BE BUSINESS READY IN 2011 – SUMMER DATES
11-05-2011
Improve your business skills and your chances of success!
Take the mystique out of running a successful business.
Do you want to be able to market yourself and your designs to the world?
Do you want to be able to approach buyers and negotiate the best deal?
Do you want to be in control of your businesses finances?
Do you want to be able to take good business decisions based on sound information?
Do you want to feel more in control of your production?
Following the success of previous workshops, Fashion Enter are running a fresh series of six practical workshops (plus a extra, seventh, workshop for those who need to write a business plan) to help you get your business in good shape from a financial, production and sales & marketing point of view. Aimed at fashion designers who are either just starting out or have been running for a while and want to improve their business.
These workshops are designed to be practical – giving you simple tools to help you manage your business as well as an understanding of the principles behind them. You can attend the whole series to get a good rounded set of business skills or just the ones you need to get a specific insight on the subjects of your choice.
During the workshops you will get a chance to apply your new-found knowledge through a few exercises. You will also get the chance to discuss your own particular needs both during the workshops and in one-to-one surgeries immediately after.
Each Workshop will last about 5 hours, starting at 9.30 a.m. One-to-one surgeries will be held at the end of each workshop – you will be able to book a timeslot as each day progresses.
The workshops will be delivered by our Specialist Advisor, Nigel Rust (see profile on Fashion Capital website: Industry/Specialist Advisors).
Location: Fashion Enter, The Factory, Anthony Nicholas Cottage, Florentia Clothing Village, Vale Road, Haringey, N4 1TD. Tel: 0208 809 3311
Dates: June 16th, 23rd, 30th, July 7th, 14th, 21st, (plus Aug 18th) 2011.
Price: £50 + VAT per delegate per workshop.
How to Book: Please email Jenni Sutton at Fashion Enter: jenni@fashion-enter.com
Workshop Details:
Workshop 1. Thursday 16th June 2011.
Title: How Much Are You Really Making?
Topics:
1. Introduction to Profit/Loss –How many garments do you have to sell before you start making money? How do you know if your prices are going to cover all your costs? Why wait until the end of the year to find out from your accountant just how successful you were this season? A simple Profit/Loss account is the starting point to answering these questions and helping you manage your business well.
2. Recording your sales and purchases – Simple, practical, ways to record your income and expenditure that don’t take up a lot of time but do keep you in control.
3. How to treat stock – How to value fabrics, trimmings and finished garments.
4. VAT – Do you need to be VAT registered? Would it pay to be VAT registered?
5. Cash Flow – How would your business be affected if one of your customers was late paying you? Are you sure you will be able to pay for your garments when they are ready? This section will introduce a simple cash flow tool to help you plan ahead.
Workshop 2. Thursday 23rd June 2011.
Title: How Rich Are You Going To Be?
Topics:
1. Forecasting/Budgeting – Why bother to forecast? Tips on how to forecast and how to make good use of a variable forecast.
2. Costing/Pricing – How to pitch your price. Are you going to recover your costs?
3. Break Even Point – How much do you need to sell to start making money? How much money will you make as your sales increase? How will your pricing decision affect the answer to these questions? This section will give you an easy-to-use method of working this out – a tool that will be very useful in helping you take sound business decisions.
4. More about Cash Flow – Making sure you get paid on time.
Workshop 3. Thursday 30th June 2011
Title: Getting the Most Out of Your Manufacturer
Topics:
1. Finding suitable manufacturers – Where to look. Creating a short list.
2. Selecting a manufacturer – What to look out for. Check list of requirements. The importance of a relationship. Sampling v Production.
3. Developing the relationship – developing mutual trust
4. UK v Overseas – the pros and cons
5. Communications – How to get your spec across. Delivery expectations. Quality. Progress chasing. What the manufacturer needs from you.
6. Production planning – What you need to do to keep the manufacturer on track.
Workshop 4. Thursday 7th July 2011
Title: Making It Happen
Topics:
1. Objectives – Know where you are now and where you want to be.
2. Action Plans – Pulling together all the strands of what you need to do to get to where you want to be, with an emphasis on actions and timelines. Product development/Sales & marketing/PR/Production/Financials/Cash Flow. This section will also give you the chance to develop your own action plan.
3. Gantt Charts – an amazingly straight forward and simple tool to help you achieve your goals and keep you on target.
4. Driving the business forward – Monitoring, reviewing, revising. Staying one step ahead.
5. Review of previous material – a brief revision of what we have learnt over the four workshops.
Workshop 5. Thursday 14th July 2011
Title: Sales & Marketing
Topics:
1. The Elements of Marketing. How to bring together the important elements required to
market your designs – the ‘P’s.
2. Working out your USP (Unique Selling Point). What makes your designs different? Why
should someone buy your designs instead of some else’s?
3. Branding. Stand out from the crowd.
4. Promotion – PR, Shows, Website, Social Media etc. How to go about promoting yourself
and your products.
5. Routes to Market. Choosing your outlets – direct to public/wholesale/agents/export/
internet etc.
6. Targeting. Pinpointing your buyers.
7. Useful tools to help you on the way.
Workshop 6. Thursday 21st July 2011
Title: Selling and Negotiating
Topics:
1. The Sales Campaign. Identifying buyers, preparation, planning, timing.
2. The Approach. How to make initial contact and how to follow it up. Making best use of
telephone, email, letters, photos and copies of PR articles.
3. The Pitch. How to make them want to buy from you.
4. The Negotiation. Getting the best deal.
5. Closing. Getting the order.
6. Review
Delegates will get a chance to practice what they learn throughout the workshop, resulting in greater confidence and ability to go out and sell.
Workshop 7. Thursday 18th August 2011
Title: Writing Your Business Plan.
Topics:
1. Why do you need a Business Plan? – The purpose and the audience. The difference between a formal business plan and your business management plan.
2. What goes into a Business Plan – The contents.
3. Describing your business to the audience – The difference between marketing language and business language.
4. Your Sales & Marketing Plan (and back-up research) – How are you going to achieve your sales projections? What makes you think they are realistic?
5. The Financials – Presenting the financial projections + how much finance do you need?
6. The People – Who is involved in your business? Presenting your credentials.
7. Risk Analysis – Have you thought about what might go wrong?
