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If you’re attending this year’s DecoZone event you’ll be happy to know that Agricola Redesign’s very own Diane Agricola will be teaching two Intensive Learning courses on July 16!

Check out the descriptions below to learn more about the classes by Diane!

What You Need to Know to Open a Retail Location and Understand the Art of Wholesale Buying

Have you dreamed of opening a shop that offers your clients the items you’re already shopping for? Do you understand what is involved in buying wholesale for your clients? Have you often wondered what showrooms to go to at AmericasMart?

Diane’s class will focus on several things:

• Location, location, location moving your design business and opening a brick and mortar location for gifts and décor
• Secrets on navigating Americas Mart and other wholesale vendors
• Gain an understanding on market minimums, reorders, and show specials
• Setting up an inventory, pricing and merchandising your new business
• Hiring help and scheduling
• Keeping costs manageable when considering bags, bows and wrap

All class attendees will receive a Favorite Showroom list from Diane and her gift shop at A Village Gift Shop, a two-hour tour of showrooms with Diane including buildings 1, 2, and 3, and a 1-hour phone coaching session with Diane that is scheduled at DecoZone for a future date. This course is $199 and runs from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Register here.

Closing the Sale and Pricing Strategies

This class is a confidence-building talk about bidding on design projects in today’s economy. To run a successful business you need to price competitively and confidently for your services while also gaining an understanding and keeping a close watch on your business’s “close rate.”

Diane will help you understand all of this by providing you with the information needed to understand your client base and how to work with them to grow your business. Learn how to define your “close rate” by examining your business conversations and raising the percentage of clients and contacts into actual paying business through:

• Staging costs and pricing
• Personal shopping
• Design board pricing
• Commercial project pricing
• Flat-rate, cost-plus, or percentage-based pricing

Attendees will receive handouts to help them with pricing, a worksheet for confident sales, and a 1-hour coaching session with Diane that will be completed at a later date. This course is $199 and runs from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Register here. 

You can learn more about The DecoZone, AmericasMart Atlanta, and the Learning Intensives at www.thedecozone.com.