Brackwell Freight Ltd / BB-Demo – Check In
Callcompleted
Brackwell Freight Ltd · 2026-08-26 16:15
On the 26 Aug 2026 check-in Gareth Whitlam saw only three or four daily users against forty licences and no tickets. He wants the reasoning before any renewal figure and will not agree an increase on a call.
What was said
What this says
Current to 13 Oct 26On the 26 Aug 2026 check-in Gareth Whitlam saw only three or four daily users against forty licences and no tickets. He wants the reasoning before any renewal figure and will not agree an increase on a call.
What happened: Marcus Bell took Gareth through usage by person and team. Daily logins are three or four, down nearly half on the quarter before, mostly from revenue operations.
Customer view: Gareth says a licence nobody uses is a licence nobody uses, and he was hired to cut software spend. He asked whether a smaller tier exists.
Commercial: Marcus named Starter and passed pricing to Tom Ashdown. The term ends 30 Nov 2026 and renewal is 1 Dec 2026.
Watch: No tickets in the last month, which Marcus reads as low engagement, not health. Connectors are loading, so data freshness is not the cause.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Theme
Low adoption, renewal scrutiny
Importance
renewal
Sentiment
negative
Voice
decision-maker
Who was there
BB-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
Current to 9 Oct 26- Marcus Bell sends Gareth the usage by person and team, with questions asked over time, in a short email within a couple of days.
- Gareth asks the head of revenue operations who Marcus should speak to and whether he can see some depot account managers.
- Marcus briefs Tom Ashdown, then meets Gareth again before Tom brings renewal terms.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- Daily users are three or four against forty licences, down nearly half on the quarter before.
- Gareth is reviewing every software line, wants the reasoning before any figure and may move to a smaller tier.
- The depot account managers who were meant to be a main user group are barely using the brain, and dashboards use has tailed off.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- Conversations with the depot account managers, especially those who stopped, could show what put them off and what a fix looks like.
- Showing a concrete result from the revenue operations users could give Gareth a value case.
Transcript
Marcus Bell NoneAfternoon, Gareth. Can you hear me all right?
Gareth Whitlam NoneI can. Afternoon. You're a bit quiet, but it's fine.- Marcus Bell NoneLet me sort that. Is that better? I've moved the headset.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneBetter, yes.
- Marcus Bell NoneGood. Thanks for making time, I know it's late in the day. Right, I'm going to share my screen and say what I'd like to cover, and then you can tell me what you'd like to cover. Can you see it?
- Gareth Whitlam NoneI see a usage report.
- Marcus Bell NoneThat's the one. I've pulled the numbers for the last few months, so we can go through how the brain is being used at Brackwell, what's working, what isn't, and then look ahead to the renewal on 1 Dec 2026. Does that suit?
- Gareth Whitlam NoneMostly. Let me say where I am first, if I may. I've read the order form, I've read the last two invoices, and I've looked at the admin page you gave me access to. What I've read tells me we pay forty-four thousand a year for forty licensed users. What I can't see is what we get for it.
- Marcus Bell NoneFair. That's a fair place to start, and honestly the usage report is part of the answer, though not the flattering part.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneGo on.
- Marcus Bell NoneSo, forty licensed users. Over the last month the number of people actually logging in on a typical day is three, maybe four. And that's down on the quarter before by something like half. Nearly half, I'd say.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneThree or four people. Out of forty.
- Marcus Bell NoneYes. I'm not going to dress that up.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneGood. Because that's what I saw as well. So what exactly are we paying for?
- Marcus Bell NoneWhat you're paying for is the Growth tier: the brain running in your own Snowflake account, the connectors into your CRM, the helpdesk and the call recorder, the nightly refresh, search and chat and the dashboards builder, and the quarterly reviews like this one. That's the list. But I know a list isn't what you're asking.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneNo, it isn't. I've had a feature list from every supplier I've ever had. Show me the usage. Who are the three or four?
