Delancey Haig / BG-Demo – Proposal
Callcompleted
Delancey Haig · 15 May 2024 09:00
Proposal call on the Growth tier. Saskia Mendes wants it for client-account directors. CFO Rupert Lasker misread £54k as annual, wants a number for the board and IT sign-off, and did not commit.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Proposal call on the Growth tier. Saskia Mendes wants it for client-account directors. CFO Rupert Lasker misread £54k as annual, wants a number for the board and IT sign-off, and did not commit.
What happened: The 15 May 2024 proposal call covered scope and price for Growth. Priya Raman clarified that £54k is the deal total with implementation, not an annual price.
Customer view: Saskia is the champion and would own it. Rupert is sceptical: he wants the annual cost on its own line, a named list of early users and IT comfort.
Commercial: Rupert asked for quarterly payment in writing and said he will ask about discount. Priya tied any price movement to the target decision date of Wednesday 19 June 2024.
Watch: Rupert called the value case "a case, not a number". The evidence does not show the outcome after the call.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Growth proposal price clarity
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- Priya Raman to send a cover note splitting annual and implementation lines, with the quarterly option.
- Saskia Mendes to supply dispute history and a user list by team.
- Priya Raman to arrange a call between Rupert Lasker and Daniel Okafor, then an IT call.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Rupert Lasker read £53,800 as an annual figure, so the price framing caused a shock.
- No quantified payback exists yet, and the CFO says he cannot take hidden staff time to the board.
- IT approval and a Snowflake access owner are still unconfirmed.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Saskia Mendes sees a clear case in catching disputed contractor invoices earlier and wants to own the rollout.
- Finance and Saskia's own team could follow the directors as later users on Growth.
Transcript
Priya RamanHello, hello. Can you both hear me alright?
Saskia MendesLoud and clear. Rupert's just dialling in from the other room, he's wrestling with the camera.
Rupert LaskerMorning. I'm here, sorry. Can't get the picture, but you'll have to cope with the voice. Before we start, how long is this going to take? I've got a budget meeting at ten.- Priya RamanForty minutes, so we finish on the hour, and I'll keep us tight. Happy to make this easy for you, Rupert.
- Rupert LaskerGood. Thank you.
- Saskia MendesCan I just say one thing before the slides? Quick story from this week, because it's basically why I'm on this call.
- Priya RamanPlease, go for it.
- Saskia MendesOne of our client-account directors went into a quarterly review on Tuesday. Lovely client, long relationship. And about ten minutes in, the client's finance lead says, we've been disputing a contractor invoice for three weeks, has nobody told you? And she hadn't been told. It was sitting with accounts, in a different system, and nobody had joined it up to the account. She found out in the room.
- Rupert LaskerI did hear about that one.
- Saskia MendesSo that's the thing. The directors need this. They need to walk in knowing the vacancies, the placements, the invoices and what the client has actually complained about. Not find out from the client.
- Priya RamanThat's exactly the picture, Saskia, and it's a good place to start. So, quick recap of where we are, and then the next date. We did the walkthrough on your own data a while back, you've had the proposal in your inbox since then, and today is really about questions on scope and price. The date we've pencilled for a decision is Wednesday 19 June 2024, so if we can get this over the line by then, we keep momentum and you're live well before the summer lull.
- Rupert LaskerPencilled by you, I think.
- Priya RamanFair, fair. Pencilled by me, as a target, nothing more. Your call entirely.
- Saskia MendesIt's a sensible target, though. Just so you know, Rupert, I'm not going to pretend we've got everything sorted on our side.
- Rupert LaskerNoted. Priya, can you take me through what it is we'd be buying? In plain words. I read the proposal but I'd rather hear it.
- Priya RamanOf course. So you'd be on the Growth tier. The idea is one layer over your CRM, your call and email records, the helpdesk and the accounting system, built and run inside your own Snowflake account. So the data doesn't leave your environment. Then your people ask it questions in plain English, or open pages that pull the account together. For Saskia's directors, that's a single view of a client: open vacancies, placements made, invoices raised and any disputes, and complaints, all on one page.
