Glacier

"I'll pay you $50 for your artwork," I said to Mrs Htay. She had asked me to attend an opening reception of a Burmese Artist hosted by a Art Gallery on a hot Saturday afternoon. Her husband was the guest of honour. He was presented with a small painting signed with the 3 initials "KWK" and he gave this token of appreciation to his wife. I had never met KWK but I saw her paintings at the Art Gallery. I

Expressionistic paintings for sale. Toa Payoh Vets

appreciated her type of painting of the Burmese countryside as I love paintings of nature, natives and animals.

That small painting given to Mrs Htay measured around 0.5 foot x 0.5 foot. It was a small painting of 1/4 sq. ft framed by little bamboo sticks. It was a painting that would bring back good memories of my attendance at this Art Gallery. It would bring back memories of Mr Htay who was the guest of honour and Mrs Aung, another Burmese lady who did not want to attend this opening reception but obliged when I asked her. She had told me frequently that art had no appeal to her at all and she just would spend her time on other matters. But most important of all, this small painting by KWK would hang nicely in the very small waiting area at Toa Payoh Vets.

"No, no, no!" Mrs Htay raised her voice as if she sounded insulted. "I want $500". Was she serious or joking?

"Mrs Htay, $50 is a very good price," I said. "It is a very small painting. I value it as $50 per 1/4 sq. ft . It sells at $200 per sq. ft. For $500, the painting must be bigger. Bigger paintings take a longer time to paint and therefore cost more."

Mrs Htay was silent or maybe she was furious. It is hard to know what the female species of the human race think. Females of the homo sapiens are inherently more emotional in their business interactions and I knew intuitively that I had offended Mrs Htay.

"Please accept my offer," I persisted. Mrs Aung who was with me on the day after the visit to the Art Gallery looked at me incredulously as if I had got tick-borne fever. She was surprised that I had offered $50 for that small painting by KWK. She would consider that small painting was not worth the canvas it was painted on.

Mrs Htay must be fuming mad internally as she remained silent. This was my speculation judging from her mannerism.

"Mrs Htay, I don't even know whether KWK, the artist is famous or not and therefore I offer you $50." Paintings can be an excellent investment as well as an object of appreciation but you must buy one from a famous artist.

"Dr Sing, the painting is worth $500" Mrs Htay was adamant but could not support her valuation to justify her selling price. She was not in the art of business and knew nothing much about art. Except as another commodity to sell and get a commission.

"Dr Sing is a miser," she probably thought of me but she was too polite to say so in my face. She would let Mrs Aung know later and Mrs Aung would let me know accordingly. This offer was an easy $50 since the cost to Mrs Htay was zero. She did not know how to do the business of art. So, there was no counter-offer from Mrs Htay. It was $500 or nothing.

Now, Mrs Htay was a very good sales person in her startup tourism business. She had the gift of the gap, sociable and very tenacious in closing sales. She followed up and networked. She faced rejections and was tired out. Yet she persevered and succeeded despite cut-throat competition. She would be persistent, sought out prospect and befriended everybody thus increasing her network and closing some sales out of the hundreds of people she met. This type of outgoing personality is rarely present in many people as rejections are hard to stomach.

Expressionist paintings, Bagan, Irrawady River. Toa Payoh Vets

Mrs Htay was the type of salesperson all companies would love to employ as she was hardworking and able to close sales.

The only quirky part of her personality was that she would bad-mouth a person without a thought and words would come back to the person affected. I knew this because one Burmese businessman phoned me to tell me to be careful of "people" who would talk bad things about me behind my back. It was unfortunately a part of her personality, a weakness she was not aware of. Part of her extrovert personality and probably nobody had ever confronted her about it.

You could see that she even managed to persuade me to attend an art reception at an Art Gallery on a Saturday afternoon. Saturday is my day off and I treasure it as I work all the other days of the year.

An offer of $50 for a small painting by KWK was in Mrs Htay's hand but she remained silent. I was quite surprised that she did not give a counter offer. That is part and parcel of good salesmanship. The lowest offer may not be the final offer.

If she had countered with "$400", there would be progress in the negotiations. Part of good salesmanship is to counter-offer to close the deal. Negotiate to obtain a win-win solution rather being silent. Most likely she was unhappy that I had the temerity to offer $50 for the small painting by KWK. Maybe she knew something that I did not - the small painting by KWK would be worth much more than $500 if she did not sell it. Maybe I have better do some research before I offer any amount to Mrs Htay.

NOTE: 2 pictures of big paintings by KWK are shown in this picture. Unfortunately for me, I did not take a picture of her small painting. Any reader interested in viewing paintings by KWK, e-mail judy@toapayohvets.com or tel +65 9668-6468. More KWK paintings for sale are at:
Create Not Consume Project - Vet Students To Excel in Digital Photography