- Marcus Bell NoneOkay. Let me scroll down. So if I break it out by person, it's concentrated. Most of the questions asked in the brain come from a very small group, and when I look at which team, it's revenue operations. The depot account managers, who were meant to be the other big group, are barely there.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneMeant to be. By whom?
- Marcus Bell NoneBy the original scope. When Brackwell signed on 1 Dec 2023 the idea was that revenue ops and the depot account managers would see accounts, delivery-exception tickets and calls together, in one place, so they'd spot a retail contract going wrong early. That was the whole pitch.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneI wasn't here. I came in after it was bought. I inherited it, I didn't choose it, so I'm reading it cold.
- Marcus Bell NoneUnderstood. And that's useful for me to hear, honestly. So you're asking the right question because you don't carry the history.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneDon't flatter me, Marcus. Why have the numbers fallen?
- Marcus Bell NoneRight. I'll be straight: I don't fully know. I can tell you what I can see and what I can't. What I can see is that people stopped logging in. It isn't a gradual thing in every case, some of it dropped away over a few weeks. What I can't see from here is why. It could be they've gone back to what they did before. It could be they don't trust what comes back. It could be nobody told the newer people it was there.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneThat's three guesses.
- Marcus Bell NoneIt is. I'd rather give you three honest guesses than one confident wrong answer.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneHm. All right. Is it broken? Is something not working?
- Marcus Bell NoneNot that I can see, and that's the other thing worth saying. No tickets from you in the last month, none at all, and nothing urgent. The nightly refresh has been completing. Connectors are loading. So it's available, it's running, it's just not being asked much.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneSo no tickets. In my experience that's either because everything's fine or because nobody cares enough to complain.
- Marcus Bell NoneYeah. Given the logins, I'd lean towards the second. I'd not call it fine.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneWell. That's at least honest.
- Marcus Bell NoneCan I show you one more thing? Then I'll stop talking.
- Gareth Whitlam NonePlease.
- Marcus Bell NoneThis is questions asked over the last several months, by month. You can see it's lower now than it was, and the people who are still asking are asking about the same sort of thing: account history, what's come in from delivery exceptions, what was said on the last call with a retailer. When those people use it, they use it properly. It's the rest of the licences that are quiet.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneSo I'm paying for forty and getting value from a handful.
- Marcus Bell NoneThat's one way to put it, yes. Another way is the handful are getting a lot out of it and the others haven't started. But I take the point. From where you sit, the cost is spread across forty and the use isn't.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneI'm not minded to agree that it's a different way of putting it. A licence nobody uses is a licence nobody uses.
- Marcus Bell NoneOkay. Fair.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneWhat does the renewal look like? I assume you're about to tell me it goes up.
- Marcus Bell NoneI'm not, because that isn't mine to tell you, and I don't want to guess a figure and be wrong. Commercial terms sit with Tom Ashdown, who's your account owner. What I'll say is that the contract runs to 30 Nov 2026, the renewal date is 1 Dec 2026, and Tom will come to you with the renewal terms properly, in writing, with the reasoning. I'll make sure he's got this usage picture before he does.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneI'd want that. I'd want the reasoning before the number. And I'll say now that I'm not agreeing an increase on a call.
- Marcus Bell NoneUnderstood. I'd not expect you to. I'll tell Tom that too.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneDo. And tell him I've been hired to cut software spend, so I'm going to be reading every line.
- Marcus Bell NoneI will. Better he knows.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneSo. Let me ask it differently. If I said, we have forty licences and use four, what would you tell me to do?
- Marcus Bell NoneHonestly? Two things before I'd say anything about the contract. One: find out why the depot account managers aren't using it. If it's that it doesn't fit how they work, that's something to learn and maybe fix. If it's that they were never properly shown it, that's a training thing and that's cheap. Two: look at whether the people who do use it can show a result. Something concrete. A contract that was caught early, a delivery problem spotted before it got to the retailer.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneCan they?
- Marcus Bell NoneI don't know yet. That's the honest answer. I can see they're asking questions about those accounts. I can't see from the usage alone what they did afterwards. That would need a conversation with them.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneThen that's what I'd want. Not a feature list. A conversation with the people who use it, and a straight answer to whether it's earned its money.