- Rupert LaskerAnd it's only the client-account directors who'd use it?
- Saskia MendesTo begin with, yes. Directors first. Then I'd want my team on it, because we're the ones chasing contractor-invoice disputes. And then finance, I'd hope, if it earns its keep.
- Rupert LaskerIf it earns its keep. Right. That's my question, really. What are we actually using, day to day? Because I've signed tools before that looked wonderful in a demo.
- Priya RamanTotally fair. Can I take that in two parts? What you use, and then how we make sure you keep using it.
- Rupert LaskerGo on.
- Priya RamanWhat you use: the chat and search, so a director types, what's the state of this client, and gets the answer with the sources behind it. The pages, which are the client views. And on Growth you get the dashboards builder, so Saskia's team can build their own view of disputes without waiting for anyone. How we keep you using it: on Growth there are quarterly business reviews, so we sit down and look at who's asking questions, which teams, which have gone quiet. And Daniel Okafor, who'd be your customer success manager, owns that.
- Rupert LaskerDaniel. I haven't met Daniel.
- Priya RamanNo, and I'd like to fix that. I'll come back to it at the end, because I think it should be part of the next step.
- Rupert LaskerMm. Fine. Now. Remind me of the annual cost.
- Priya RamanYes. So, the number in the proposal is £53,800. And I want to be careful with how I describe that, because it's the total for the deal, implementation included. It's not an annual price. The one-off implementation sits inside it, and the annual subscription is the rest. The pricing page splits the two.
- Rupert LaskerSo fifty-three eight is not what I'd pay every year.
- Priya RamanCorrect. It's the all-in figure for getting you set up and running for the first term. After that, you'd be on the subscription only.
- Rupert LaskerHm. That wasn't how I'd read it. I thought that was the yearly figure and I'd already put it in a spreadsheet that way.
- Saskia MendesI think that's on me, I said fifty-odd and he ran with it. Sorry, Rupert.
- Rupert LaskerNo, no. But I do need it split properly. Annual on one line, implementation on another. Can you do that today?
- Priya RamanI'll send a clean cover note after this call with the two lines separated and nothing else changed. Easy.
- Rupert LaskerThank you. And nothing else changed means no surprises.
- Priya RamanNo surprises. Same scope, same terms, same figures, just laid out so you can read it in ten seconds.
- Rupert LaskerRight. Second thing. Can we do this ourselves?
- Priya RamanYou can. I'd rather say that than have you find it out later. You've got people who can build reports and you've got a data warehouse. The honest question is what it costs you in people's time to keep it joined up. Every time the CRM changes a field, or the helpdesk changes a category, someone has to go and fix the reconciliation. And the answers have to be right at seven in the morning, not whenever somebody's had a chance.
- Rupert LaskerWe have tried, actually. Haven't we, Saskia.
- Saskia MendesWe have. A few spreadsheets, a monthly pack that somebody in my team puts together over the best part of two days. By the time the directors see it, it's out of date. And it can't answer a question, it just sits there. What did the client actually say? The pack can't tell me that.
- Rupert LaskerIt doesn't have to be a pack. We could ask the data team for a dashboard.
- Saskia MendesWe could. They're also doing three other things and I'd be waiting a quarter. Honestly, Rupert, I'd rather you challenge that than just let me say it. But I think the pack is a symptom, not the answer.
- Rupert LaskerHm. All right. I'll hold that thought.
- Priya RamanCan I add something on that? The point isn't that the brain does what a smart analyst couldn't. It's that it keeps doing it without somebody being assigned to it, and it covers the emails, calls and tickets, which are the bits that never make it into a dashboard.
- Rupert LaskerThat's a sales answer, but it's not a wrong one.
- Priya RamanI'll take that.
- Saskia MendesCan I put the contractor-invoice side to you, Rupert? Because that's where I think the money is.
- Rupert LaskerGo ahead.
- Saskia MendesWhen a contractor invoice is disputed, we only usually hear about it when the client's finance team gets cross. By then it's been sitting for weeks. If a director could see, on the client page, that there's a disputed invoice and a complaint logged against the same placement, we'd pick up the phone in the first week. That's cash, and it's a relationship we don't wobble.
