Brackwell Freight Ltd / BG-Demo – QBR
Callcompleted
Brackwell Freight Ltd · 2 Jan 2026 13:00
On the 2 Jan 2026 QBR, Marcus Bell showed daily users down by nearly a third on forty Growth licences, with questions concentrated in two or three people. Liam Doherty wants a value case before the 1 Dec 2026 renewal.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026On the 2 Jan 2026 QBR, Marcus Bell showed daily users down by nearly a third on forty Growth licences, with questions concentrated in two or three people. Liam Doherty wants a value case before the 1 Dec 2026 renewal.
What happened: Marcus Bell reviewed usage with Liam Doherty and Aisha Rahman. Daily active users were just under six against forty licences, softening from November. Marcus said the data is current and the connectors are loading, and no tickets were raised in the last month.
Customer view: Liam accepted the picture and said the rollout never stuck without someone chasing the depots. Aisha does most of the delivery exception questions for the Tuesday operations review and is uneasy about carrying the admin role alone.
Commercial: The Growth subscription is £44k a year and the contract runs to 30 Nov 2026. Liam wants to tell the business it is getting its money's worth, and price at renewal was left to Tom, the account owner.
Watch: Low usage with a silent ticket queue and a single heavy asker is a renewal risk, not a contract breach. The evidence does not show the renewal outcome.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Falling usage 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 send the depot usage list and a note on half-hour sessions that week.
- Liam Doherty to line up the depot managers.
- Marcus Bell and Aisha Rahman to book an admin walkthrough in the next couple of weeks.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Daily active users are just under six against forty Growth licences, down by nearly a third on the previous quarter.
- Most questions come from two or three people, and Aisha Rahman alone supports the Tuesday review and much of the admin.
- Liam Doherty needs to show the business value for £44,000 before the 1 Dec 2026 renewal.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Short per-depot sessions built on each depot's own delivery exceptions could widen use across the licences.
- Aisha Rahman has offered to help bring depot managers on board.
Transcript
Marcus BellHello, can you hear me all right? I've got you both on screen, but I'm not sure the sound is picking up on my side.
Liam DohertyLoud and clear, Marcus. Afternoon. Happy new year and all that. Can't believe we're doing a review on the second of January, who schedules these?- Marcus BellHa, guilty. It was the only slot that worked for all three of us before the end of the month. Hopefully nobody's too thrilled to be in.
Aisha RahmanHi both. Sorry, I'm in the quiet office, so it's just me and the heating. Afternoon.- Liam DohertyThe whole building's empty. Trafford Park is a ghost town. Depots are running skeleton shifts, so honestly this is the calmest we'll be all year.
- Marcus BellGood, then we can actually think. Right, I'll share my screen and say what I want to cover. Can you see the usage report?
- Aisha RahmanYes, I can see it. The one with the blue chart at the top.
- Marcus BellThat's the one. So, three things. First, I've pulled the numbers on usage over the last quarter. Second, what you're actually using the brain for, which is the bit I care about most. And third, a rough look ahead to the renewal, just so nothing surprises anyone. Does that work?
- Liam DohertyWorks for me. Love that. Go on, hit me with the usage, I've got a feeling I know what you're going to say.
- Marcus BellOkay. I'll be straight, because I think you'd rather I was. You've got forty licensed users on the Growth plan. Over the last month, the average number of people actually logging in on a given day is just under six. And compared with the quarter before, that's down by nearly a third.
- Liam DohertyYeah. Yeah, that's about what I expected, to be fair. Well, I hoped it was a bit better than that, but it's not a shock.
- Aisha RahmanJust flagging, some of that will be the Christmas period. I know half the depot managers were off from the middle of December. But I'm not sure that explains all of it.
- Marcus BellThat's fair, and I did look at it with that in mind. The dip does start a bit before the holidays though. If you look at the line here, it's already softening in November. So the holidays made it worse, but I don't think they started it.
- Liam DohertyRight. No, that matches what I've been hearing, which is the thing I wanted to dig into. Can I ask, who's still using it? Like, specifically?
- Marcus BellSo the core group is you, Aisha, and a handful from the account management side. There's a couple of depot people who dip in most weeks. But a lot of the names on the licence list haven't logged in for weeks, and some of them, I'd say, not since the first month after rollout.
- Aisha RahmanI think that's right. I've looked at the admin page a few times, and there's a long list of people who were set up and then, I don't know, never really picked it up.
- Liam DohertyWhich is on me, partly. We did the big walkthrough in the spring, everyone nodded, and then I assumed it would stick. It never does without somebody going round the depots and nagging.
- Marcus BellI wouldn't put it all on you. We did the training sessions together, and I think we can do more on the follow up. That's partly why I wanted to talk about the questions, because it shows what's working. Can I show you that bit?
- Liam DohertyPlease. This is the bit I like.
- Marcus BellSo, questions asked. The number is lower than last quarter, in line with users. But look at who's asking. Most of them come from two or three people. Aisha, that's you, I think, for the bulk of the delivery exception ones.
- Aisha RahmanYes. It's for the Tuesday operations review. I put the numbers together on a Monday afternoon, and I use the brain to pull the exceptions by retail customer. Is that wrong? Is it me doing it wrong, or is it okay that it's just me?
- Marcus BellNo, not wrong at all, it's exactly the kind of thing it's for. I'm just noting that if you were off sick on a Monday, that Tuesday review would be harder. It's what I'd call a one person dependency. It's fine, it's just worth knowing.