- Marcus Bell NoneRight. Happy to set that up. Could you point me at who in revenue ops I should talk to? I can see who's active, but you'll know who actually runs the day-to-day.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneI can find that out. I don't manage them directly. I'll ask the head of revenue operations and come back to you.
- Marcus Bell NoneThat'd be great. And if you're happy for me to, I'd like to speak to a couple of the depot account managers as well. Even the ones who've stopped using it. Especially them, really.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneWhy especially them?
- Marcus Bell NoneBecause the ones who stopped can tell me what put them off. The ones who carried on can only tell me what they like.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneHm. That's reasonable. I'll see what I can arrange. They're busy people, they're on the road or on the dock half the time.
- Marcus Bell NoneI get that. I'll keep it short. Quick calls, nothing heavy. Maybe I can fit around the depots rather than the other way round.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneFine. Now. The dashboards. You mentioned a dashboards builder. Has anyone here built anything with it?
- Marcus Bell NoneLet me look. Mm. A few, early on. Not much recently. I'd say that's another sign it was set up with some enthusiasm and then it tailed off.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneSo I'm paying for a tier that includes features we don't use.
- Marcus Bell NoneSome of them, yes. I won't pretend otherwise.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneIs there a smaller tier?
- Marcus Bell NoneThere is, Starter. It's one team, and fewer users and connectors. But I'm going to be careful here, because that's a commercial conversation and it belongs with Tom. I'll just say the tiers exist and he can walk you through what would and wouldn't fit. I'd not want you to hear it second-hand from me and get a detail wrong.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneYou're passing it on.
- Marcus Bell NoneI am, yes. Pricing is his side. Adoption is mine, and I'd say adoption is the bit that needs fixing first, whatever tier you end up on.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneThat's a convenient division.
- Marcus Bell NoneHa. It is a bit. But it's also true. If I tell you a number and I'm wrong, that's worse for you than waiting a day.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneFair enough. Move on. What else is on your list?
- Marcus Bell NoneMostly what we've covered. The one other thing is the connectors. All of them are loading and records are still coming in, so the data is current. That matters, because if the answer is that people don't trust it, I want to be able to say the data isn't the reason. As far as I can tell it isn't.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneAs far as you can tell.
- Marcus Bell NoneAs far as I can tell from the system side. If someone at a depot thinks a number is wrong, I'd need to see that example. That's another reason to talk to them.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneAll right. I'll say what I'd want out of this, so we're clear. Before anything is renewed, I want to know who uses it, what they use it for, and what would be lost if it went. If the answer is very little, I'll say so.
- Marcus Bell NoneThat's completely fair. And I'd rather you said so to me now than found out at the end of November.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneI'd expected a sales pitch.
- Marcus Bell NoneNot from me. That's Tom's job, and I think he'd tell you the same, you can't pitch your way out of four people logging in.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneHm. Right. So next steps. Say them back and I'll tell you if I've got them.
- Marcus Bell NoneOkay. First, I send you the usage by person and by team, in plain terms, with the questions asked over time. I'll get that to you in the next couple of days. Second, you ask the head of revenue operations who I should speak to, and whether I can have a short conversation with a couple of the depot account managers. Third, I brief Tom on all of this, including that you want the reasoning before any figure and that you're not agreeing anything on a call. Fourth, once I've spoken to those people, we have another conversation, you and me, before Tom comes with the renewal terms.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneThat's four. Fine. Add one. I want it in writing. The usage report, and a short note of what you've learned from the users. Not a deck.
- Marcus Bell NoneNot a deck. A short email, with the numbers in it. I can do that.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneThen we've got what we need for now. I'm still sceptical, to be clear.
- Marcus Bell NoneNoted, and understood. Thanks for being direct with me, Gareth, it's genuinely more useful than polite.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneSpeak soon, then.
- Marcus Bell NoneSpeak soon. Cheers, bye.
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