Brackwell Freight Ltd / BG-Demo – QBR
Callcompleted
Brackwell Freight Ltd · 3 Oct 2025 12:45
On the 3 Oct 2025 QBR, Brackwell Freight's health looked good but adoption is narrow: eight or nine users of forty, with questions concentrated on Liam. Depot dashboards are the plan before the 1 Dec 2025 renewal.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026On the 3 Oct 2025 QBR, Brackwell Freight's health looked good but adoption is narrow: eight or nine users of forty, with questions concentrated on Liam. Depot dashboards are the plan before the 1 Dec 2025 renewal.
What happened: Marcus Bell reviewed usage with Liam Doherty alone. Connectors are loading, records are climbing, and there were no tickets and no overdue invoices.
Customer view: Liam wants depot account managers to see at-risk retail contracts first, so he is not the bottleneck. He expects his finance director to ask what forty seats and eight people are paying for.
Commercial: Only a couple of dashboards have been built on Growth. Marcus left renewal terms to Tom Ashdown, who will be in touch.
Watch: A fortnight's absence by Liam would quiet the questions. Marcus promised to come back on an HR connector.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Depot adoption before renewal
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 build the first depot dashboard with Liam Doherty on Wednesday and send a bulleted usage summary.
- Liam Doherty to send the depot account manager and finance names by the end of the week.
- Tom Ashdown to contact Liam Doherty about the renewal, with Marcus Bell passing on the usage picture.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Eight or nine active users against forty seats gives the finance director a value question at renewal.
- A large share of questions comes from Liam, a key-person risk.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- A per-depot dashboard with a depot filter could bring the depot managers in within the forty included seats.
- An HR source was asked about and Growth has connector headroom, though Marcus has not yet confirmed it.
Transcript
Marcus BellHello, Liam. Can you hear me alright?
Liam DohertyLoud and clear. Afternoon, Marcus. Sorry, one sec, I'm dragging this onto the other screen. Right. Done.- Marcus BellNo rush at all. How's the week been?
- Liam DohertyMad, honestly. It's been chucking it down in Manchester since Monday, the yard at Trafford Park is basically a lake, and every retail customer wants their Christmas volumes confirmed by yesterday. So, normal.
- Marcus BellHa, sounds about right for October. It's the same here, drizzle all week. Anyway, thanks for making time over lunch. I know it's tight.
- Liam DohertyNot a problem, I've got a sandwich, I'm fine. Go on, what've you got?
- Marcus BellOkay. I'm going to share my screen, give me a second. Can you see that? The usage report?
- Liam DohertyYep, I can see it. Bit small, but yep.
- Marcus BellI'll make it bigger. So what I want to cover today is three things. First, how the brain's been used since the last review. Second, what you'd like to get out of it next, because I know you've got ideas about the depots. And third, the renewal, just so nothing surprises anyone, because the contract ends on 30 Nov 2025 and the new term would start on 1 Dec 2025.
- Liam DohertyRight, yeah. Love that. I did see the date come up in the reminder. Fine. Let's start with usage.
- Marcus BellGood. I've pulled the numbers. You're licensed for 40 users on Growth. Over the last month the average number of people active in a given period is eight or nine. That's up a little on the previous quarter, so moving the right way, but it's a small number against forty seats.
- Liam DohertyYeah. That's the bit that annoys me, if I'm honest. It's revenue ops, a few of the account managers, and a couple of the finance people who dip in. The depots are barely there.
- Marcus BellRight, and that's what I wanted to ask about. When you rolled it out, which depots did you start with?
- Liam DohertyTrafford Park first, because that's where the biggest retail contracts sit and where I could stand next to people. Then we did a session with the account managers at a couple of the others, and then, I don't know, it kind of stalled. Everyone's got a day job. One view, that's the point, but they've got to open the thing.
- Marcus BellMm. That's common, to be fair. Let me show you the questions people are asking, because that's the best measure of whether it's earning its keep.
- Liam DohertyGo on.
- Marcus BellSo this is questions asked, month by month. It's steady, and a touch higher this month than the one before. What I'd flag is this column here, who's asking them. A big share of those are you.
- Liam DohertyHa. Yeah. That tracks. I use it every morning. Before the call with the retail leads I ask it what's open with them, any delivery exceptions, what was said on the last call.
- Marcus BellWhich is exactly what it's for. I'm not saying it's a problem. I'd just rather the questions were spread across more people, so the value doesn't depend on one person remembering to ask.
