Fairhallow Travel / BG-Demo – Discovery
Callcompleted
Fairhallow Travel · 3 Oct 2024 10:30
Becky Lawton wants one view per client before account reviews. COO Simon Ashworth was terse and sceptical on price and value, and will judge at the end on a demo with their own data. A first-term figure of £52k was pencilled.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Becky Lawton wants one view per client before account reviews. COO Simon Ashworth was terse and sceptical on price and value, and will judge at the end on a demo with their own data. A first-term figure of £52k was pencilled.
What happened: Becky described account reviews built by hand from bookings, tickets and call notes, taking a day to prepare. Tom Ashdown positioned the brain as one view by client inside their own Snowflake account.
Customer view: Becky is the champion and wants it moving before the next round of reviews. Simon asked about cost, who else uses it and value, and said he will believe it when he sees it on their data.
Commercial: Tom pencilled £52k as the total for the first term including implementation, not final until scoped. A proposal would follow the demo, with paperwork aimed for 13 Dec 2024.
Watch: Simon's only firm condition is that client data stays in their own account, which the Snowflake model meets. His short answers suggest he is the harder sell.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Account review preparation pain
Importance
neutral
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- Tom Ashdown to send a short note after the call and offer demo times.
- Becky Lawton to pick a real client for the demo on their own data.
- Tom Ashdown to prepare a proposal after the demo, aiming for paperwork by 13 Dec 2024.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Simon Ashworth is sceptical on value and price and will judge only on a demo with their own data.
- The £51,600 first-term figure was pencilled and is not final until scoped, so price may be challenged.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Becky Lawton is an eager champion with a clear, costly problem and urgency before the next reviews.
- A demo built around one of her real clients can show value directly to the COO.
Transcript
Tom AshdownMorning, Becky. Morning, Simon. Can you both hear me? How's your week been?
Becky LawtonMorning Tom! Oh, I've got a story. I was at a client review on Tuesday, a big corporate, and my account manager had to ring three people mid-meeting to find out how many bookings had been changed. Honestly, I could have cried. That's exactly why I wanted this call.
Simon AshworthHow long will this take?- Tom AshdownFair question, Simon. We've got the slot for the best part of an hour, but I'll aim to be well inside it. I just want to understand how you work today, and then I'll tell you honestly whether we're a fit.
- Simon AshworthFine.
- Tom AshdownSo, Becky, let's start with that review. When your account managers prepare for one, where does the information live?
- Becky LawtonEverywhere, that's the problem. Bookings sit in one system, service tickets in the helpdesk, notes from calls in people's heads or their inbox, and then the account review itself is a deck someone builds by hand. It takes a day to prepare. My team needs this before the review, not after.
- Tom AshdownAnd who's doing the stitching together? Is it the account managers themselves?
- Becky LawtonYes, always. The good ones are brilliant at it, but it eats their week. Can we see it by client? That's what I keep asking. One client, everything.
- Tom AshdownThat's exactly what the brain does, by client, across the lot. It sits inside your own Snowflake account, so the data doesn't go anywhere. We'd connect to your CRM, your helpdesk and your call recorder, and then people can ask it questions in plain English.
- Simon AshworthWho's using it? At other firms.
- Tom AshdownMostly teams like Becky's. Account managers, customer operations, sometimes finance. I'm not going to name other customers without their say, but I'll happily put you in touch with someone once we're further along.
- Simon AshworthWhat's it costing us per month?
- Tom AshdownRight, so I don't want to quote from memory and get it wrong. What we've pencilled on our side is £51,600, and that's the total for the first term, including the one-off implementation. I'll split it out properly in the proposal so you can see the annual part and the one-off part separately. And that's not final until we've scoped it.
- Simon AshworthMm. And what do I get for it?
- Tom AshdownFewer hours lost on preparation, and reviews with real numbers in them. Becky can tell you better than me how many hours that is in her team.
- Becky LawtonLoads. Love that you've put it that way. Simon, honestly, if I could give my managers back even a morning a week, the clients would feel it. We'd go into reviews knowing what's happened on their account, rather than finding out in the room.
- Simon AshworthI'll believe it when I see it on our data. We'll review at the end.
- Tom AshdownThat's exactly what I'd suggest, Simon. A demo on your own data, not a generic one. If it doesn't show you something useful you didn't already know, we shouldn't be doing this.
- Becky LawtonYes please. Can we do it with one of my real clients? One where I already know the story, so I can tell if it's right.
- Tom AshdownAbsolutely. Pick one you know inside out, and we'll build it around that. Is there anything we'd need to be careful about on data? Sensitive clients, anything your COO or legal would want to see first?
- Simon AshworthClient data stays with us. If it's in our own account, fine. Anything else, no.
- Tom AshdownThat's how it works, Simon, it's all inside your own Snowflake account. I'll put it in writing for you anyway.
- Becky LawtonWhat happens after the demo? Because I want this moving. My team needs this before the next round of reviews.
- Tom AshdownSo, the demo, then a proposal with the scope and the price, and if you're happy we'd aim to have the paperwork done by 13 Dec 2024. I'm not going to promise a date I don't own, mind, that depends on you as much as me. Let's get something in the diary for the demo, though.
- Simon AshworthMake it short. One hour.
- Tom AshdownOne hour, Simon. No drama.
- Tom AshdownRight. So to recap. I'll send a short note after this call with what we heard, Becky picks the client for the demo, I'll send some times, and I'll put together a proposal after we've seen it. Is there anything I've missed?
- Becky LawtonNo, that's it. Thanks, Tom, that was so useful. Simon, thank you for coming!
- Simon AshworthFine. Send the times.
- Tom AshdownWill do. Cheers, both. Best, Tom.
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