Use concierge influence to drive tourists to your gallery; in an effort to bring tourists to its galleries, Martin Lawrence Galleries in New Orleans held a party to introduce itself to the city's concierges. Similar efforts in your town may prove lucrative - strategy - Brief Article

Martin Lawrence Galleries, which has two locations on Royal Street in New Orleans, is one of the largest upscale gallery chains in the United States, according to company officials. And to keep that status, especially in this tourist-heavy town, they decided to try something a little different to drum up attention. Last July, the gallery's staff invited the city's hotel concierges to a party, hoping a sense of familiarity would encourage them to recommend Martin Lawrence to their guests. As with most galleries in New Orleans, approximately 95 percent of Martin Lawrence's sales come from the tourist market. And gaggles of beaded tourists who come to town are always looking for something a little more elaborate than a souvenir to take home with them when visiting the magical Cajun town. Therefore, the officials at the gallery saw the party as a win-win strategy.

"We were doing some brainstorming about how to get things rolling," consultant Dale Rossi explained. "Concierges have a lot of power in this town, because they can direct you anywhere, and it's up to their discretion where to send you. We wanted to take advantage of that and have them get to know us by doing something for them."

In a city such as New Orleans, where galleries live or die by the tourist dollar, the idea for the party may have seemed obvious. Yet, surprisingly, Martin Lawrence was one of the first galleries to host such an event. The event featured wine, champagne and finger food, with a little New Orleans-style music provided by a local jazz trio. "The rationale was to give (the concierges) a free night out in an elegant atmosphere as a way of enabling them to network with each other, while becoming familiar with our new gallery," Martin Lawrence Gallery Vice President Michael Lisi said. "We personally visited every hotel in the area, hand delivered personalized invitations and followed those up with telephone calls reiterating our invite. On the evening of the event, we had more than 150 concierges in attendance. Each received a "goodie bag" made up of an art book we published on Marc Chagall, a company newsletter, a small write-up on the Gallery indicating our art offering, point of view and hours, and we also gave them an Erte print (valued at $50), rolled with a ribbon, as thanks for attending."

The idea worked like a charm. Since the party, Martin Lawrence has attributed 10 sales, totaling nearly $55,000, to direct referrals from the concierges who attended.

At the party, the concierges were able to ask basic questions regarding the gallery's hours, merchandise and prices. Rossi said all who attended were impressed by the array of work available, adding he was surprised by the degree of interest they expressed in the gallery itself. "They really were interested in the artists and the company," he said, "how long we'd been operating, how we got started and how we amassed such a selection of Picassos, Chagalls and Warhols."

The galleries offer originals and prints by 20th-century masters such as Chagall, Picasso and Warhol, as well as the work of artists published by Greenwich, Conn.-based art publishing company Chalk & Vermilion, including Liudmila Kondakova, Erte, Thomas McKnight, Kerry Hallam and Steve Kaufman, as well as work from other publishing companies.

Thanks to the party's success, the staff in New Orleans plans on holding the event regularly, perhaps every six months. Chalk & Vermillion has also implemented the idea at some of its other Martin Lawrence Gallery locations. "We've done a similar event in Maui with great success," Lisi said, adding that he plans on expanding such parties to Martin Lawrence locations in Beverly Hills, San Francisco and Soho.

"The idea grew from thinking that retail in this environment has to be about more than waiting for customers to show up uninvited," Lisi said. "Our goal at Martin Lawrence has been to create interest in our galleries by creating events that will draw people to us regularly. If modern retail is about being interest driven, we want to join the fray and generate excitement and interest."

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