Brackwell Freight Ltd / BG-Demo – Check In
Callcompleted
Brackwell Freight Ltd · 8 Jun 2026 16:00
On 8 Jun 2026 Liam Doherty told Marcus Bell he is leaving that Friday. Fewer than six daily users on forty Growth seats, one working admin, healthy connectors and a renewal at the end of November.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026On 8 Jun 2026 Liam Doherty told Marcus Bell he is leaving that Friday. Fewer than six daily users on forty Growth seats, one working admin, healthy connectors and a renewal at the end of November.
What happened: Marcus showed active users down by a little over a quarter, to fewer than six on an average day. Liam then said he is leaving that Friday and is writing a handover note.
Customer view: Liam says the depot managers drifted back to spreadsheets and calls. He worries the brain becomes nobody's and that leadership will ask what the company is paying for.
Commercial: Growth runs to the end of November and renews on the first of December, with forty seats at £44k a year. Marcus said it is a harder conversation if autumn looks like today.
Watch: Liam is the main asker and effectively the only admin, and no tickets were raised in the last month. Connectors and nightly refresh are healthy, so this is an adoption and ownership problem.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Champion departure, adoption decline
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- Liam Doherty introduces Marcus Bell to the revenue analyst this week so he can become second admin before Friday.
- Marcus Bell sends slots for a 30 minute Trafford Park working session and a concrete question list.
- Liam Doherty gives Marcus a named day-to-day contact by the end of that week and tells Tom Ashdown he is leaving.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Liam Doherty, the main asker and effectively the only working admin, is leaving and no successor contact is named yet.
- Fewer than six daily users on forty seats and no tickets raise a value question ahead of the end of November renewal.
- Liam fears no named owner will remain, and the commercial director may ask what is being paid for.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Replacing the Monday depot spreadsheet call with the brain could build a routine that does not depend on Liam.
- A second admin from the revenue team analyst would restore admin cover before Liam leaves.
- Trafford Park account managers are likely to return after a working session on their own accounts.
Transcript
Liam DohertyMarcus, hello. Can you hear me? I've got the headset on today, the laptop fan sounds like a hairdryer.
Marcus BellLoud and clear. Afternoon, Liam. Thanks for making the time, I know Mondays are a mess.- Liam DohertyMondays are always a mess. Two depots had the weekend from hell with a retail customer's returns, so I've been on the phone since seven. But I'm here. Go on.
- Marcus BellRight, I'll share my screen and say what I want to cover, so you know where we're headed. Three things. First, I've pulled the numbers on how the brain's being used over the last quarter. Second, what's happening with the tickets, because there's a bit of a story there. Third, what we do next, so it's not just me reading you a chart. Does that work?
- Liam DohertyWorks. Love that. I'll be honest, I think I know what the first one is going to say.
- Marcus BellMm. Let me just get the screen up. Can you see it?
- Liam DohertyYeah, I've got a line going down and to the right. That's not the shape I like.
- Marcus BellNo. So this is active users across the quarter. You're licensed for forty on Growth, and on a normal day over the last month it's been fewer than six people actually in there. That's down by a little over a quarter compared with the quarter before. And the quarter before wasn't exactly full either.
- Liam DohertyUnder six. Out of forty.
- Marcus BellUnder six on an average day, yes. I want to be careful, that's an average, so some days are better and some are worse. But the trend is the thing I wanted you to see, and it's gone the wrong way for a few months now.
- Liam DohertyYeah. No, that tracks. I've been looking at it from my side too, just not in as much detail as you. It's the depot account managers. They came on in a wave when we rolled out, and then, I don't know, it's like they've drifted back to the old way.
- Marcus BellWhat's the old way, in practice? I don't want to assume.
- Liam DohertySpreadsheets, mostly. And ringing each other. A depot manager gets a delivery exception, they ring the account manager, the account manager opens the CRM, maybe looks at the ticket, and they never get as far as asking the brain whether this retailer has had four of these in a month. Which was the whole point. One view, that's the point.
- Marcus BellRight. And that's exactly the use case you bought it for. Spotting an at-risk retail contract before the customer calls you.
- Liam DohertyExactly that. And we did it, early on. There was one in the autumn, a retailer, we saw the pattern of exceptions plus the tone of the calls, and we got ahead of it. The commercial director still mentions it. Which is partly why this is annoying.
