Good Negative Feedback

I sometimes think that I over-analyze aspects of the gallery business. Even as I write that sentence I worry that maybe I haven't given some thing enough thought and I am going to be caught unprepared. There are days in the gallery that are intensely busy and other days that are very quiet. On the quiet days I get enough, or maybe too much, time to think. Those are the days I come up with some good ideas and occasionally some really bad ideas. It was one of those days that developed the questionnaire I sent out four or five years ago. It was fun and the responses were interesting. We got a couple of very useful ideas from that. On the other hand, the 'focus group' idea died a quick death due to lack of interest.

Recently someone asked to be taken off our mailing list. This happens rarely enough that I was worried. Had we done something wrong? The best form of positive feedback for the gallery are sales. But, good negative feedback is truly difficult to obtain. It would be so handy to peer into the minds of people who come into the gallery and just learn what the issues are and deal with them as best we are able. Unfortunately, a good discourse on improvements rarely happens.

Again, I could be over analyzing. But it seems to me we have some very good policies as a result of some comments. For instance, we sell any painting without the frame having learned that framing can be as much a personal choice as the art work. The gallery is open every day of the week as a result of other comments. And just for your information, being open every day of the week is our response to not being open during the evening.

So if you have any advice, please comment here. If you have anecdotes from your own experience we would love to see them here. Or, since criticism should be done in private, while praise should be public anyone can email me with complaints at vaultart@goldrush.com.

Kristen Kestly

owner of the Vault gallery