What was said
What this says
Current to 13 Oct 26On the 25 Feb 2026 check-in Liam Doherty was positive, with usage spreading beyond him. Only nine of forty seats are active, and he wants the five other depots on it before the 1 Dec 2026 renewal.
What happened: Marcus Bell reviewed usage, connectors and the renewal timeline with Liam Doherty. Nothing is broken, nothing is open in support, and the nightly refresh has been landing before 07:00.
Customer view: Liam gave a concrete value story. An account manager used the brain to find quiet retailers and got ahead of a complaint about delivery exceptions.
Commercial: The term runs to 30 Nov 2026 and renews on 1 Dec 2026 on Growth at £44k a year, with the order form and invoices agreeing. Liam himself said nine of forty seats is a weak line for a finance director.
Watch: The depot managers have little time, and the transport office system Liam wants connected is unnamed and unscoped. An on-site training day is an add-on and was left to Tom Ashdown.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Who was there
BG-Demo
Them
Follow-up
Next steps
Current to 9 Oct 26- Marcus Bell sends the three draft questions and books the access-review and first depot dashboard sessions.
- Liam Doherty sends the depot manager list and the name of the transport system.
- Marcus Bell asks the team whether the transport system can be connected, and aims the quarterly review after the depot sessions.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- Nine of forty Growth seats are active, which is a weak story for the finance director at the 1 Dec 2026 renewal.
- Five depots still work from spreadsheets, and the depot managers have little time to learn the brain.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- Depot sessions on each depot's own delivery exceptions could lift seat use before the renewal.
- A connector for the transport office system and a possible on-site training day add-on could deepen use.
Transcript
- Marcus Bell NoneHello, Liam. Can you hear me alright?
- Liam Doherty NoneLoud and clear, Marcus. Afternoon! Give me a second, I'm just closing about nine tabs I opened for no reason at all.
- Marcus Bell NoneNo rush. How's your week been?
- Liam Doherty NoneMad, honestly. Half the depots are on about the yard rota at Trafford Park and the other half want a new report by Friday. So, normal. How about you, still up and down the motorway?
- Marcus Bell NoneHa, more or less. I was over in Preston this morning, so I've earned my coffee. Right, I'll share my screen and say what I want to cover, if that works. Usage since the last check-in, what people are asking the brain, how the connectors are behaving, and then a quick word on the renewal timeline so nothing lands on you by surprise in the autumn.
- Liam Doherty NoneLove that. Go for it.
- Marcus Bell NoneOkay. Can you see the usage page?
- Liam Doherty NoneYep. Bit small, but yep.
- Marcus Bell NoneI'll zoom in. There we go. So, I've pulled the numbers. Over the last thirty days you've had around nine people active on an average day, and that's up on the previous quarter, by about a tenth. Not huge, but it's the right direction.
- Liam Doherty NoneNine. Right. Out of forty seats.
- Marcus Bell NoneOut of forty licensed users, yeah. I'm not going to dress it up, there's headroom there. But the people who are in are using it properly. Questions asked are steady, and it's not just you asking them any more, which is the bit I like.
- Liam Doherty NoneHa, I did notice it's not only me. Two of the account managers from the Trafford Park team are in there most mornings. One of them messaged me last week asking if the brain could tell her which retailers had gone quiet on calls. I said, just ask it.
- Marcus Bell NoneAnd did it?
- Liam Doherty NoneIt did. Gave her a list, she rang three of them. One of them was about to send a complaint about delivery exceptions, apparently, and she got in first. So that's the thing, isn't it. One view, that's the point.
- Marcus Bell NoneThat's exactly what you bought it for. Seeing a retail contract wobble before the customer picks up the phone.
- Liam Doherty NoneRight. Which is why I keep banging on about the depots. Can we get the depots on it? At the moment it's head office and Trafford Park, and the other five sites are still doing it by spreadsheet and gut feel.
- Marcus Bell NoneYeah. Can I ask what's stopping them? Is it logins, or is it more that they don't know what to ask?
- Liam Doherty NoneMostly the second one. The depot managers are brilliant at the job, they just don't have time to poke around. If somebody showed them three questions that save them an hour, they'd use it. I'm sure of that.
- Marcus Bell NoneThat I can help with. What I'd suggest is a short session per depot, half an hour, on their own accounts and their own delivery exceptions. Three or four questions, no slides. I'll bring examples from your data so it's not generic.
- Liam Doherty NoneCan you do it on a call rather than on site?
- Marcus Bell NoneCalls are fine to start. If it takes off there's an on-site training day we could look at, but that's an add-on, so I'd leave that conversation to Tom. Let's see how the calls go first.
- Liam Doherty NoneFair. Tom's been good, by the way. Tell him I said that.
- Marcus Bell NoneI will, he'll be pleased. Right, give me a moment, I'm just scrolling to the connectors.
- Liam Doherty NoneTake your time. I'm eating a biscuit.
- Marcus Bell NoneOkay. Nothing's broken, everything's loading, and records indexed are climbing nicely, week on week. The nightly refresh has been landing before 07:00 every working day as far as I can see.
- Liam Doherty NoneGood. That's the one thing the depot guys would shout about, if the morning numbers weren't there.
- Marcus Bell NoneUnderstood. And you've not raised a ticket in the last month, which I take as quiet is good. But tell me if that's actually, I couldn't be bothered.
- Liam Doherty NoneHa. No, genuinely nothing to raise. Last time I had an issue it was picked up straight away. And honestly, if I had a problem you'd know, I'm terrible at letting things sit.
- Marcus Bell NoneThat's fair, I've seen your emails.