- Marcus BellOkay. So the value has been there. It's the habit that's slipped.
- Liam DohertyYeah. Habit. That's fair.
- Marcus BellLet me show you who's actually asking questions, because this is the part I'd flag. If I filter to the people asking the brain things in the last month, it's a very small group. And a big share of the questions come from one person.
- Liam DohertyIs it me?
- Marcus BellIt's you. By a distance.
- Liam DohertyAh. Right. Yeah, okay. That's not great, is it.
- Marcus BellIt's not a criticism, Liam. You've been the one making it work. But it does mean that if you're not in the building, a lot of the usage goes with you.
- Liam DohertyWell. Funny you say that. That's the other thing I wanted to tell you, and I was going to wait until the end, but you've walked right into it. I'm finishing up here this Friday.
- Marcus BellOh. Okay. Right. I wasn't expecting that.
- Liam DohertyNo, I know. It's been quite quiet internally, I've only just told the depot managers. I've got another role lined up. It's a good one, it's the right move for me. But I'm not walking away from this half done, if that makes sense. I'm writing a proper handover note, and I want to get you the right person before I go.
- Marcus BellThat's appreciated. Genuinely. And congratulations, by the way, I should have said that first. Sorry, I'm still catching up.
- Liam DohertyHa, thanks. No, it's fine. I'd have been thrown too.
- Marcus BellSo, can I ask what happens to your role? Is someone stepping in, or is it going to be a gap for a while?
- Liam DohertyThat's the honest answer, I don't fully know. There's a conversation about it. The ops director will probably pick up some of it for now. The revenue operations function, I built most of it, so it's a bit of one person's head. Which, yeah, I take the point about key person.
- Marcus BellOkay. Then I think the most useful thing we can do today is use this call to plan around that. Can I suggest we do three things? One, you tell me who the right day to day contact should be. Two, we get at least a couple of the depot account managers properly back into the brain. Three, we look at the admin side, so it isn't all sitting with you.
- Liam DohertyGo on. Start with the admin one, that's where I'm most nervous.
- Marcus BellSo right now, you're effectively the admin. There's another name on the list, but from the activity I can see, they haven't logged in for a good while. When you go, there's no one who can add a connector, change permissions or deal with something when it breaks.
- Liam DohertyRight. Which is a bit of a hole.
- Marcus BellIt is. And the connectors have been fine, I should say. Nothing's stopped loading, records are still coming in each night. So the data's healthy. It's the people side.
- Liam DohertyThat's good to hear at least. I'd hate for it to be going stale as well.
- Marcus BellNo, the nightly refresh has been landing on time. And on tickets, you've raised nothing in the last month. Nothing at all.
- Liam DohertyWhich sounds like good news, but you're going to tell me it isn't.
- Marcus BellIt's mixed, honestly. Earlier in the year you'd raise a ticket every few weeks. Questions about a connector, a how-to, that kind of thing. When it goes completely quiet alongside fewer users, I read that as people not trying things rather than people having no problems. Does that match what you're seeing?
- Liam DohertyIt does, actually. I think a couple of the account managers tried it, hit something they didn't understand, and rather than raise it they just went back to what they knew. And I was busy. I've been busy for three months.
- Marcus BellUnderstood. That's what a CSM is for, so I'd rather you'd had a nudge from me sooner. That one's on me, to be fair. I've got a large book and I should have picked this up before the line went this shape.
- Liam DohertyDon't beat yourself up, I wasn't exactly shouting either.
- Marcus BellOkay. So, the depots. Trafford Park and the other five. Which of those do you think would come back first if we gave them a reason?
- Liam DohertyTrafford Park, no question. It's the biggest, it's where the most retail contracts are, and the account manager there actually liked it. She's the one who was using it for the exception patterns. She just got swamped. If you sat with her for half an hour and showed her a couple of questions, she'd be back.
- Marcus BellHappy to jump on a call with her. Would it be better if I did that as a group session, or one to one?
- Liam DohertyGroup, with maybe three or four of them, and pick real accounts. Not a demo, her actual accounts. Otherwise it feels like homework.
- Marcus BellGood, I like that. So a working session on live accounts, shorter rather than longer. Shall we book 30 minutes?
- Liam DohertyThirty's right. Any longer and nobody turns up. Can we do it this week, before I go? I'd like to be in the room at least for the intro so they know it's still got my blessing.