- Rupert LaskerThat I do understand. Cost per placement goes up when we chase the same invoice for six weeks.
- Saskia MendesExactly. That's the whole case for me.
- Rupert LaskerBut it's a case, Saskia, not a number. I need a number I can say to the board. Does it pay for itself within a year?
- Priya RamanI wouldn't give you a promise on that, I don't think anyone honest could, because it depends on how many disputes you've got and how fast people act. What I can do is help you set up the measure before you start, so that at the first quarterly review you can look at disputes caught early against disputes caught late, and the time the pack used to take. Then it's your number, not mine.
- Rupert LaskerThat's more sensible than most of what I'm told. Okay.
- Saskia MendesWe can pull the dispute history from accounts. I can ask my team to put together what we've got for the last couple of quarters, so there's a baseline.
- Priya RamanThat would be brilliant. That also helps us size the first dashboards.
- Rupert LaskerNext. How long before anyone is actually using it? Not signed. Using.
- Priya RamanSo the implementation plan in the proposal runs a couple of months on Growth. The first connectors come live early, usually the CRM first, and then the others in the order we agree. Directors would start seeing real client pages well before the end of that, not only at the finish.
- Rupert LaskerA couple of months. And during that time do I need to give you my people?
- Priya RamanA bit of them, yes. Someone who knows each system, and someone in IT who can grant access into Snowflake. Then Saskia as the owner on your side. It's not a full-time job for anyone.
- Saskia MendesI'd be the owner. I'm happy with that, I'd want to be.
- Rupert LaskerAnd if IT say no?
- Priya RamanThen we'd want to know early, and I'd rather they were on a call before you sign than after. It runs inside your Snowflake account, under your own controls, so most of the usual worries are answered by how it's built. But they should ask whatever they like.
- Rupert LaskerWho sees what? Because I don't want a junior in operations pulling up another team's margin.
- Priya RamanAccess follows your roles. The brain only shows people what they're allowed to see in the source systems. It's something we'd go through properly with your IT person, rather than me waving my hands at it.
- Saskia MendesAnd that's one I'd flag too. The directors will want margin on a client, but my team shouldn't see all of it. We can map that out.
- Rupert LaskerGood. Put that on the list.
- Priya RamanAlready on it.
- Rupert LaskerFewer suppliers is what I'm after, Priya. I'll be blunt. Every new tool is one more renewal, one more invoice, one more person on the phone. What does this replace?
- Priya RamanHonestly? It doesn't replace a supplier, I won't pretend it does. It replaces the work of stitching the ones you've got together. And the monthly pack, and the chasing of people to tell you what the helpdesk says about a client. If you're asking whether it would let you switch off the CRM, no.
- Rupert LaskerAppreciated. A straight no is better than a clever yes.
- Saskia MendesCan I make a simpler point? We already pay, in people's time, for the thing this does. It's just hidden. The pack takes two days of somebody who is quite senior.
- Rupert LaskerHidden costs are not on my profit and loss, Saskia, they're in your team's week. I take the point, but I can't take it to the board.
- Saskia MendesFair. That's why I'll put the baseline together.
- Rupert LaskerGood.
- Priya RamanRupert, can I ask what would make this an easy yes for you? Not today, I know you don't decide at a first meeting. But if I knew what you'd need to see, I could shape the next two weeks around it.
- Rupert LaskerThat's a fair question, and a fair assumption. I don't. Three things. The annual cost laid out on its own, as we said. A clear view of who would be using it in the first three months, by name or at least by team, so I can see what we're actually using. And someone from IT telling me they've looked at it and it isn't a headache.
- Priya RamanGreat. That's very clear. I can do the first one today. Saskia, can you help with the second?
- Saskia MendesYes. I'll list the directors and my own team, and I'll put a question mark next to finance, because that's Rupert's to say.
- Rupert LaskerPut me down as a maybe.
- Saskia MendesA maybe with a question mark. Noted.
