Merriott Lyle Distribution / BB-Demo – Qbr
Callcompleted
Merriott Lyle Distribution · 2025-11-10 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
Current to 13 Oct 26On 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
Current to 9 Oct 26Theme
Renewal value case
Importance
renewal
Sentiment
mixed
Voice
decision-maker
Who was there
BB-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
Current to 9 Oct 26- 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
Current to 9 Oct 26- 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
Current to 9 Oct 26- 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 Okafor NoneGood 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 Chauhan NoneNot 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 Okafor NoneClear as anything. Tariq, you're a little quiet, I think.
Tariq Saleem NoneIs that better? I moved the microphone. Cheers.- Daniel Okafor NoneMuch 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 Chauhan NoneIt 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 Okafor NoneUnderstood. 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 Chauhan NonePlease.
- Daniel Okafor NoneSo 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 Chauhan NoneThat'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 Okafor NoneAnd that's the pattern I'd hoped for. How is the team finding it, day to day? Forget the numbers for a moment.
- Deepa Chauhan NoneHonestly, 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 Saleem NoneFrom my side it's fewer emails with attachments, which I'm not going to complain about.
Lewis Kerr NoneIf 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 Chauhan NoneYes, 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 Okafor NoneThat's sensible, and I'd rather you went that way round too.
Malcolm Ridgway NoneAfternoon. Sorry, I'm late. Who's talking?- Daniel Okafor NoneMalcolm, 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 Ridgway NoneGo on, then. What has changed since the last one?
- Daniel Okafor NoneMore 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 Ridgway NonePaid on time is my team, not you. What do the users do with it? Specifically.
- Deepa Chauhan NoneCan 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 Ridgway NoneAnd the cost of that being quicker is what?
- Deepa Chauhan NoneI 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 Ridgway NoneMm. What does that do to debtor days?
- Daniel Okafor NoneI'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 Ridgway NoneA percentage with no base is no use to me.
- Daniel Okafor NoneAgreed. 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 Ridgway NoneDisputes cleared and accounts released from stop. Those two. Show me where the numbers come from.
- Deepa Chauhan NoneThat's my line, Malcolm, you've taken it.
- Malcolm Ridgway NoneThen I've learned something from you.
- Daniel Okafor NoneWhich 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 Saleem NoneYes. 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 BB-Demo.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThat 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 Saleem NoneI'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 Chauhan NoneI would. Loudly.
- Tariq Saleem NoneThere'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 Okafor NoneThat's useful. Is that something you want us to look at with you, or is it better handled on your side first?
- Tariq Saleem NoneMy 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 Chauhan NoneYes. Tariq tells me first, I tell the key-account managers, and then it changes. That's the order.
- Daniel Okafor NoneOf 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 Ridgway NoneTwo versions of one customer. Does that touch credit limits?
- Tariq Saleem NoneIt 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 Ridgway NoneProve it, then. Put it in writing when you have.
- Tariq Saleem NoneWill do. Short note to you and Deepa.
- Daniel Okafor NoneGood. 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 Chauhan NoneYes, I can see it.
- Daniel Okafor NoneSo 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 Chauhan NoneI'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 Okafor NoneIt 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 Ridgway NoneI don't take meetings about dashboards.
- Daniel Okafor NoneNo, 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 Ridgway NoneGood. Lewis. February. What do you need from me?
- Lewis Kerr NoneThank 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 Ridgway NoneSame price?
- Lewis Kerr NoneI 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 Ridgway NoneToday. Right. And the first term's discount, does that fall away?
- Lewis Kerr NoneAny 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 Ridgway NoneFair. Anything else on that order form I should know?
- Lewis Kerr NoneNothing 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 Chauhan NoneI don't think we're asking for more. We're asking to get more out of what's there.
- Lewis Kerr NoneWhich is what I'd prefer to hear.
- Daniel Okafor NoneAnd 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 Ridgway NoneThen I want a draft before Christmas. Not January.
- Daniel Okafor NoneBefore 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 Chauhan NoneI'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 Okafor NonePlease do. Malcolm, is there something you'd want to see on the page that isn't there today?
- Malcolm Ridgway NoneA 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 Okafor NoneGood. That's clear. One page, same measure each quarter, base stated. I'll write it exactly like that.
- Tariq Saleem NoneI'd add that the mapping needs to be settled first, otherwise the dispute counts will double up for the merged accounts.
- Malcolm Ridgway NoneThen settle it first.
- Tariq Saleem NoneUnderstood. I'll have the check done and a note to you before the draft.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThank you. Anything else anyone wants to raise before we wrap? Deepa, you'd one thing at the start. Did we get it?
- Deepa Chauhan NoneMostly. 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 Okafor NoneThat'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 Kerr NoneThat's all of it. I'll send that over today.
- Malcolm Ridgway NoneGood. Nothing else from me.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThank you all. Best wishes, and speak soon.
- Deepa Chauhan NoneThanks, everyone. Speak soon.
- Tariq Saleem NoneCheers, all.
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