- Liam Doherty NoneExactly. Right, so, one thing from my side. We want the delivery exceptions in properly. At the moment the helpdesk tickets come through and the account managers see them next to the CRM account, which is great. But the exceptions from the driver side live somewhere else, in a system the transport office runs, and I'd love that in the one view too.
- Marcus Bell NoneOkay. Which system is that? Is it something we already connect to, or is it more bespoke?
- Liam Doherty NoneMore bespoke, I think. I'd need to ask the transport office. I'll find out the name and send it over.
- Marcus Bell NonePlease do. I don't want to promise anything until I've asked the team whether it's doable and how long it would take. But I'll take it back and tell you straight.
- Liam Doherty NoneThat's all I ask.
- Marcus Bell NoneWhile I'm here, you've got the dashboards builder in your plan, so if the depot managers would rather see a fixed view than ask questions, that's an option. A single page per depot, say. It might be a way in for the ones who don't want to type.
- Liam Doherty NoneOh, that's not daft. Some of them would much rather have a page they open every morning, like the weather. Could I build one myself?
- Marcus Bell NoneYes, you can. I'm happy to jump on a call and build the first one with you, then you can copy it for the other depots.
- Liam Doherty NoneBrilliant. Put that on the list.
- Marcus Bell NoneWill do. Right, on to the renewal, and this is just so you're not hearing it for the first time from somebody else. Your term runs to 30 Nov 2026, and it renews on 1 Dec 2026. You're on Growth at £44k a year, and the order form and the invoices agree, so nothing odd there.
- Liam Doherty NoneOkay. And has that gone up, or is that still what we signed up to?
- Marcus Bell NoneThat's what's contracted, and what's been invoiced. Anything about terms for the next year is Tom's side, so he'll come to you nearer the time. What I'll do is send the formal renewal notice a good few months ahead, so there's plenty of room.
- Liam Doherty NoneFine. And is there anything I should be doing before then?
- Marcus Bell NoneMainly getting the story ready. If you can say to your finance director, here's what we use it for and here's what it caught, that's far more useful than anything I send. That retailer example from last week is exactly that.
- Liam Doherty NoneI'll write that one up. Hm. I'm conscious nine out of forty isn't a great line for a finance director, though.
- Marcus Bell NoneThat's why the depot sessions matter. If more of the forty seats are actually in use by the autumn, it's a much easier conversation for you. I'm not saying it's a problem, I'm saying it's a sensible thing to fix, and we can do it.
- Liam Doherty NoneYeah. Okay. Do the depots first, then?
- Marcus Bell NoneI'd start with the two biggest and see how it goes. Could you give me the names of the depot managers and the best time of day? Mornings are probably out, with dispatch.
- Liam Doherty NoneMornings are out, yeah. Mid-afternoon, after the second wave of drivers has gone out. Three-ish. I'll send you a list tonight, who's keen and who needs a nudge.
- Marcus Bell NonePerfect. I'll draft the three questions and send them over so you can check I've got the language right. Delivery exceptions, not whatever we call them. I'll use what your people say.
- Liam Doherty NoneGood shout. They say exceptions. Or failed drops, if they're annoyed.
- Marcus Bell NoneFailed drops, got it.
- Liam Doherty NoneActually, while you're there, can I ask about who sees what? One of the depot managers asked whether she'd be able to see the other depots' accounts, and I wasn't sure whether we'd want that.
- Marcus Bell NoneGood question. It depends how you've set the access up on your side, and that's your call really. I can show you what each person currently sees and we can decide together whether the depots should be able to look across or only at their own. Shall we book half an hour for that?
- Liam Doherty NoneYes, let's. I'd rather decide it deliberately than have somebody find out by accident.
- Marcus Bell NoneAgreed. I'll send a couple of times over after this call.
- Liam Doherty NoneRight. What about the quarterly review? Isn't that due? I feel like we're always a little behind on that.
- Marcus Bell NoneIt is, and I'd rather fold it into the depot work than do a separate one. If we run the sessions over the next few weeks, the review can show before and after, who's asking questions, how many of the forty seats are active. That's a better story than usage on its own.
- Liam Doherty NoneI like that. Gives me something to show up with.
- Marcus Bell NoneExactly. And I'll bring the retailer example into it, with your permission, so the value is in your words.
- Liam Doherty NoneYeah, go on. Just keep the retailer's name out of anything that goes round widely.
- Marcus Bell NoneOf course. I'll keep it anonymous.
- Liam Doherty NoneRight. Anything else on your list? I've got a call at half past.
- Marcus Bell NoneJust one thing. Do you know whether anyone else on your side would want to be at the review? Somebody from finance, or one of the depot managers? It's often better with a second voice in the room.
- Liam Doherty NoneLet me think. I'd say one of the depot managers, probably the Trafford Park one, and I'll ask finance whether they want to come. I don't want to drag them in if it's not useful.
- Marcus Bell NoneThat's sensible. Let's keep it light, then. Okay, so to recap, because I'll forget otherwise.
- Marcus Bell NoneI send the three questions and a note from today. We book half an hour on who sees what, and another to build the first depot page together. You send me the depot managers and the name of the transport system, and I ask the team whether we can connect it. And we aim the quarterly review at after the depot sessions.
- Liam Doherty NoneThat's it. That's all of it. Sounds like a plan. Thanks, Marcus, this was useful.
- Marcus Bell NoneCheers, Liam. I'll mention to Tom how well it's going on your side, too.
- Liam Doherty NoneDo. Oh, and Marcus, on the nightly refresh, if it ever slips, just tell me before the depots do, would you?
- Marcus Bell NoneWill do. If I see it, you'll hear it from me first. Happy to jump on a call any time.
- Liam Doherty NoneRight, I'll let you go. Speak soon.
- Marcus Bell NoneSpeak soon, Liam. Thanks, bye.