- Priya RamanAnd for the IT piece, I'd suggest a short call, thirty minutes at most, with whoever looks after your Snowflake account, me and Daniel on our side. We'd answer what they ask and no more.
- Rupert LaskerI'll find out who that should be. I'm not certain it's one person.
- Saskia MendesIt's two. A colleague in IT and someone in the data team. I'll sort it.
- Rupert LaskerFine. Now, the contract. Is it a year? Is there a way out?
- Priya RamanIt's an annual subscription, paid in advance, with the one-off implementation on top. Quarterly payment is possible if cash flow is the concern. I'd rather not talk about exit before we've talked about success, but I'll make sure the terms are written plainly so you can read them.
- Rupert LaskerQuarterly would help. I'd want to see that in writing. Without a catch.
- Priya RamanUnderstood. I'll get you the quarterly option in the cover note, same document, so it's all in one place.
- Rupert LaskerMm. And any discount is a separate conversation. I'm not asking today. I'm saying I'll ask.
- Priya RamanHeard. And I'll say plainly that if there's anything on price, it would come with a date attached, so it'd have to be settled in time for the nineteenth of June. I won't put anything in writing today.
- Rupert LaskerGood. That's honest.
- Saskia MendesCan I ask one practical thing? What does a director actually do on day one? I need to tell them something that isn't a slide deck.
- Priya RamanGood question. Day one, they open a client page and ask a question. Which placements are at risk this month, which invoices are in dispute, what's been said in the last few calls. We'd do a short training session with the directors in groups, an hour at most. Then Daniel does check-ins until it sticks.
- Saskia MendesAn hour is realistic. Any more and they won't turn up.
- Rupert LaskerThey won't turn up for an hour either, in my experience.
- Saskia MendesThey will if the first thing they see is their own biggest client. Trust me, they'll come.
- Priya RamanThat's exactly how we'd run it. Use their own accounts, nothing generic.
- Rupert LaskerAll right. Let me ask something awkward. What happens if the data's wrong? If it tells a director a client has no complaints and they walk in and there's one?
- Priya RamanIt's a fair worry. The brain is only as good as what flows in, so there's a nightly refresh, and the answers show their sources so a director can check where something came from. If a connector breaks, because someone changed a system, you'd see it and so would we. It isn't magic, and I'd rather you went in knowing that.
- Rupert LaskerRight. That's more or less what I'd expect. I'd want a named person at your end for that, not a portal.
- Priya RamanThat's Daniel, day to day. I'll get you both on a call, so you've got a face to put to the name.
- Saskia MendesWhich would be good for me too. I'd like him to see our pack before we kill it.
- Rupert LaskerKill it. You said it, I didn't.
- Saskia MendesRetire it with honours.
- Priya RamanHa. Retire it with honours, I'll use that.
- Rupert LaskerLet me think about timing. If I'm not going to commit today, and I'm not, what's the earliest I could decide without being rushed?
- Priya RamanIf I get you the cover note today, Saskia's baseline comes through next week, and the IT call lands the week after, you'd have everything in front of you with a few days to spare before Wednesday 19 June 2024. That's the shape I'd propose, but you tell me if it's too tight.
- Rupert LaskerIt's tight but possible. I'll not promise the date.
- Priya RamanWouldn't ask you to.
- Saskia MendesRupert, can I have one thing from you? If it turns out the baseline isn't convincing, just tell me and I'll hear it. I'd rather know than be strung along.
- Rupert LaskerI would never string you along, Saskia. Slow you down, perhaps.
- Saskia MendesSlow is fine.
- Priya RamanLet me read back what I've got, because I don't want anything to fall between us. One. I send the cover note today with the annual subscription and the implementation on separate lines, plus the quarterly payment option. Two. Saskia pulls together the dispute history and her list of users by team. Three. We set up a call with someone from IT and the data team, with Daniel and me. Four. Rupert comes back with any questions and, if it's right for him, a decision close to the nineteenth of June. Have I got that?
- Rupert LaskerYou've got it. Add that I'd like to speak to Daniel before the IT call, not after.
