Brackwell Freight Ltd / BG-Demo – Check In
Callcompleted
Brackwell Freight Ltd · 23 Jun 2025 10:30
Check-in on 23 Jun 2025: around seven of 40 Growth users active, depots not using the brain, and the operations director has asked what the company gets. Term ends 30 Nov 2025, so a value case is needed before renewal.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Check-in on 23 Jun 2025: around seven of 40 Growth users active, depots not using the brain, and the operations director has asked what the company gets. Term ends 30 Nov 2025, so a value case is needed before renewal.
What happened: Marcus Bell, Customer Success Manager, ran a check-in with Liam Doherty, Head of Revenue Operations, on 23 Jun 2025. Daily activity was around seven people against forty licences, and questions were concentrated on Liam and one analyst.
Customer view: Liam said depot managers freeze at a blank box and think it is a head office tool. His operations director asked what the company gets for this, and Liam had no clean example to hand.
Commercial: Growth at £44k a year with 40 licences, term ending 30 Nov 2025, renewal date 1 Dec 2025. Liam wants a shared drive connector in the plan before the renewal conversation, and Tom Ashdown owns commercial terms.
Watch: The evidence does not show a renewal decision. Admin rights sit mostly with Liam plus one analyst, and adoption outside head office is the gap to close.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Depot adoption and value case
Importance
renewal
Sentiment
mixed
Voice
champion
Who was there
BG-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Marcus Bell to send the usage write-up and a one-page question list per role by the end of the week.
- Liam Doherty to pick a date for a video session with the depot managers and name the account for the value example.
- Marcus Bell to tell Tom Ashdown about the conversation so the renewal is not a surprise.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Only around seven of 40 licensed users are active, and questions are concentrated on Liam and one analyst.
- The operations director has asked what the company gets and Liam has no clean example yet.
- Depot managers see the brain as a head office tool, which puts the 40-seat Growth renewal at risk if adoption stays flat.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Liam wants shared drive documents added as a connector, and Growth has headroom within its eight connectors.
- A depot rollout with a question list per role and a champion per site could lift usage before renewal.
Transcript
Liam DohertyMorning Marcus. Can you hear me alright? I've got the new headset on and I'm not convinced.
Marcus BellMorning Liam. Yes, loud and clear. Can you hear me?- Liam DohertyPerfect. Sorry, bit of a scramble, I've literally just come off a call with one of the depot managers at Trafford Park. Three minutes of 'where's the dashboard', so that's a good omen for this one, actually.
- Marcus BellHa, well, that's the right kind of problem. How's the week been otherwise? It's pouring down here in Manchester, I got soaked walking from the station.
- Liam DohertySame, we're only a few miles apart and it's the same grey. Busy though. Peak season for the retail customers is starting to build, so everyone's a bit jumpy about delivery exceptions.
- Marcus BellRight, I can imagine. Okay, so what I wanted to cover today, and I'll share my screen in a second, is just a check-in. I've pulled the numbers on usage, I'd like to run through tickets, and then have a chat about what's next, because the renewal's coming up in the autumn and I don't want it to land on you cold.
- Liam DohertyLove that. Go for it.
- Marcus BellRight. Give me a sec. Sharing now. Can you see the usage summary?
- Liam DohertyYep, I can see it. Bit small, but yes.
- Marcus BellI'll zoom in. Better? So, headline first. You're on Growth, forty licensed users, contracted at forty-four thousand a year, and everything's lined up with what's been invoiced. No overdue invoices, nothing on the finance side to worry about.
- Liam DohertyGood. Yeah, finance would have shouted at me if there was anything.
- Marcus BellHa. Now, usage. On a typical day you've got around seven people actually active in the brain. Which against forty licences is, well, I'll be straight, it's on the light side.
- Liam DohertyYeah. Seven. I know. It's the same core group, to be honest. Me, two of the ops analysts, a couple of the account managers who got into it early.
- Marcus BellThat matches what I can see. And it's down a touch compared with the previous quarter. Not dramatically, a few percent, but it's moved the wrong way.