- Aisha RahmanOh. Right. I hadn't really thought of it like that. I suppose nobody else would know where to look.
- Liam DohertyAnd that's the thing, isn't it. One view, that's the point. That was the whole pitch. Everyone sees the account, the delivery exceptions, the calls, all in one place. If it's only Aisha seeing it, then we've just built a very expensive spreadsheet for one person.
- Marcus BellI wouldn't put it quite that way, but I understand the frustration. I'll just say, the data is there and it's good. Records are still being indexed every night, the connectors are all loading, nothing is broken on our side.
- Aisha RahmanI did check that, actually. Before the call I looked to see if the numbers were stale, because I thought maybe that was why people had stopped. But everything looked current to me.
- Marcus BellGood, and that's what I see too. Which brings me to the other thing I noticed. You've had no tickets at all in the last month. Not even a how to question.
- Liam DohertyHa. Is that good or bad? I never know with that one.
- Marcus BellHonestly, it can be either. Sometimes it means everything's smooth. With a user base this size, though, and usage going down, I think it means people aren't trying things and getting stuck. They've just stopped. That's the bit I'd rather change.
- Liam DohertyYeah. No, I agree. A quiet ticket queue is the thing that worries me. When people are annoyed, at least they shout.
- Aisha RahmanCan I ask something? Is it a problem for the contract if we've got forty users and only a few are using it? I don't want to say anything wrong, I just don't know.
- Marcus BellIt's not a problem for the contract, no. You're licensed for forty and that stays the same whether or not they log in. What I care about is whether you're getting value out of it, because that's what makes the renewal a good conversation rather than an awkward one.
- Liam DohertyOkay. So let's talk about that, then. The renewal's in December, yeah? Right at the end of the year.
- Marcus BellThe contract runs to 30 Nov 2026, so the renewal date is 1 Dec 2026. You came on in December 2023, so that's the third anniversary. Plenty of time, and I'm not raising it to pressure you. I'd just rather we spent the next few months making the case properly.
- Liam DohertyFine. And remind me, we're on, what is it, forty-four thousand a year?
- Marcus BellForty-four thousand a year, £44,000, matches the order form and what's been invoiced, so no surprises there. On what happens to the price at renewal, that's a conversation for Tom, your account owner. I don't want to guess at it and get it wrong.
- Liam DohertySure, no, that's fair. I'll catch up with Tom nearer the time. I just want to be able to say to the business that we're getting our forty-four grand's worth.
- Marcus BellWhich is exactly what I'd like to help you do. So, let me suggest a plan, and you tell me if it's daft.
- Liam DohertyGo on.
- Marcus BellOne. I'll put together a list by depot of who's licensed and who's actually used it in the last couple of months. So you can see where the gaps are, not just a total. Two. Instead of another big training session, we do short ones, half an hour, per depot, with a real question from that depot. Their own delivery exceptions, their own retail customers. Three. We work out two or three questions each depot manager would ask every week, and make those easy to find.
- Liam DohertyLove that. The depot one especially. Can we get the depots on it? Yes, that's what I've wanted. If a manager sees their own exceptions in thirty seconds, they'll use it. If I send them a link and a PDF, they won't.
- Aisha RahmanI could help with that. I mean, if it's okay. I know the depots a bit from the Tuesday review, and I know which managers actually read what I send round.
- Marcus BellThat would be brilliant, honestly. You know the people. I'll bring the product side and you bring who needs to hear it. Happy to jump on a call with each depot, if you can line up the invitations.
- Liam DohertyI'll ask the depot managers myself, they'll say yes to me. And I'll tell them it's not a test, it's to save them chasing me for numbers.
- Marcus BellPerfect. Aisha, one other thing, if you don't mind. You're doing a lot of the admin side as well. Is that something you're comfortable with, or is it getting to be a lot?
- Aisha RahmanUm. It's okay, I think. I just, I've got the basics, adding people, checking the connectors. If something went wrong I'm not sure I'd know what to do first. I'd rather not be left on my own with it.
- Liam DohertyYou won't be. That's partly why I want to be properly involved this year. We'll sit down, Aisha, I'll write up everything I know, who has what and why. Proper note.
- Marcus BellAnd I can do an admin walkthrough with you separately, Aisha. Nothing fancy, just what to check, who to ask and what a good week looks like. Shall we book 30 minutes in the next couple of weeks?
- Aisha RahmanYes please, that would really help. Thank you.
- Liam DohertyRight, so before we finish. Is there anything else on your list, Marcus? Any other bits of bad news you've been saving?
- Marcus BellHa, no, that was the big one. Nothing else on the technical side, invoices are all paid up, no issues. The only open thing is getting more of your people into it, which we've just talked through.
- Liam DohertyGood. Honestly, thanks for being straight about it. I'd rather hear it now than in November.
- Marcus BellOf course. So to recap. I send the depot usage list this week, and a note with the suggested half hour sessions. Liam lines up the depot managers. Aisha and I book the admin session. And we meet again to look at how it's going, probably in a couple of months.
- Aisha RahmanThat sounds right. I'll send you the dates of the Tuesday reviews so we don't clash with them.
- Liam DohertyBrilliant. Cheers, Marcus. Cheers, Aisha. Back to the empty office, then.
- Marcus BellThanks both. Speak soon, and enjoy what's left of the quiet.
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