• Have your space clean and professional-looking. Yes, it is a working space, but make it inviting for people to enter.
• Set up a demonstration area that is safe and effective.
• Kidproof the studio and store away solvents, sharp tools, etc.
• Look around your space for any trip hazards.
• Have a substantial amount of presentable work and have it nicely displayed. The key is to offer enough in a presentable way without overwhelming. Make it look fresh: they do not know how long that piece has been sitting around.
• Label the work in your studio with your name and price, or NFS.
• Have bios, statements, and newspaper articles in your career book for customers to flip through.
• Leave out an empty sketchpad, notebook, or guestbook in a prominent place and politely suggest that your guests sign in if they’d like to be notified of your upcoming events. Leave space for comments — people love to leave their two cents.
• Have extra business cards in your studio for interested visitors to take.
• Try to make important notes immediately regarding your visitors as soon as possible after they leave.
• Have plenty of packing materials for your sold work.
• Do you want to provide seating for people to relax? Sometimes visitors sitting in a studio space will spot something they didn’t see while walking around.