Harrowden Foods / BG-Demo – Negotiation
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Harrowden Foods · 15 Jun 2026 14:00
Harrowden Foods questioned why it needs a £4,405 add-on when it uses about twelve of forty seats. Rajesh Mistry wants the scope in writing before signing. Usage is up and invoices are paid.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Harrowden Foods questioned why it needs a £4,405 add-on when it uses about twelve of forty seats. Rajesh Mistry wants the scope in writing before signing. Usage is up and invoices are paid.
What happened: Lewis Kerr walked Rajesh Mistry and Gemma Holt through usage, then the £4,405 add-on order form, co-termed to the January renewal. Rajesh asked whether the add-on was needed at all given forty seats and about twelve daily users.
Customer view: Gemma said usage is growing, led by customer service, and the planners have a real use. Rajesh said he had understood the add-on to be more users, which is not how Owen Tallis described it.
Commercial: Base subscription stays at £50k a year. The add-on is £4,405 in total plus VAT, with Rajesh as sole signer. Signing was aimed for Wednesday 17 June 2026.
Watch: A mismatch between what Rajesh expects and what the add-on covers could stall the deal. He wants monthly usage notes from Gemma and a separate quote later for the sales support team.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Add-on scope and seat headroom
Importance
upsell
Sentiment
mixed
Voice
decision-maker
Who was there
BG-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Lewis Kerr to send the scope page and order form to Rajesh Mistry the same day.
- Rajesh to come back with any questions on Tuesday, aiming to sign on Wednesday 17 June 2026.
- Gemma Holt to send a short list of planners and their uses, and a monthly usage note.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Rajesh understood the add-on as more users, while Owen described it as extra capacity and access, so the order form may stall.
- Roughly twelve daily users against forty licensed seats weakens the case for paying for more.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Customer service adoption is growing and the planners have a concrete use for the brain.
- Gemma asked about adding the sales support team later, which Lewis will quote separately if usage supports it.
Transcript
Lewis KerrAfternoon, Rajesh. Afternoon, Gemma. Can you both hear me all right?
Gemma HoltLoud and clear. Hi Lewis, hi Owen, I see you've joined as well.
Owen TallisAfternoon all. Yes, I'm here, just listening in to begin with.
Rajesh MistryGood afternoon. Sorry, one second, I'm just closing a spreadsheet. Right. Hello.- Gemma HoltBefore we start, tiny win from this morning. One of the account managers pulled together the whole complaints history for a supermarket buyer meeting in about ten minutes flat. Used to take her half a day.
- Lewis KerrThat's good to hear. Which retailer, or is that a secret?
- Gemma HoltNot a secret, but I'll let her tell you herself one day. The point is she did it without asking me, which is the whole idea.
- Rajesh MistryWhich is what I want to talk about, actually. Lewis, may I start with the usage figures? I'd like to see them before we get to the price.
- Lewis KerrOf course, that's exactly where I wanted to begin. I'll share my screen. Can you see the usage page?
- Rajesh MistryYes, I can see it. Go ahead.
- Lewis KerrSo you're licensed for forty users on Growth, at £50k a year. Over the last thirty days the average number of people active in a day is a bit under twelve. That's up by about two thirds on the quarter before.
- Rajesh MistryUp by two thirds. And is that driven by customer service coming on, or the account managers using it more?
- Lewis KerrMostly customer service, from what I can see. Gemma will know better than I do, but the new logins are clustered in that team.
- Gemma HoltThat's right. Kelly's team came on over the last couple of months and they've taken to it very quickly. The account managers love it, but customer service are asking it questions all day.
- Rajesh MistryGood. And the other side of it. Any problems? I hear nothing from my own people, which is either good or bad.
- Lewis KerrHonestly, nothing on our side either. No tickets in the last thirty days at all, and none flagged as high priority. And your invoices are all paid on time, nothing overdue.
- Rajesh MistryMm. Quiet is fine. Quiet is what I pay for.
- Gemma HoltI'd say quiet and busy, which is the best of both.
- Owen TallisCan I add one thing? Rajesh, I won't take over, Lewis has this. But I always ask where we are against the date, so Lewis, what's the next dated step?
- Lewis KerrThanks, Owen. The aim is to have the add-on order form signed by Wednesday 17 June 2026. That's the close date I have in the system and I'd like us to keep to it if Rajesh is comfortable.
- Rajesh MistryWednesday. That's two days from now. Fine, but I want to understand the figure first. What's the cost per head?
- Lewis KerrLet me put a number on it. The add-on order form comes to £4,405 in total, plus VAT. That is the value of the deal as a whole, not a yearly figure, and it's co-termed to your renewal.
- Rajesh MistryCo-termed to which date, precisely?
- Lewis KerrYour current term ends on 4 Jan 2027 and the renewal date on the order form is 5 Jan 2027. So the add-on runs alongside the main subscription and they renew together.
- Rajesh MistryGood. I don't like two renewals in two different months. It creates work for my finance team and then somebody forgets one.
- Owen TallisThat's the reason we do it that way. One date, one conversation. And the CSM, Amara, picks up the renewal notice well ahead of it so nothing surprises you.
