RFP Closing Date: 29 April 2024
Overview
The aim of the project is to increase income and profitability of our venue hire business over 2024-25. The business is lean in terms of management and staffing, we operate it on 2 days of our Head of Commercial and Operation, and an Event and Venue manager. Most of our delivery staffing is through agency provision. We do have an open vacancy for a sales executive, but we are reviewing what we need and will aim to fill that role in April.
Client: Toynbee Hall Trading – Venue Hire (Trading Arm of Toynbee Hall)
Industry: Event Space (venue hire)
Location: Central London (fringe of the City).
Background
Toynbee Hall offers event spaces for a range of occasions.
Based in the East End of London since 1884, Toynbee Hall is a charity that works alongside people facing poverty, injustice, and inequality to build a fairer East London.
Our Grade II listed halls located on the fringe of the City, offer event spaces for a range of occasions. Our unique venues and rich history make us a prime choice for various types of events, and the revenue generated from our venue hire operations goes back into the charity so we can provide vital services for the community.
What we are looking for
• An agency or individual that can show a clear logical pathway to increased revenue.
• Experience and Specialisation in the hospitality / events business.
• Clear Strategic Approach.
• Digital expertise.
• Clear success measures linked to business outcomes.
• Cost effectiveness.
Current situation
Our average revenue per event is ca. £1,487 (we support over 300 events per annum).
After a consistent year of trading, we aim to stabilize and grow our business over the next financial year. We have a good understanding of our current customer base, and a large proportion of our new business comes from referrals.
There is a significant opportunity to increase both referrals and new business from other sources or add on additional services / and work with bigger events to increase our average revenue per event.
Objective: Increase monthly revenue by approximately £10k by improving marketing efforts. This could include increasing number of event bookings, increasing average value by shifting target market and exploring new market segment.
We have been testing the wedding market, but there are some challenges due to the size and nature or our venue.
Current audience/Target audience
1. 70% non-profit organizations, 30% for-profit – would like to increase businesses as currently the commercial business provides about 40% of our income.
2. We have a bit of a sweet spot around social investment, funding bodies (for example National Lottery Community Fund, Big Society Capital etc).
3. We do get some TV / Film work periodically – which is very lucrative but not predictable.
Scope of work (Phase 1)
1. Market Analysis: Identify growth opportunities within and/or beyond our existing client base. Are there any adjacent, untapped markets that can be identified?
2. Marketing: Developing both digital and traditional marketing strategies that are easy to implement and automate where possible. It would be good to have 2-3 tactics that we can employ and sustain after the initial engagement period.
3. Metrics: Setting up tools for tracking performance and ROI (we use HubSpot for managing sales and marketing processes – we do have some of this in place).
Scope of work (Phase 2)
1. Support delivery of strategies for the first 3-6 months of 2024 / 25 financial year.
Timeline: Phase one – May, phase two – May onwards.
Proposal Requirements: agencies or consultants should submit an outline of how you would approach the problem, case studies, cost breakdown, and team information.
Please send any questions and responses to proposals@toynbeehall.org.uk