- Liam DohertyMm. Any idea why? Because I'd have said the people who use it, use it more than they did.
- Marcus BellYou're right about that, the ones who are in there are asking more questions. It's more that a couple of names that were active in the spring have gone quiet. Holidays might be part of it, and I don't want to over-read a few weeks. But I'd rather say it out loud than hide it.
- Liam DohertyNo, fair. I think two of the depot account managers moved onto a different shift pattern, and one of them is off for a while. So, yeah, that'll be some of it. But it's also the point I keep coming back to. Can we get the depots on it?
- Marcus BellThat's exactly where I wanted to go. Because you've got forty seats and the idea was always the depot account managers, across Trafford Park and the other five sites, seeing accounts, delivery-exception tickets and calls together.
- Liam DohertyOne view, that's the point. At the moment half of them are still opening the helpdesk in one tab, the CRM in another, and then ringing me to ask what the customer said on a call last week.
- Marcus BellRight. And that's the thing the brain is built to take away. Can I show you something on questions asked? It's the best single measure I've got of whether people are getting value.
- Liam DohertyGo on.
- Marcus BellSo here's the last three months, questions by user. And you'll see it's quite top-heavy. You and one of the analysts are asking a big share of them.
- Liam DohertyHm. Yeah, that's me. I'm in there a lot. I mean, I built the thing, so.
- Marcus BellSure, and I'm not saying it's a bad thing, it's what a champion does. It's just, if you were on holiday for a fortnight, would the questions carry on? That's what I'd want to know.
- Liam DohertyHa. Honestly? Not as much as I'd like. Okay. Point taken.
- Marcus BellNot a criticism. It's a gap we can close. Can I ask, what do the depot managers actually say when you ask them why they're not in there?
- Liam DohertyTwo things, mainly. One, they don't know what to ask. They open it, there's a blank box, and they freeze. Two, and this is the bigger one, they don't think it's for them. They think it's a head office tool.
- Marcus BellRight. That's really useful. The blank box thing, I hear it a lot. What tends to work is giving people three or four questions that are directly about their own accounts. Not generic ones.
- Liam DohertyLike what?
- Marcus BellSo for a depot account manager, something like, which of my retail accounts have had repeat delivery exceptions this month, and what was said on the last call with them. Or, what's changed on this account since I last looked. Things they'd otherwise go and piece together by hand.
- Liam DohertyOkay, that's good. Because that's literally the thing I want. Seeing an at-risk retail contract before the customer rings us. If a depot manager can see the pattern before the customer's angry, that's the whole value.
- Marcus BellThat's the case I'd want to make with your leadership as well, at renewal. So I'd like to give you a starter pack. A one-page list of questions per role, and I'm happy to jump on a short session with the depot managers if you want.
- Liam DohertyYes. Please. Could we do it as a lunch-and-learn sort of thing? They respond better if it's casual and someone's brought biscuits.
- Marcus BellHa, biscuits I can't promise, but I can do the session. Would you rather I came up, or do it over video?
- Liam DohertyVideo first, probably. Half of them are on the road. If it goes well we can see about doing something in person later.
- Marcus BellFine by me. I'll note that. Right, shall we look at the connectors for a minute? Let me change the view.
- Liam DohertySure.
- Marcus BellOkay. So this is the connector page. Your CRM, the helpdesk, the call recorder, the accounting system, all loading. Records indexed are climbing steadily, nothing flat, nothing that's stopped. So from a data point of view the brain's healthy.
- Liam DohertyThat's what I like to hear. Because my worry has always been, if it goes stale, people stop trusting it, and then it's dead.
- Marcus BellCompletely agree. And the nightly refresh has been finishing before seven each morning, so people opening it first thing are looking at yesterday's picture.
- Liam DohertyYeah, nobody's said otherwise. Is there room for more connectors, though? I've been thinking about whether we'd want the shared drive documents in there. Contracts, the service agreements with the retailers.
- Marcus BellThere is. You're on Growth, so you've got eight connectors in the plan and you're not at the ceiling. Let me double check how many you've configured. Hold on. Yeah, you've got headroom.