- Marcus BellYes, let's. I'll send three possible slots straight after this call and you pick the one that suits the managers. I'll also put together a short list of questions that are worth asking, drawn from the exceptions and the calls, so they're not staring at an empty box.
- Liam DohertyLove that. The empty box thing is real. People don't know what to ask. They think it's going to be clever and then they type something vague.
- Marcus BellExactly. So I'll make them very concrete. Which retailers have had repeat exceptions this month. What's been said on calls with that customer. That sort of thing.
- Liam DohertyPerfect. Put the returns one in there too. That's what hit this weekend.
- Marcus BellWill do. Now, the admin point. Who do you think should be the second admin? I'd really like it to be someone who's close to the data and isn't going to move on.
- Liam DohertyHmm. There's an analyst in the revenue team, quiet, very good with the CRM, knows where everything lives. He'd be the one. He's not a user of the brain much at the moment, but he'd pick it up in a day.
- Marcus BellThat sounds ideal. Would you be able to introduce us this week as well? Then I can walk him through connectors and permissions before you leave, while you're still around to answer the awkward questions.
- Liam DohertyYeah. I'll sort that today. I'll copy you on the intro.
- Marcus BellBrilliant. And on the handover note, what I'd find useful, if you're happy, is the things that live only in your head. Which systems feed which questions, any quirks in how the depots tag exceptions, who to ask in each depot, and what you've promised the commercial director.
- Liam DohertyThat's exactly what I was going to put in. I'll add the history of the retail contract we caught, too, because it's the best example of what the thing's for.
- Liam DohertyAnd I'll be straight with you, Marcus, I'm a bit worried about it all being forgotten. If the commercial director doesn't hear about it for a while, someone's going to ask what we're paying for.
- Marcus BellThat's a fair worry, and I'd rather deal with it head on. We're forty seats on Growth at forty-four thousand a year, and the order form and the invoices agree on that. It runs to the end of November, and renewal is the first of December. So there's time. But the only way it feels worth it in December is if people are using it between now and then.
- Liam DohertyYeah. And forty-four thousand's not nothing for a number of people who are barely logging in.
- Marcus BellNo. I'm not going to dress it up. If the picture in the autumn looks like today's, it's a harder conversation. If it looks like the first six months, it isn't. That's the honest version. And anything on the commercial side, that'd be Tom, he's your account owner, I'd bring him in nearer the time.
- Liam DohertyOkay. Tom's fine. I'd rather he heard it from me before I go than found out later, so I might send him a note.
- Marcus BellThat would help a lot. Thanks. I'll make sure he's got the numbers either way.
- Liam DohertyCan I ask something slightly different? Is this normal? Is this what other customers look like at this stage, or are we an outlier?
- Marcus BellIt's not unusual, no. Plenty of accounts have a big first burst and then it levels off or dips. The ones that do well are the ones where it gets built into a routine. A weekly review, a standing agenda item, something like that. So the question is whether there's a routine here that doesn't depend on you.
- Liam DohertyRight. A routine. We do a Monday depot call. The managers, the account managers, someone from ops. It's about last week's exceptions. We don't use the brain on it, it's just a list in a spreadsheet.
- Marcus BellOh, that's interesting. That's a gift, actually. If that Monday call had the brain on screen instead of the spreadsheet, you'd have the routine built already.
- Liam DohertyHuh. Yeah. Yeah, it would. Replace the spreadsheet, don't add another thing. People hate another thing.
- Marcus BellExactly. So maybe that's the real goal for the working session. Not just a refresher. We rebuild that Monday list inside the brain, so next week's call runs from it.
- Liam DohertyI like that a lot. Can we maybe do it on the Monday call itself? Next Monday I'm gone but someone's going to be chairing, and it'd be a decent test.
- Marcus BellLet's see how the working session goes first, then decide. I don't want to throw people in on a live call with nobody confident. But I'd love to join that call afterwards, just as a listener, if they'd have me.
- Liam DohertyThey'd have you. Bring biscuits.
- Marcus BellI'm in Manchester, I can probably manage biscuits. Okay. Let me check a few other bits on the screen while I've got it. Dashboards. Has anyone built anything in the dashboards builder lately?
- Liam DohertyOnly me. I built the exceptions-by-retailer one months ago and I think the depot managers still open it occasionally. Nothing new.
