Delancey Haig / BG-Demo – Check In
Callcompleted
Delancey Haig · 30 Mar 2026 15:45
Saskia Mendes said adoption is not where it should be: about eleven of forty Growth users active daily. She could not defend the renewal to the board yet, and may hand back seats if sessions fail.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Saskia Mendes said adoption is not where it should be: about eleven of forty Growth users active daily. She could not defend the renewal to the board yet, and may hand back seats if sessions fail.
What happened: Daniel Okafor and Saskia met one to one. Daniel said around eleven people are active daily out of forty licensed, up a little on the quarter before.
Customer view: Saskia said four or five directors live in it and the rest open it when nagged. Where she has sat with directors it sticks, and she said the ones who use it love it.
Commercial: Saskia said she would struggle to defend the renewal to the board at eleven active of forty, and dislikes the price rise letter. Daniel will send the exact renewal figure in writing with Priya Raman on the commercial terms.
Watch: Saskia floated handing back or reassigning seats if the sessions go well, once the numbers are seen.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Adoption gap before renewal
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- Saskia Mendes sends the list of non-using directors and two examples, and asks about the Monday slot.
- Daniel Okafor sends the three-heading ticket summary and usage by person by the end of the next week.
- Daniel sends the exact renewal figure in writing with Priya Raman on the commercial terms.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Eleven of forty active users makes the Growth renewal hard to defend to the board, especially with the move to the new list price.
- Directors not yet using the brain may avoid the planned sessions.
- Saskia may hand back or reassign seats, which would reduce the subscription.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Short director sessions on real client questions, sources and saved questions could lift adoption.
- Usage by person and two success examples could give Saskia the value case she asked for.
Transcript
Daniel OkaforHello Saskia, good afternoon. Can you hear me alright?
Saskia MendesLoud and clear. Hi Daniel. Sorry, give me one second, I'm just closing something else down.- Daniel OkaforNo rush at all. Thank you for making the time, I know it's a busy end of the month. I think it's just the two of us today, is that right? I wasn't sure whether anyone from the directors' side was joining.
- Saskia MendesJust us. I did ask, but they're all in client reviews this afternoon. Which actually brings me to my week, because you will not believe what happened on Tuesday.
- Daniel OkaforGo on, I'm listening.
- Saskia MendesOne of our client-account directors walks into a review with a technology client. Big contract programme, lots of contractors out on site. And the client opens with a complaint about an invoice dispute that had been sitting there for weeks. The director had no idea. And the thing is, it was in the brain. It had been in there the whole time. He just never looked.
- Daniel OkaforOh, that's a hard one. So the information was there, but it didn't get in front of him.
- Saskia MendesExactly. And that's sort of why I wanted this call to be honest rather than polite. I'll say it straight: I don't think adoption is where it should be.
- Daniel OkaforI appreciate you saying that, and I'd rather we had that conversation properly. Shall I share what I'm seeing from our side, and then you tell me whether it matches what you feel on the ground?
- Saskia MendesYes please. Go for it.
- Daniel OkaforSo you're licensed for forty users on Growth. Over the last month, on average, it's around eleven people active on any given day. That's up a little on the quarter before, so it's moving in the right direction, but I wouldn't dress it up. Eleven out of forty is a lot of unused seats.
- Saskia MendesRight. Yeah. That's about what I'd have guessed. Honestly, I think it's four or five directors who really live in it, and then the rest open it when I nag them.
- Daniel OkaforMm. And is that the same four or five who were using it when you first went live, or has that group changed?
- Saskia MendesMostly the same. A couple of newer directors have picked it up because I sat with them. The ones I haven't sat with, nothing. That's the pattern. Where I've been in the room, it sticks. Where I haven't, it doesn't.
- Daniel OkaforThat's really useful, actually. It tells us it isn't the product failing them when they do use it, it's the getting started. How is the team finding it, the ones who do use it? What do they say?
- Saskia MendesThey love it. The directors need this, that's not in question. They ask it what's the whole picture on a client, vacancies, placements, invoices, complaints, and they get one answer instead of opening four systems. The ones who use it use it every day. It's the others.
- Daniel OkaforGood. That's the value you bought it for, and it's working when it's used. Now, can I talk about the tickets, just to close the loop on those?
- Saskia MendesPlease. I was going to raise them anyway.
- Daniel OkaforThere have been five in the last month, and all five were marked high priority. Five isn't a huge number, but all of them being high stands out to me. Before I say anything else, tell me how you see it.
- Saskia MendesSo, fair. I'll own part of that. When a director is about to walk into a review and something looks off, they ping me, and I log it as high because the review is in an hour. It's not that the platform is on fire. It's that when it's wrong, it's wrong at the worst moment.
- Daniel OkaforThat makes sense, and I'd much rather you log it high and we look at it than sit on it. Was there a common thread across the five? Was it the same source or the same client coming up?
- Saskia MendesMostly the answers not matching what the directors already knew from the client. So they lose trust. One wrong answer and they go back to spreadsheets for a month.