- Priya RamanDone. Daniel first, then IT.
- Saskia MendesAnd I'll do my bit by the end of next week. Is that okay?
- Priya RamanThat's perfect. If it's earlier, even better, but that works.
- Rupert LaskerOne more question and then I'll let you go. Who'd be our contact if you move on? People do.
- Priya RamanFair question. For the contract and anything commercial, it'd be me through to signature, and then Daniel owns the relationship afterwards, with a named colleague covering for anything I've started. Day to day you'd go through Daniel anyway.
- Rupert LaskerHm. Fine. I'll want that written in as well, in whatever form makes sense.
- Priya RamanLet me see what I can do. I'll note it.
- Saskia MendesShould we use the rest of the time to look at the client page again? Rupert hasn't seen it on our own data, only me.
- Rupert LaskerI've got a budget meeting at ten.
- Priya RamanIt's only just gone half past nine. I can share my screen and take five minutes, then you can dash.
- Rupert LaskerFive. Go.
- Priya RamanSharing now. Can you see it? That's one of your larger clients, anonymised for the call. Across the top, the open vacancies and the placements made. Underneath, invoices, with anything in dispute highlighted. And on the right, the complaints and the last few calls and emails.
- Saskia MendesThat's the one. That's what I want every director to open on a Monday.
- Rupert LaskerI see the invoice in dispute. Where does that come from?
- Priya RamanYour accounting system. It's read, not changed. And if you click through, you land on the record itself, so nobody is taking the brain's word for it.
- Rupert LaskerAnd that complaint over there?
- Priya RamanFrom the helpdesk. A director would see it alongside the invoice, which is the whole point. One, you've got an unhappy client. Two, you've got a disputed contractor. Three, they're probably the same story.
- Rupert LaskerHm. Yes. I can see why Saskia is keen.
- Saskia MendesSay it again, with feeling.
- Rupert LaskerI can see why you're keen. That isn't a yes.
- Saskia MendesI'll take it as a not-no.
- Priya RamanLet me show one more thing, then I'll stop. If I type a question, which clients have a disputed invoice and an open complaint this month, you get a list, with the sources. That's the sort of question the monthly pack can't answer.
- Rupert LaskerThat is quicker than what I get now. I'll grant you that.
- Saskia MendesQuicker and it's current. The pack is from last month.
- Rupert LaskerRight. I have to go. I'm going to need the cover note before lunch if I'm to look at it properly this afternoon.
- Priya RamanYou'll have it within the hour. Thank you for the time, Rupert, and for being direct. It helps.
- Rupert LaskerHm. Thank you both. Goodbye.
- Priya RamanBye, Rupert.
- Saskia MendesHe's gone. Was that okay? I thought that went about as well as it could have, for a first look at price.
- Priya RamanI thought so. He's sceptical, which is fine, he's supposed to be. What I took from it is that the annual line was the shock, and I should have been clearer in the proposal. That's my fault.
- Saskia MendesDon't worry about it, it was my shorthand too. I'll make sure the baseline is solid, because he's right. He needs a number.
- Priya RamanIf you can get me anything on how long the pack takes and how many disputes ran long, I'll turn it into a one-page case for him. Then it's his number, built from your data.
- Saskia MendesI'll have a rough version by Friday. Not perfect, but enough to show the shape.
- Priya RamanBrilliant. And can you give me the name of the IT person? I'll write to them directly, with you copied, so it doesn't feel like a sales call.
- Saskia MendesI'll send you both names. They're good people, they'll ask hard questions.
- Priya RamanHard questions are what we want. Right. Anything else from you before I go and write that note?
- Saskia MendesJust one. Whatever happens with the date, can we keep it moving? I don't want this to drift into the summer. If it goes quiet, the directors lose interest, and so do I.
- Priya RamanAgreed. I'll check in next week, and I won't let it go quiet. Best case, we're signed on the nineteenth and building in the weeks after.
- Saskia MendesLovely. Thanks, Priya. Speak soon.
- Priya RamanSpeak soon, Saskia. Best, Priya.
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