- Marcus BellYeah, that matches. A couple of views on that one, steady rather than growing. It's a good dashboard. The thing I'd say is it's nice to have it, but a dashboard nobody opens is quiet money. So we could look at what's on it and whether it answers what the managers ask on that Monday call.
- Liam DohertyThat's the Monday call again. It all comes back to the Monday call.
- Marcus BellIt does. Which is a good sign, it means we've found the centre of gravity.
- Liam DohertyOkay, what else. What about the other stuff, the calls and the emails? Are they still flowing in? I don't want to find out that the call recorder side has been quietly off for weeks.
- Marcus BellGood question. Let me check the connector list. Right, give me a second, I'm on the sources page. CRM is loading, the helpdesk is loading, the call recorder is loading, email's loading. All of them have been adding records every night. No flat lines.
- Liam DohertyGood. Then it's really just us not using it.
- Marcus BellI'd say that's fair. The plumbing is fine. The tap's not being turned.
- Liam DohertyHa. Okay. That's a line I might steal for the handover note.
- Marcus BellGo for it. Right, let me say back what I think we've agreed, and you tell me if I've got it wrong. One, you're introducing me to the analyst this week so he can be a second admin before you leave. Two, I'm sending you slots for a 30 minute working session with the Trafford Park team on their real accounts, ideally before Friday. Three, I'm sending you a short list of concrete questions to use in that session. Four, you're writing the handover note with the systems, the quirks and the history of the retail contract you caught.
- Liam DohertyThat's it. And five, I'll give Tom a heads up that I'm going.
- Marcus BellFive, yes. And six, I'll come back to you on whether the Monday call can move over to the brain, once we've seen how the session lands. I'll also work out who you'd suggest as the main contact in the meantime. Do you want to say now, or put it in the note?
- Liam DohertyPut it in the note. I need to ask the ops director first, I don't want to name someone before they've agreed. But I'll make sure it's there before Friday.
- Marcus BellThat's fine. It's more important it's the right person than it's quick, as long as I've got a name by the end of the week.
- Liam DohertyYou will. I don't leave things half done. Ask anyone.
- Marcus BellI believe you. Can I just ask one more thing, and it's a bit of a personal one. Looking back, what would you have wanted from us that you didn't get? Be blunt, it's useful.
- Liam DohertyHmm. Honestly? A nudge. Not a sales nudge. Just someone saying, your numbers have dipped, here's a thing to try. When we first went live you were all over it, then it settled and I think we both assumed it was running. I'd have liked a heads up in the spring.
- Marcus BellThat's fair, and I'll take it. It's the right feedback. I'm going to make sure that whoever picks this up on your side gets a regular note from me, once a month, short, with the trend and one suggestion. Not a report. Just the nudge.
- Liam DohertyThat would be exactly right. Keep it short, they won't read long.
- Marcus BellShort. Understood. Anything else on your side before we wrap? Any worries I haven't covered?
- Liam DohertyOne. I'm worried that when I leave, the thing becomes nobody's. Everyone thinks it's someone else's job. So can we make sure it has an owner, a named human, even if they only give it an hour a week? That's the thing I'd fight for if I were staying.
- Marcus BellAgreed. That's the real fix, more than any training session. I'll raise it in the note back to you and I'll say the same to Tom, so it's on the table for whoever's in the seat.
- Liam DohertyGood. Right. Then I think we're done. Sorry, that was a bit of a bombshell for a check-in.
- Marcus BellDon't apologise. I'd much rather know now, with a week of runway, than find out in July from a bounced email. Thanks for being straight with me.
- Liam DohertyAlways. I'll get the intro to the analyst over this afternoon and I'll keep an eye out for your slots.
- Marcus BellSlots will be with you within the hour. And I'll get the questions list to you tomorrow so you can have a look before the session.
- Liam DohertyPerfect. Oh, and one more small thing. If any of the depot managers raise a ticket after this, can you make sure it gets looked at quickly? First impressions and all that.
- Marcus BellI'll keep an eye on the queue myself this week. I can't promise how fast any particular fix lands, but I'll make sure nothing sits unseen.
- Liam DohertyThat's all I need. Right then. Go and have a better Monday than mine.
- Marcus BellI'll try. Thanks, Liam. Speak soon, and well done again on the new role.
- Liam DohertyCheers, Marcus. Speak soon.
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