- Liam DohertyNo, fair. That's the same thing I'd say if I was reviewing someone else's tool. If I'm off for a fortnight it goes quiet.
- Marcus BellRight. So that's one of the things I'd like to work on with you. Let me carry on though, there's a bit more on the health side. Connectors are all loading. Records indexed are climbing every week, nothing flat, so the nightly refresh is doing its job and the data's fresh by the morning.
- Liam DohertyGood. I'd have noticed, I think. I'm always looking at the retail accounts first thing, and they've been right.
- Marcus BellAnd on support, there've been no tickets from you in the last month at all. None, high priority or otherwise.
- Liam DohertyIs that good or bad? I never know with that. Is it that nothing's broken or that nobody's using it enough to break it?
- Marcus BellHa, bit of both, honestly. I read it against the usage. Here, the connectors are healthy and the records are growing, so I think it's mostly that nothing's gone wrong. But it'd be nicer to see a few how-to questions from the depots, because that would mean they're trying it.
- Liam DohertyYeah. Okay. That's fair. And invoices, you're not going to tell me there's a problem with that, are you?
- Marcus BellNo, nothing overdue, everything's been paid. Nothing to worry about there.
- Liam DohertyGood. Right, so. Depots. Can I be straight with you about what I actually want?
- Marcus BellPlease. That's what this bit's for.
- Liam DohertyThe reason I bought it, the whole reason, was to see an at-risk retail contract before the customer rings us. And the people who see it first are the depot account managers. They get the phone calls. They get the delivery exceptions. If they're not in the brain, I'm the bottleneck. I'm the one reading it out to them. That's not the point.
- Marcus BellRight. So what would make them open it? What do they do all day?
- Liam DohertyHonestly? They live in the helpdesk and their inbox, and a spreadsheet for the daily exceptions. If it's not in front of them they won't go looking. They want a page for their depot. Their accounts, what's open, what's gone late, what the customer said last. One screen.
- Marcus BellOkay. That's doable, and it's what the dashboards builder in Growth is for. You've got it on your plan and, I'll be honest, I've only seen a couple of dashboards built so far.
- Liam DohertyYeah, I built one for myself and one for the retail leads, and then I ran out of time. I didn't know if I could make it per depot or if I'd have to rebuild everything six times.
- Marcus BellYou wouldn't have to. You'd build one with a depot filter and then each manager gets their own view of it. Happy to jump on a call and build the first one with you. I'd rather do it together than send you a guide.
- Liam DohertyLove that. Yes. Let's do that. How long does it take?
- Marcus BellA first version, an hour or so. Shall we book that for next week?
- Liam DohertyNext week's fine. Not Tuesday, I'm at a customer site. Wednesday or Thursday.
- Marcus BellWednesday, then, I'll send an invite after this. And then once there's something to show them, I'd suggest a short session with the depot account managers, so they see it on their own accounts. Not a general demo. Their own data.
- Liam DohertyYes. That's what worked at Trafford Park. The moment they saw their own customers in there, they got it. Before that it was just a thing Liam keeps going on about.
- Marcus BellHa. Right. So who would you want in that first session? I'm thinking a handful, not all of them at once.
- Liam DohertyI'd say the account managers at the three biggest depots after Trafford Park. And I'd want one of the finance people there, because they're the ones chasing late payers and they never know what's gone wrong on the delivery side.
- Marcus BellThat's a good shout. Can you send me the names? Then I can check they've all got a login, and I'll sort the invites.
- Liam DohertyWill do. By the end of the week, I'll drop it in an email.
- Marcus BellPerfect. While I've got the screen up, can I show you one more thing? Something you might like.
- Liam DohertyGo on.
- Marcus BellSo this is the calls view. I've filtered it to the retail accounts you care about. You can see the calls pulled in, and next to each one it's linked to the open delivery-exception tickets for that customer. So you can see a customer mention a late pallet on a call, and the ticket sitting there open.
- Liam DohertyOh, that's nice. That's the one I'd want the depots to see. They never know what's been said on the account-manager calls at head office.
- Marcus BellExactly. So that goes in the depot dashboard too. I'll make a note.
- Liam DohertyBrilliant. Right, so, hang on. Let me ask you something about the licence. We've got forty seats and I've got eight or nine people using it. If I get this right and I get, say, thirty people on it, that's fine, yeah? That's within what we've paid for?