- Daniel OkaforYes. And that's the real risk, isn't it. It's not one ticket, it's the confidence. Let me do this. I'll go through the five properly, look at the timestamps and what we responded with, and what the cause was in each. I'll come back to you by the end of next week with a short summary, so you can see it on one page.
- Saskia MendesThat would be great. Can we make it simpler though? Not a report. Just, here's what went wrong, here's what's fixed, here's what's still open.
- Daniel OkaforAbsolutely. Three headings, nothing more.
- Saskia MendesPerfect.
- Daniel OkaforWhile we're on trust, one thing I should check. When an answer looked wrong, did anyone ask the brain where it got it from? The sources are listed under each answer, and sometimes that settles it in a few seconds.
- Saskia MendesHa. Honestly? I don't think most of them know that's there. I knew, because you showed me. I never told the directors.
- Daniel OkaforThen that's a quick win, and it's on us as much as you. Nobody walked them through it. What if we did a short session with the directors, thirty minutes, on their own client examples? Not a general demo, but each of them bringing a client they're worried about.
- Saskia MendesWhat did the client actually say, that's the question I keep asking them. If they come with a real client and a real worry, they'll sit through it. If it's a slide deck, they won't.
- Daniel OkaforAgreed. Real clients, real questions. I can run it, and I'd want you in the room because they listen to you. If you can get me the directors who aren't using it yet, I'll make sure we cover the sources, the saved questions and how to check an answer.
- Saskia MendesOkay. I can get a list to you this week. Let me be clear though, the people who aren't using it are the ones who'll find an excuse not to come.
- Daniel OkaforFair. Is there a standing meeting where they're all together already? It's easier to take ten minutes of an existing slot than to ask for a new one.
- Saskia MendesThere's the Monday leadership catch-up. It's tight, but that might work. I'd have to ask.
- Daniel OkaforThen perhaps start there. A short slot in the Monday meeting to show the sources, and then smaller sessions with the ones who want more. You know the room far better than I do, so tell me if that's wrong.
- Saskia MendesNo, that's sensible. I'll come back to you on it.
- Daniel OkaforThank you. Now, Saskia, there's the other thing I want to be open about, and I'd rather say it now than let it sneak up on us. The contract runs to 2 Jul 2026 and the renewal date is 3 Jul 2026. So that's a few months away. That's the point where I start the formal conversation, and I'd like it to be with a clear picture of value, not a surprise.
- Saskia MendesYeah. I've had that in my head. And I'll be straight with you, with eleven people active out of forty, I'd struggle to defend it to the board at the moment. I know what it's worth to the directors who use it. I can't show it for the whole firm.
- Daniel OkaforI understand, and I think that's the right way to see it. So what would you need to see to feel comfortable? If I could put something in front of you before the renewal conversation, what would make the difference?
- Saskia MendesQuestions asked, by director, month on month. Who is actually using it and what for. And ideally one or two examples where it caught something. Like a dispute, or a complaint, before it blew up.
- Daniel OkaforI can do the usage by person, that's straightforward. The examples I'd want to do with you, because you know which stories mattered. The one from this week, for instance, if the information was there and nobody looked, that's actually a story about adoption, not about the data. But there'll be others where it did help.
- Saskia MendesThere are. I can think of two straight away. Let me write them down and send them over.
- Daniel OkaforLovely. Now on the commercial side, just so there are no surprises. You're on Growth at forty-four thousand a year, and that's what's contracted and what's been invoiced, so those line up. Since you signed under the earlier price list, the renewal will move to the new list price. You'll remember we wrote to all customers about it in January.
- Saskia MendesI remember the letter. I didn't love it, to be honest. Do you have the actual number for us?
- Daniel OkaforI'd rather not quote it from memory and get it wrong. I'll send it to you in writing with the renewal paperwork, so you have the exact figure and what's included. And I'd want Priya Raman on that conversation too, since she looks after the commercial terms.
- Saskia MendesOkay. That's fine. I just don't want to be in a position where the price goes up and the usage is still where it is. That's a hard conversation upstairs.
- Daniel OkaforCompletely. Which is why I'd like the next couple of months to be about the usage, not the price. If we can get those other directors in, and you've got your examples, then you're having the price conversation from a stronger place.
- Saskia MendesAgreed. Right. So I should do the list of directors, the two examples, and ask about the Monday slot.
- Daniel OkaforYes. And from my side, the three-heading summary on the five tickets, the usage by person, and a proposed date for the session once you've heard about Monday. I'll come back to you by the end of next week with the first two.
- Saskia MendesBrilliant. And Daniel, thank you for not sugar-coating it. I'd rather this than a nice chat where nothing happens.
- Daniel OkaforThat's the only kind of check-in worth having. Is there anything else on your mind before we finish? Anything I haven't asked?
- Saskia MendesOnly that if the sessions go well, I might want to look at whether there are seats we should hand back or reassign. But let's see how the next month goes first.
- Daniel OkaforOf course, we can talk about that when we've seen the numbers. Nothing needs deciding today.
- Saskia MendesGood. Thanks, Daniel. Speak soon.
- Daniel OkaforThank you, Saskia. Take care, and good luck with the director on Tuesday. Bye for now.
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