- Liam DohertyBrilliant. So if I wanted to do that, is it a big job?
- Marcus BellNot usually, but it depends on how tidy the folders are and who owns the permissions. I won't give you a timeline on the spot, I'd want to look at it properly with someone from our side. Shall we book half an hour for that, separately?
- Liam DohertyYeah, let's do that. Not urgent, but I'd like it in the plan before the renewal conversation. So I can say, here's what we're adding.
- Marcus BellGood thinking. Okay, tickets. Two in the last thirty days, and neither was high priority. Both are closed. I had a look and the response times were comfortably inside what's in your plan.
- Liam DohertyYeah, I remember one. That was one of the analysts not being able to filter the way they wanted. Your support team sorted it quickly.
- Marcus BellThat's the one. And honestly, two tickets from a user base your size is not a lot. I'd sooner see a few more, to be blunt, because a few how-to questions usually means people are poking around.
- Liam DohertyHa, so the silence isn't entirely good news.
- Marcus BellNot entirely, no. It's fine, it's just I'd rather the quiet came from people being happy than from people not being there.
- Liam DohertyFair. Right. Let me tell you what I'm actually seeing on my side, because the numbers are one thing. The operations director asked me last week what we get for this. Not in a hostile way. Just, what do we get.
- Marcus BellOkay. And what did you say?
- Liam DohertyI said we catch retail contracts earlier. But I didn't have a clean example to hand. I said I'd come back with one.
- Marcus BellRight. That's really helpful to know. I think that's the most valuable thing we could do together over the next few weeks. Find you one or two proper examples from your own data. A case where the brain surfaced a pattern across tickets and calls that you'd otherwise have missed.
- Liam DohertyYes. That'd be perfect. Even a small one. Something I can put in front of him in a couple of slides.
- Marcus BellI can pull that together. If you think of an account you were nervous about this year, tell me which one, and I'll trace back what was visible and when.
- Liam DohertyThere's a couple. One where the customer complained about late deliveries and, looking back, there were warning signs in the tickets for weeks. Let me think which is cleanest. I'll send you the name.
- Marcus BellPerfect. Send it over whenever. I'll keep it internal to you and me until you're happy with it.
- Liam DohertyCheers. Okay, and on the renewal itself. Remind me where we are on dates? I've got a feeling it's end of November.
- Marcus BellYes. The current term ends on 30 Nov 2025, and the renewal date is 1 Dec 2025. So there's a bit of time, but not loads, and I'll be sending the formal notice in good time. I'd like to have the value conversation well before that rather than leaving it to a quote landing in someone's inbox.
- Liam DohertyGood. And that'll be with Tom, on the commercial side?
- Marcus BellYes. Tom Ashdown owns the commercial terms, so anything on price or scope goes through him. I look after adoption and the renewal conversation itself, and I'll make sure he's looped in. I don't get into the price side myself, I'd only muddy it.
- Liam DohertyHa, fine. As long as someone does. And just so I know, are we expecting it to change much? Same tier, same shape?
- Marcus BellAs things stand it's Growth at forty-four thousand a year and forty licences. Anything beyond that, extra users or extra connectors, would be a conversation with Tom. I don't want to guess at it and have you take it as a quote.
- Liam DohertyUnderstood. That's helpful, thanks. I'd like to go in knowing the base number, then add things.
- Marcus BellExactly. So what would help is us getting adoption moving first. If the depot account managers are in there by the autumn, you've got a very different story for the renewal.
- Liam DohertyYeah. Right. So let's make a proper plan. Can I think out loud?
- Marcus BellPlease. I'll type as you go.
- Liam DohertyRight. One, session with the depot managers, video, short, with the question list. Two, I pick a couple of champions at the depots, one per site if I can. People who'll actually talk about it in the morning huddle.
- Marcus BellLove that, a champion per depot. That's the thing that moves usage more than anything I send.
- Liam DohertyThree, the example for the operations director. Four, the shared drive connector, which we've covered. Anything else?
