Merriott Lyle Distribution / BG-Demo – QBR
Callcompleted
Merriott Lyle Distribution · 10 Nov 2025 16:00
On the 10 Nov 2025 QBR, the CFO asked what the brain is worth and wanted a one-page measure with a stated base, ahead of the Enterprise term ending in February. Usage and tickets were healthy; Lewis promised renewal terms in writing.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026On the 10 Nov 2025 QBR, the CFO asked what the brain is worth and wanted a one-page measure with a stated base, ahead of the Enterprise term ending in February. Usage and tickets were healthy; Lewis promised renewal terms in writing.
What happened: Quarterly review of the Enterprise account. Deepa Chauhan wanted an account view she could put in front of the regional directors, and Malcolm Ridgway joined late and pressed on value.
Customer view: Malcolm asked what faster answers are worth and rejected a percentage with no base. He wants disputes cleared and accounts released from stop on one page each quarter, and a draft before Christmas.
Commercial: Lewis Kerr stated Enterprise at £116k a year plus VAT, matching the order form and invoices. He promised renewal terms in writing the same day, and the term ends at the end of February.
Watch: Merged branch accounts can show twice in the CRM, which could double up dispute counts until Tariq Saleem settles the mapping. The evidence does not show whether the terms were sent.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Renewal value case
Importance
renewal
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 sends the renewal terms in writing on the day of the call.
- Daniel Okafor drafts the one-page value summary with Deepa before Christmas.
- Tariq Saleem checks the duplicate accounts and writes to Malcolm and Deepa before the draft.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- The CFO has no value figure yet and wants a measured base before he supports the renewal.
- Duplicate trade accounts from merged branch records could distort dispute counts in the value summary.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Active users are under a third of the two hundred licensed, so other branches can join without a contract change.
- A value page on stops and disputes, agreed with the CFO, gives the renewal a board-ready case.
Transcript
Daniel OkaforGood afternoon, everyone, and thank you for your time. Let me just check who has joined. I can see Deepa and Tariq, and Lewis is with me. Malcolm, are you on the line yet?
Deepa ChauhanNot yet. He's finishing something with the auditors' people, he said give him five minutes and carry on. Can you all hear me all right? I've changed headset.- Daniel OkaforClear as anything. Tariq, you're a little quiet, I think.
Tariq SaleemIs that better? I moved the microphone. Cheers.- Daniel OkaforMuch better. Right, so this is the quarterly review for the Enterprise account, and the plan is simple. I'll go through how the team is using the brain, then the tickets, then what it's been worth to you, and then Lewis will talk about February. Deepa, you usually open with the one thing you need from the call. Is that still the way?
- Deepa ChauhanIt is, yes. The one thing: I want to leave with a view of the account data I can put in front of the regional directors at the next account-data review. Which account, which branch, what's happening to it. Not a slide about features. Something Malcolm would also sign up to.
- Daniel OkaforUnderstood. Just to close the loop on that, I'll come back to it at the end and we'll agree who does what. Can I start with usage?
- Deepa ChauhanPlease.
- Daniel OkaforSo over the last thirty days you've had nearly sixty people active on an average day, and that's up by about a fifth on the previous quarter. That's a good move. And it isn't one team doing it. It's branch managers, key-account people and a decent group in credit control, which is what you bought Enterprise for.
- Deepa ChauhanThat's about right from where I sit. The credit control group came in later than the others, but they're the ones asking the most questions now.
- Daniel OkaforAnd that's the pattern I'd hoped for. How is the team finding it, day to day? Forget the numbers for a moment.
- Deepa ChauhanHonestly, better than I expected at this stage. Three things. The branch managers open the account view before they ring the customer. The key-account managers have stopped sending each other spreadsheets about disputes. And credit control can see the call notes next to the invoice. A year ago that was three systems and a lot of guessing.
- Tariq SaleemFrom my side it's fewer emails with attachments, which I'm not going to complain about.
Lewis KerrIf I can add one thing, only so it's on the record. You've two hundred licensed users and the active number is under a third of that. I'm not raising it to sell you anything. The usage doesn't call for it. It just tells me there's room for the other branches to come in without anyone needing to change the contract.- Deepa ChauhanYes, that's the next conversation really. We've been careful. I'd rather the account view was trusted by the first branches before I tell the regions it's there.