- Marcus BellYes, absolutely. You've got room for forty on Growth. Nobody needs to pay anything more to get to thirty or so. If you got beyond forty we'd have a different conversation, and there's an add-on for extra users, but that's a nice problem to have.
- Liam DohertyHa. Okay. We'll see. I'd just want to be sure I'm not going to get a bill for filling the thing up.
- Marcus BellNo. Not for anything inside the forty. And that's partly why I wanted to show you the headroom, there's a lot of paid-for capacity you aren't using yet.
- Liam DohertyWhich is also a bit of a flag for me when I go to my finance director. Because he'll look at forty seats and eight people and ask what we're paying for.
- Marcus BellYeah, and I'd rather you went in with a story than with a gap. That's partly why the depot rollout matters before the renewal. If we can show more people asking questions by November, that's a much better conversation.
- Liam DohertyRight. So that's the renewal bit then. Talk me through it. What happens, who do I speak to?
- Marcus BellOkay. So the current term runs to 30 Nov 2025, and the order form says the renewal date is 1 Dec 2025. At the moment you're on Growth at £44k a year, and that's what's contracted and what's been invoiced. Nothing odd in there.
- Liam DohertyRight. And does that stay the same?
- Marcus BellCommercials are Tom's area, Tom Ashdown, he's your account owner. I don't want to guess at the paperwork and get it wrong. What I can tell you is he'll be in touch about the renewal, and I'll make sure he's got the usage picture from today so he's not coming in cold.
- Liam DohertyOkay. Fair enough. Honestly, I'd rather hear it from him than have you fudge it.
- Marcus BellHa. Yeah, no, I'd get it wrong. What I do own is the usage side and making sure it's worth it to you. So, I'll write up a short summary after this, what we've looked at, the numbers, and what we've agreed on the depots. You can use that with your finance director if it helps.
- Liam DohertyThat would actually help, yeah. Keep it plain. He doesn't read anything with more than a couple of bullets.
- Marcus BellBullets, then. That I can do.
- Liam DohertyHa, I thought so. You do love a bullet.
- Marcus BellGuilty. Right, is there anything else you want from the brain that it isn't doing? Anything frustrating?
- Liam DohertyHmm. Not frustrating. There's one thing. Sometimes I ask it a question about a customer and it gives me the answer, but I can't always tell where it got it from. Which call, which ticket. I want to be able to forward it to a depot manager and say, look, here's the source.
- Marcus BellIt should be showing sources underneath the answer. Let me try one live. Give me a customer.
- Liam DohertyTry any of the big grocery ones. Ask about late deliveries in the last month.
- Marcus BellOkay, so, there. Answer at the top, and underneath are the linked items. Three tickets and one call. If you click that one it opens the call summary, and you can copy the link and send it straight to someone.
- Liam DohertyOh. Right. I've been scrolling past that. That's embarrassing.
- Marcus BellNot at all, it's a bit tucked away. I'll put it in the notes for the depot session as well, because they'll need to know.
- Liam DohertyGood. Yeah. Right, sorry, I've got one more and then I'll let you go. The HR side. I know the brain can do it, but we haven't connected anything. Is that a Growth thing, or is that something else?
- Marcus BellConnectors have a limit on Growth, and you're not near it as far as I can see, so adding a source is possible. But I'd like to check what's connected today before I say yes to anything. Can I come back to you on that, rather than answer off the top of my head?
- Liam DohertyCourse. It's not urgent. It's more that someone in the depots asked and I didn't know what to say.
- Marcus BellUnderstood. I'll put it on my list and come back to you next week, same email as the summary.
- Liam DohertyPerfect. That's me done, I think. Anything else from your side?
- Marcus BellJust to play it back so we've both got it. One, I send you a usage summary after this, in bullets. Two, we build the first depot dashboard together on Wednesday. Three, you send me the names of the account managers and the finance person by the end of the week and I set up the session. Four, I check the connector question for you. And Tom will be in touch about the renewal.
- Liam DohertyThat's it. Sounds good. Honestly, this was more useful than I thought it'd be. I came in expecting a slide deck.
- Marcus BellHa, no slides. Just the numbers and a few things worth fixing. Thanks for your time, Liam. Speak soon.
- Liam DohertyCheers, Marcus. Speak soon. Enjoy the rain.
- Marcus BellYou too. Bye.
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