BMA House – Strategic events review and increased Profit contribution

Assignment

BMA House appointed GFG to undertake an independent audit and market appraisal to deliver an improved financial return for the British Medical Association. We were asked to put forward recommendations on how the Events team could engage more effectively with its various markets. This involved a full market appraisal, strategic business plan together with recommendations for delivering a more efficient and smarter operation.

During this 12 day assignment, we reviewed the following:-

• Undertook qualitative market research with existing channels and new segments within the London markets, including leading MICE agencies who had a strong affiliation with the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare sector.
• Consulted and gained a deeper understanding of BMA House processes, interviewing staff to ascertain their working practices, identified team strengths and areas for improvement.
• Conducted a “Mystery Shopping Exercise” on BMA House venues rivals, benchmarking how professional other London venues were when handling new business enquiries.

Output

• Processes and procedures – suggested alternative and more efficient ways to handle the volume of incoming enquiries, created a more proactive Sales culture, introduced a structured client account management philosophy and complimentary CRM database for the team.
• Identified sales gaps, due to the ‘Membership’ philosophy currently operated by the Association, suggested a more rigorous qualification process, allowing commercial events taking priority.
• When considering this ‘lost’ opportunity, our consultants identified that an additional £0.5m of profit contribution could be realised over a three year period.

RESULTS 

A year later the Head of Events informed us that following the Events team implementing our recommendations, they had some excellent results:-

• Future fiscal revenue – As a benchmark, based on their previous revenues BMA budgeted for a 5% growth for their following fiscal however they actually achieved a 20% increase following our report submission. As we were informed. 70% was down to GFG’s advice and report recommendations.