- Gemma HoltAmara's been brilliant, by the way. She sat with Kelly's team for the first session.
- Lewis KerrI'll pass that on. She'll be pleased.
- Rajesh MistryNow. I'm going to ask the difficult question. My planners. If they come on, will they use it, or will I be paying for seats that sit there?
- Gemma HoltCan I take that one? I've spoken to three of the planners this week. Their problem is the same as ours was. They have the orders in one place and the retailer service-level complaints somewhere else, and they only find out about a miss afterwards.
- Rajesh MistryYes. I know the problem. I've lived with it for years.
- Gemma HoltSo the brain shows them the complaint next to the order that caused it. One of them said, and I'm quoting, that it would save her the Monday morning hunt. That's a real use, not a nice-to-have.
- Rajesh MistryShow me it's used. That's all I need. If in the autumn I see the planners asking questions every week, I'll be happy. If I see nothing, I'll want to talk.
- Lewis KerrThat's fair, and I wouldn't push you to buy anything the usage doesn't support. You're already using a small part of the forty seats you hold, so the honest thing to say is that there's room in the existing licence.
- Rajesh MistryWait. So do I need the add-on at all? If I have forty seats and use twelve?
- Lewis KerrGood question, and I'd rather you asked it now. Let me make sure I answer it properly. Gemma, how many people do you expect to be on within a couple of months, roughly?
- Gemma HoltWith customer service fully on and the planners, we'd go well past what we use today. But I'd agree with Rajesh, not past forty. Not yet.
- Rajesh MistryThen what is the add-on for?
- Owen TallisLet me jump in here, Lewis, if I may. Rajesh, what the add-on gives you is not seats. It's the extra capacity for the planners' data and the extra access that was agreed in the expansion scope, and that's what the £4,405 covers.
- Rajesh MistryHmm. I'd like that in writing, Owen, because that isn't how I understood it. I thought we were buying more users.
- Lewis KerrRajesh, can I be careful here? I don't want to quote from memory. Let me say what I'll do. I'll send the scope page of the order form over today, and you can read exactly what the £4,405 covers before you decide anything.
- Rajesh MistryPlease do. I'm not signing anything on Wednesday that I haven't read twice.
- Owen TallisAgreed, and that's the right instinct. Lewis, send it today with the VAT position stated plainly. Who signs on your side, Rajesh? Is it you alone?
- Rajesh MistryIt's me. For this amount it's me alone. Anything bigger goes to the finance director, but this doesn't.
- Owen TallisGood. One signer, one date. That's what I like to hear.
- Gemma HoltCan I ask something slightly different? While we're here. What would it cost to add the sales support team later, if we wanted to?
- Lewis KerrHappy to talk about it, Gemma, but I'd suggest we don't mix it into this one. If the usage supports it in the autumn, I'll quote it separately and co-term it the same way.
- Gemma HoltFair enough. I just don't want to lose track of it.
- Lewis KerrIt's noted. I'll put it in the account notes so it doesn't get lost.
- Rajesh MistryRight. Let me say back what I've heard. The base subscription stays at £50k a year, nothing changes there. The add-on is £4,405 in total plus VAT, runs to the same renewal in January, and I get the scope page today.
- Lewis KerrThat's exactly it. Nothing hidden and nothing that moves the main subscription.
- Owen TallisAnd just so it's said out loud, we're not stacking anything on top. No second discount, no side arrangement. What's on the page is what you pay.
- Rajesh MistryI appreciate that. Plain is good. I have been burnt by tools where the second year looks nothing like the first.
- Gemma HoltThat's one of the reasons I pushed for BG-Demo in the first place. No games.
- Rajesh MistryGemma, you'll keep an eye on the usage for me? Every month, a short note, nothing fancy. Number of people asking questions and who.
- Gemma HoltOf course. Every month, one paragraph. And if it drops I'll tell you straight, I never hide a problem.
- Lewis KerrAnd Amara will have the same numbers in the next review, so you'll be looking at one set of figures between us.
- Rajesh MistryGood. Then I'm comfortable. I'll read the scope tonight. Wednesday looks achievable if there's nothing odd in it, and if there is, you'll hear from me on Tuesday.
- Owen TallisTuesday works. Lewis, if anything comes back, loop me in the same day. I'll hold some time.
- Lewis KerrWill do. So to confirm, next steps. I send the scope page and order form today. Rajesh reads it and comes back on Tuesday with any questions. We aim to sign on Wednesday 17 June 2026.
- Gemma HoltAnd I'll get the planners' names together so they're ready the day it goes live.
- Rajesh MistryPlease. Names and what each one will use it for. Short list.
- Gemma HoltShort list, by Wednesday.
- Lewis KerrAnything else from anyone? Rajesh? Gemma? Owen?
- Rajesh MistryNo, that's everything. Thank you both for being straight about the seats question. It was a useful catch.
- Owen TallisThat's the kind of question we want. Thanks, all.
- Gemma HoltCheers everyone, speak soon.
- Lewis KerrKind regards, both. I'll send that over today. Goodbye.
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