- Daniel OkaforThat's sensible, and I'd rather you went that way round too.
Malcolm RidgwayAfternoon. Sorry, I'm late. Who's talking?- Daniel OkaforMalcolm, good afternoon, thank you for joining. We've just been through the usage. I'll give you the short version when you're settled.
- Malcolm RidgwayGo on, then. What has changed since the last one?
- Daniel OkaforMore people using it, and more of them from credit control. Active users are up by about a fifth quarter on quarter, to nearly sixty on an average day. Tickets are few. Nothing high priority in the last month. And your invoices are all paid on time.
- Malcolm RidgwayPaid on time is my team, not you. What do the users do with it? Specifically.
- Deepa ChauhanCan I take that, Malcolm? Because it's the same answer I'd give the directors. Credit control picks up an account that's on a hold or in dispute. Before, they rang the branch, the branch rang the key-account manager, and nobody had the same story. Now they ask the brain for the account, and they see the orders, the dispute, the last call and the open invoices in one place.
- Malcolm RidgwayAnd the cost of that being quicker is what?
- Deepa ChauhanI can't give you a figure today, and I'd rather say that than make one up. What I can tell you is the conversation in the review is different. We spent the first twenty minutes last time agreeing what the facts were. This time we went straight to what to do.
- Malcolm RidgwayMm. What does that do to debtor days?
- Daniel OkaforI'll be straight with you, Malcolm. The brain shows you the accounts and what's happening to them. It doesn't move debtor days by itself. People acting on it do. What I can do is help you and Deepa agree a measure now, before the renewal, so that when the board asks what it's worth there's a number with a base under it.
- Malcolm RidgwayA percentage with no base is no use to me.
- Daniel OkaforAgreed. So we'd start from your own figure for the accounts that went on stop, and the time it took to clear a dispute, and we'd say which of those you actually care about. Not ours. Yours.
- Malcolm RidgwayDisputes cleared and accounts released from stop. Those two. Show me where the numbers come from.
- Deepa ChauhanThat's my line, Malcolm, you've taken it.
- Malcolm RidgwayThen I've learned something from you.
- Daniel OkaforWhich makes it easy. Let's put that in the actions. Before that, Tariq, could you take us through the tickets? I know it's your area, and you always open with them.
- Tariq SaleemYes. Four in the last thirty days, none of them high priority. A couple were mapping questions, matching an account in the branch system to the right record in the CRM. That's a mapping question, not a fault. The others were small how-to ones. I've no open ticket that's waiting on BG-Demo.
- Daniel OkaforThat matches what I see. The nightly loads have been complete before the start of the working day all quarter, as far as I can tell. Tariq, is that your experience?
- Tariq SaleemI'll check the load log to be certain, but I haven't had anyone tell me the morning view was stale. If they had, I'd have heard it from Deepa within the hour.
- Deepa ChauhanI would. Loudly.
- Tariq SaleemThere's one thing I'd flag, not a ticket yet. When branches merge two trade accounts in the branch system, the CRM sometimes keeps both for a while. The brain follows what it's given. So you can see two versions of what is really one customer.
- Daniel OkaforThat's useful. Is that something you want us to look at with you, or is it better handled on your side first?
- Tariq SaleemMy side first. I don't want to change a mapping without Deepa agreeing it. But I may want an hour with one of your engineers to be sure I'm not creating a second problem.
- Deepa ChauhanYes. Tariq tells me first, I tell the key-account managers, and then it changes. That's the order.
- Daniel OkaforOf course. I'll come back to you by the end of the week with a time for that hour. Just so nobody is left waiting.
- Malcolm RidgwayTwo versions of one customer. Does that touch credit limits?
- Tariq SaleemIt can, if the limit sits on one record and the orders sit on the other. That's exactly why I want it tidy. Not a risk today, as far as I can see. But I'd rather prove it than assume it.
- Malcolm RidgwayProve it, then. Put it in writing when you have.
- Tariq SaleemWill do. Short note to you and Deepa.
- Daniel OkaforGood. Let me share a couple of things on the screen, if I may. Give me a moment. Can you see it, the usage page?
