Martin Lawrence Galleries.

Martin Lawrence Galleries, which has brace locations on Royal Street in modern Orleans, is one of the largest upscale gallery chains in the United States, according to company officials. And to continue that status, especially in this tourist-heavy town, they decided to essay something a little different to tympanum up attention. Last July, the gallery's staff invited the city's inn concierges to a party, hoping a faculty of perception of familiarity would encourage them to praise Martin Lawrence to their visitors As with most galleries in just discovered Orleans, approximately 95 percent of Martin Lawrence's sales flow from the tourist market. And gaggles of beaded tourists who approach to town are always looking for something a little more elaborate than a souvenir to take abode 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 more [i]or[/i] less brainstorming about how to secure things rolling," consultant Dale Rossi explained. "Concierges have a hazard of power in this town, because they can direct you anywhere, and it's up to their discretion where to emit you. We wanted to take advantage of that and have them get by heart to know us by doing something for them."

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

The idea worked like a charm. Since the party, Martin Lawrence has attributed 10 sales, totaling nearly $55000 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 means of the array of work available, adding he was surprised by dint of the degree of interest they indicateed in the gallery itself. "They really were interested in the artists and the company," he said, "how protracted we'd been operating, how we got started and to what extent we amassed such a selection of Picassos, Chagalls and Warhols."

The galleries give originals and prints by 20th-century masters like as Chagall, Picasso and Warhol, as well as the work of artists published by means of 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 succes the staff in strange Orleans plans on holding the adventure regularly, perhaps every six month Chalk & Vermillion has also implemented the idea at a certain number of of its other Martin Lawrence Gallery locations. "We've done a similar affair in Maui with great success" Lisi said, adding that he plans forward 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 point out to up uninvited," Lisi said. "Our goal at Martin Lawrence has been to create interest in our galleries by dint of creating events that will draw race to us regularly. If fresh retail is about being interest driven, we want to join the fray and generate excitement and interest."

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