in the tattoo community that relationships are more valuable to both you and your client than a one-time session. For the artist, relationships bring repeat business, the ability to explore a wider variety of projects, increased referrals, and the ability to charge a premium because of the higher perceived value of your work. For the uncertain client, relationships help build trust and let them know they will not be abandoned after the tattoo is finished. Tattoos are for life, and ultimately, the client is buying a unique relationship with you and your studio, not something they can get from every other shop in town.

Stick to your price

There is no perfect formula for pricing your work, but one rule to remember is don’t cheat yourself. Charge what you feel comfortable charging, but err on the high side. Low pricing often signifies to clients that the artist doesn’t have confidence in their work. Prices can go up, but they should never go down.

Offer options

No too clients are alike in regard to what they want and what they can afford. Keep your prices consistent, but offer options that fit their budget with sacrificing quality. Maybe a different size, style or less detailed design. Instead of giving your clients a choice between you and a competitor, you’re allowing them to choose between you and YOU. People are going to price shop; it’s unavoidable. You want to ensure they’re price shopping in your shop only.

Don’t seem desperate!

Everybody has their slow days, but do yourself a favor and never appear as though you’ll do ANYTHING for a buck. Smart customers avoid used car salesmen willing to say or do whatever it takes make a sale. So, don’t make a deal just to fill the chair or offer some cheesy tattoo at a next to nothing price simply to stay busy. Remember that you’re giving your client something special that will make their lives better, and your attitude ought to reflect that. Make your client feel like you’re helping them — not that they’re helping you!

The Experts Weigh in on Tattoo Remorse

“You’re going to regret that when you’re older.” It’s catechism number one of the tattoo industry’s detractors. But is it true? If you sit in at an afternoon bridge club or hang out in the stands of a high school soccer game, you’ll likely hear enough anecdotal evidence to solidify the statement as gospel. But anecdotes are why people try to cure cancer with castor oil. What does the actual data say? Is there any on the subject? As it turns out, there’s plenty. Academia is watching.

To cut through the speculation, we sifted through 15—yes, 15—peer-reviewed, academic articles, plus a public poll on tattoos, covering their evolving social status and their psychological effects on those who obtain them. The process was illuminating, but mind-numbingly tedious. Academia has a real knack for sucking the life out of otherwise interesting subject matter.

So, how much merit is there in the fearful mutterings of child-rearing suburbanites? Statistically, not much.

First, we have the numbers from a national poll conducted by Harris Insights and Analytics in late 2015. Of those surveyed who had tattoos, only 23% expressed regret over their choice. Of that 23%, the most common regrets were what you would expect. They got it too young, their personality has changed, it’s an ex-lover’s name, it’s poorly executed, it lacks meaning; basically, all the textbook faux pas actively avoided by self-respecting artists.

It should be noted, however, that tattoo regrets have risen by 9% since 2003. But considering the rapid growth of the industry during that period, it should be expected. In 2003, the percentage of the populace with one or more tattoos was at 16%. By 2015, that number had jumped up to nearly one in three. Among the youngest demographic (18-24) the rise took an even steeper climb, from 13% in 2003 to 35% in 2015. No, we’re not mixing up proportions with raw numbers. We are merely suggesting that the intense spike in the numbers, especially among the young, suggests a hastiness in the populace, perhaps recklessly so, which again, leads to the reasons for regret cited by the survey.

Equally compelling is a 2011 academic study conducted by Viren Swami of the University of Westminster in London. Swami recruited 82 clients from a London tattoo parlor and conducted three surveys, one preceding the tattoo, one immediately following, and one three weeks later. The surveys focused on the overall confidence of the subjects, self-esteem, body image, etc. The results extensively erode the authority of the conventional wisdom on the subject, if not directly contradicting it.

“Indeed,” he wrote, “the present study found that obtaining a tattoo resulted in a significant improvement in self-esteem over a three-week period among both men and women. This finding is notable because it highlights the positive impact of obtaining a tattoo on an individual’s overall sense of self.”

Tattoos and the Self, a 2012 study that focused specifically on women with tattoos, further illustrates a low recipient-to-regret ratio. Of the women surveyed, 87% stated that they were happy with their choices and planned to get more tattoos in the future. Those that did express regret gave reasons largely analogous to those previously cited, which as already noted, can be largely avoided through the current existing practices of quality parlors.

But not even academia is completely capable of pure objectivity. There was more than one study in which the authors seemed to rely heavily on residual cultural bias. One article from South Korea, for example, viewed the growing comfort with tattoos as cause for alarm, based purely on previous unsavory associations the trade has now largely shed.

“Continuous attention to, and interest in, the increased incidence of tattooing and piercing are necessary, especially in terms of public interventions for health education and health promotion, as these forms of self-adornment are associated with behaviours that pose a risk to health,” they concluded. Somewhere within the thought process was an arguable confusion of correlation and causation, as well as use of outdated metrics.

Overall, however, even the most biased of studies failed to prove any significant negativity associated with getting a tattoo regarding the internal state of the recipient. There is still more ground to cover on the external perceptions—meaning other people’s view of a tattooed person—but even there, the numbers are moving in a positive direction. For example, according to the Harris Poll, 58% of Americans now say they are comfortable with having someone with tattoos in the Oval Office.

Given the topic of the discussion, these trends will be difficult to reverse. Tattoos, by their nature, aren’t a fad that can just fade away like a style of jeans or a brand of shoes. So long as quality artists continue to wrest control of the industry from the scratchers, honing their craft and exercising cautious responsibility, we will likely see an end to the remaining stigmas on tattoos in our lifetime.

Years ago, your parents were right. But now they’re wrong.