- Marcus BellOne thing from me. I'd like to take a look at who your admins are. Just so I know who's got the keys if something needs changing on your side.
- Liam DohertyAh. Yeah. That's mostly me, and one of the analysts has admin as well. Why, is that a problem?
- Marcus BellNo, it's fine, you've got two. It's just good practice that it's not all sitting with one person. I'll send you the list so you can sanity-check it.
- Liam DohertyOkay, do. Honestly, I should write that down properly anyway. Documentation. Doing things properly, you know.
- Marcus BellHa, you do. That's what I like about working with you. Okay, so can I ask, from a user's side, is there anything that's annoying people? Anything in the way the brain answers that makes them roll their eyes?
- Liam DohertyHm. A bit. When you ask about a customer and the name is slightly different in the CRM and the helpdesk, you get partial answers. Like it's two companies.
- Marcus BellRight. Naming mismatches between systems. That's a common one. It's usually a clean-up on the source side, which is a bit dull but it makes a real difference. Can you give me a couple of examples?
- Liam DohertyI'll collect a few. I'd say three or four retailers where it's happened. I'll send those with the other name.
- Marcus BellGreat. Pop them in the same email. And I'll see what we can do on the matching side. I won't promise a fix, I'd have to check with the team, but I'll get you a straight answer.
- Liam DohertyThat's all I ask. A straight answer.
- Marcus BellAlways. Right, how are you for time? We've got a bit left.
- Liam DohertyI'm fine, I've got until eleven. Though, can I ask something slightly off topic?
- Marcus BellOf course.
- Liam DohertyOther customers like us. What do the ones who get the most out of it do differently? Because I don't want to be the one person who's into it and then everybody else just nods.
- Marcus BellHonestly, it's what you've just described. They've got somebody in revenue operations or similar who owns it, and then there's a habit built into the team. A question in the Monday meeting, answered live in the brain. Nothing clever. Just using it in front of people.
- Liam DohertyOkay. So put it on the agenda. In the weekly depot call, one question, answered on screen.
- Marcus BellThat's it. If it's you doing it every week the depot managers will start doing it themselves, within a couple of months, I'd say. It's slow, but it sticks.
- Liam DohertyRight. I like that. It's very me, a small thing done properly.
- Marcus BellHa. Exactly. And I can send a few sample questions each week if it helps, something you can drop in without having to think about it.
- Liam DohertyYes please. I'd take that.
- Marcus BellDone. Okay. Let me recap what I've got, and tell me if I've missed something.
- Liam DohertyGo.
- Marcus BellFrom me: a usage summary written up properly after this call, a one-page question list per role, a short session with the depot managers by video, and a look at the shared drive connector, which we'll book separately. Plus I'll trace an example from your own data for the operations director, once you've told me which account.
- Liam DohertyYes. And from me: the account name for the example, the list of customer names that don't match, a depot champion for each site, and putting a question into the weekly depot call.
- Marcus BellThat's it. Plus I'll mention to Tom that we've had this conversation, so he's not surprised when the renewal comes round.
- Liam DohertyGood. Do that. And Marcus, thanks for being straight about the usage. Some account people would've just said everything's great.
- Marcus BellNo point, you'd see through it, and I'd rather we fixed it. It's a good platform when people use it. I just want more people using it.
- Liam DohertySame. Right, last thing, and this is me being a bit paranoid. If I'm in the middle of a busy week and I miss the depot session, can you record it?
- Marcus BellYes, we can record it and share it afterwards. That'd probably help the people on shifts anyway.
- Liam DohertyPerfect. Then I think we're done. Unless there's anything else on your list?
- Marcus BellNo, I think that's us. I'll get the write-up over to you by the end of the week, and then if you can pick a date for the session, I'll fit around it.
- Liam DohertyWill do. I'll look at the diary this afternoon and come back to you.
- Marcus BellBrilliant. Thanks, Liam. Go and enjoy your day, and good luck with the peak season.
- Liam DohertyCheers Marcus. Speak soon. Bye.
- Marcus BellBye, bye.
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