- Deepa ChauhanYes, I can see it.
- Daniel OkaforSo the line you can see climbing is questions asked. It's the best single measure of whether people find it worth opening. And what I'd draw your eye to is who is asking. It isn't one person. It's spread across a good number of people, which matters, because if it were one person asking most of the questions and they left, you'd lose most of the value overnight.
- Deepa ChauhanI'd noticed that. A few months ago a lot of it was me and two of the key-account managers. It's not now.
- Daniel OkaforIt isn't, no. And the dashboards you've built yourselves are still there, which tells me the investment is yours rather than ours. That's a healthy sign.
- Malcolm RidgwayI don't take meetings about dashboards.
- Daniel OkaforNo, quite right, I'll leave the dashboards alone. The only reason I mention it is that you won't need us to maintain them.
- Malcolm RidgwayGood. Lewis. February. What do you need from me?
- Lewis KerrThank you, Malcolm. To put a number on it, the contract is Enterprise at £116,500 a year, plus VAT. The order form and the invoices both say the same, so there's nothing to reconcile. The term ends at the end of February, and I'd like to be clear well before then what you want it to look like.
- Malcolm RidgwaySame price?
- Lewis KerrI don't want to quote that from memory, Malcolm. I'll confirm the renewal terms against the executed order form and send them over today, in writing, so you've got the schedule in front of you before anyone asks you to sign anything.
- Malcolm RidgwayToday. Right. And the first term's discount, does that fall away?
- Lewis KerrAny discount from the first term applies to that term only, so I'll show you the position line by line. I'd sooner you saw it written down than took my word for it on a call.
- Malcolm RidgwayFair. Anything else on that order form I should know?
- Lewis KerrNothing I'd want to add to your commitment. Your user count, your connectors and the service levels carry across as they are. If the other branches come in and you need more, that's a separate, co-termed quote, and only if the usage supports it.
- Deepa ChauhanI don't think we're asking for more. We're asking to get more out of what's there.
- Lewis KerrWhich is what I'd prefer to hear.
- Daniel OkaforAnd from my side, so nobody is surprised, the formal renewal notice will come from me, with the usage and the value summary alongside it. I'd like the value summary to be the thing Malcolm has already agreed, not something that lands cold.
- Malcolm RidgwayThen I want a draft before Christmas. Not January.
- Daniel OkaforBefore Christmas it is. I'll work with Deepa on the content and she can tell me where your own figures are better than mine.
- Deepa ChauhanI'll pull the stop and dispute numbers from credit control. They'll want to be in the room anyway. Let's get credit control in the room for that one.
- Daniel OkaforPlease do. Malcolm, is there something you'd want to see on the page that isn't there today?
- Malcolm RidgwayA single page. Accounts on stop, disputes open, how long they've been open. Same measure each quarter. Then I can put it in front of the board without explaining it.
- Daniel OkaforGood. That's clear. One page, same measure each quarter, base stated. I'll write it exactly like that.
- Tariq SaleemI'd add that the mapping needs to be settled first, otherwise the dispute counts will double up for the merged accounts.
- Malcolm RidgwayThen settle it first.
- Tariq SaleemUnderstood. I'll have the check done and a note to you before the draft.
- Daniel OkaforThank you. Anything else anyone wants to raise before we wrap? Deepa, you'd one thing at the start. Did we get it?
- Deepa ChauhanMostly. I'll have the shape of the account view for the directors once Tariq's mapping is sorted and we've agreed the page with Malcolm. I'm not going to promise the regions anything that doesn't exist yet, so I'll show them what's there.
- Daniel OkaforThat's a sensible line. Let me just read back so we agree. Tariq checks the duplicate accounts and writes to Malcolm and Deepa, and I come back to him by the end of the week with a time for an hour with an engineer. Deepa gets the stop and dispute figures from credit control. I draft the one-page summary for before Christmas. Lewis sends the renewal terms in writing today. Have I missed anything?
- Lewis KerrThat's all of it. I'll send that over today.
- Malcolm RidgwayGood. Nothing else from me.
- Daniel OkaforThank you all. Best wishes, and speak soon.
- Deepa ChauhanThanks, everyone. Speak soon.
- Tariq SaleemCheers, all.
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