for Procurement

We appreciate the layers of procurement challenge in the area of meetings & events, and the gaps left in the frequently travel orientated SMMP models:

• Are your meetings delivering ROI or do you need a policy health check? 
• Have you got the tools to audit your TMC without going to RFP?
• Can you /should you buy venue placement and creative event delivery together?
• What savings should creating an SMMP or SEMP generate?
• What are the benefits to convergence of hotel and meeting programs?
• What do you have to consider when going from local to glocal?
• How do you evaluate the cost of RFP in this area or the need?

We have experience of working across the spectrum from those who have just inherited the challenge of these tricky categories with little time or resource, to the most experienced buyers who want validation and benchmarking support to be sure they are performing as best in class. A health check from the Doctors will very quickly benchmark where you are in your journey and signpost how you get to the ultimate position of achieving business objectives.

Recent projects range from managing a global hotel and meeting program across 106 countries, helping government departments better understand their event customers and reshape their event programs & suppliers to deliver the right value, to procuring a mobile exhibition truck! 

for Agencies

What makes you different?… if your standard answer includes any of “our people” “buying power” “our passion” “free service” then you are not alone…  

• Are you looking to grow the meetings & events part of your business?
• How do you compete on clear differentiators rather than points of similarity?
• Are you equipped to prospect, engage and stand out from the crowd to win new business?
• How do you maximise opportunities across your client base and form long term strategic relationships?
• Do you want to ensure you have the optimum skills, structure and technology to enable all of this?
• How do you benchmark your performance against your competitor set?
• What does best practice look like and what are the benefits from achieving it?

The Doctors have worked for a number of the leading UK agencies at senior level positions across Operations, Client Management and Business Development. We have also sat at Board Level on industry associations and been part of Judging Panels recognizing innovation in the Industry. Let the Doctors give your business a diagnostic review that will check the shape you are in now and give you all the support you require to achieve the rudest of health.

Through a combination of consultancy projects, training, health checks, recommendations and hands on proposal writing we have already helped agencies achieve their objectives and win contracts worth over £10m in turnover. We mentor and meddle, but we never muddle!

for Venues

You have worked with agencies for years, but do you really know how you form strategic relationships that engage to get the meetings & events business you want?

• Are you looking to grow market share in a specific market, such as L&D, but unsure of the smart way to approach and who with?
• Struggling to get through the door never mind have meaningful engagement with agents?
• Getting through the door but your review meetings are not delivering value for you or your stakeholders?
• Do you want to know what is important to big corporates and how agents can support this?
• Do you need a compelling value proposition that stands you out from your competitors?
• Are you creating winning proposals that do justice to your proposition, and do you even need to?
• Under pressure from the FD to justify commission payments, or just need to understand who you should be paying to get results? 

Cake drops and presentations help the consultants remember your venue (well, until the next venue comes in!) but may not engage the more commercially focused stakeholders. The Doctors know that the nuances of the specialist areas under the broad umbrella of meetings and events are what make all the difference between being stuck in the same cycle or succeeding. Book us in for a house call and the prescription you need to get things moving forward.

We have worked with venues ranging from the long established and well respected to brand new and those wanting to enter the corporate meetings & events market for the first time. A few simple steps have transformed their value propositions and achieved their sales targets. 

Contact: enquiries@conferencedoctor.co.uk