Delancey Haig / BG-Demo – Check In
Callcompleted
Delancey Haig · 29 Jun 2026 10:00
Saskia Mendes admits only a handful of the 40 licensed users log in daily and asks for proof of value before finance reviews the £44k renewal. She favours keeping it but expects a fewer-licences question.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Saskia Mendes admits only a handful of the 40 licensed users log in daily and asks for proof of value before finance reviews the £44k renewal. She favours keeping it but expects a fewer-licences question.
What happened: On 29 Jun 2026 Daniel Okafor met Saskia Mendes, Head of Client Operations, days before the contract end on Thu 2 Jul 2026 and renewal on Fri 3 Jul 2026. Daily logins have fallen sharply on the Growth plan.
Customer view: Directors went back to exports and phoning each other, and Saskia asked that the silence not be read as happiness. She said the missed client dispute that Friday was the customer's own failing, not the tool's.
Commercial: Finance is likely to ask why £44k buys a handful of users, and someone may raise fewer licences. Saskia said she is for keeping it but needs the proof.
Watch: The evidence does not show the renewal outcome. The call names Priya Raman as account owner for the paperwork.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Low adoption before renewal
Importance
renewal
Sentiment
mixed
Voice
champion
Who was there
BG-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Daniel Okafor to send a one-page summary of what has been asked of the brain and by whom, with a session outline, by the Wednesday set on the call.
- Saskia Mendes to agree a slot in the directors' weekly meeting and confirm it by the same Wednesday.
- Daniel Okafor to brief Priya Raman on usage and show usage against licences on a separate sheet for Saskia first.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Only a handful of the 40 licensed Growth users log in daily, so finance may challenge the renewal price.
- Someone may ask about fewer licences, and the outcome of the renewal is not shown in the call.
- Silence on tickets reflects disengagement, not satisfaction, in Saskia's own words.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- A half-hour session in the directors' weekly meeting built around their own clients could restore the habit.
- A single dashboards builder view per director would add visible customer investment on the Growth plan.
Transcript
Daniel OkaforHello Saskia, thanks very much for your time. Can you hear me all right?
Saskia MendesLoud and clear. Morning, Daniel. Sorry, I'm just finishing a coffee, give me one second.- Daniel OkaforNo rush at all. How was your weekend?
- Saskia MendesOh, don't ask. Well, it was fine, it's Friday that's still bothering me. One of our client-account directors went into a client review and the client opened by asking about a contractor invoice dispute he had never heard of. Never heard of it. Apparently the whole thing had been rumbling for a fortnight, in three different inboxes. And I sat there thinking, that is exactly what we bought the brain for.
- Daniel OkaforMm. That's a hard way to find out, and I'm sorry he was caught out like that. It's actually a good way into what I wanted to cover today, so just to close the loop on where we are. We're coming up to the renewal. The contract runs to Thursday 2 Jul 2026 and the renewal date is Friday 3 Jul 2026, so I wanted us to talk properly before then rather than leave it to the paperwork.
- Saskia MendesYeah, I knew it was coming up. Go on, I think I know what you're going to say.
- Daniel OkaforWell, I'd rather hear it from you than tell you. Let me share my screen, give me a moment. Right, can you see that? So this is the usage across the last quarter. You have 40 licensed users on the Growth plan, and what I'm seeing is that the number of people actually logging in on a typical day has fallen away quite sharply compared with the quarter before. It's a handful of people now.
- Saskia MendesYeah. No, I'm not going to dress that up. It's a handful.
- Daniel OkaforCan I ask, how is the team finding it? Not the numbers, just how it feels from where you sit.
- Saskia MendesHonestly? Mixed. My own team uses it, I use it, two or three of the directors dip in when they're preparing for a review. But most of the directors have gone back to what they know, which is exports and phoning each other. I think it's habit, mostly. They had a busy few months and when you're busy you reach for the thing you've always done. I don't think anyone decided it was bad. They just stopped.
- Daniel OkaforMm. That's useful. And when they do use it, what do they use it for?
- Saskia MendesThe client view, really. Vacancies, placements, invoices and complaints in one place, so a director can see the client whole before they walk in. When it works it's brilliant. One of them caught a contractor-invoice problem on a client before the client had even raised it, a while back, and that's the story I keep telling. But it's a couple of people telling that story now, not everyone. And the Friday thing happened because he didn't look.
- Daniel OkaforIs that the directors, would you say, or is it across the account teams as well?
- Saskia MendesBoth, I think. Some of the people underneath them never really had a proper walkthrough, to be fair. They were told it existed, they had a look, and then the day job got in the way. I should have pushed that harder, so that's on me as much as anyone.
- Daniel OkaforI'd say it's on all of us, so please don't carry that alone. And I want to be straight with you too, because there's nothing on our side to suggest a fault. No tickets in the last month, nothing urgent, invoices all paid on time. So the quiet isn't something breaking. But I've been wondering whether quiet from a team your size means everything's fine, or means nobody's poking at it.
- Saskia MendesIt's the second one. Nobody's raising tickets because nobody's in there to find anything wrong. Please don't read the silence as happiness.
- Daniel OkaforNo, I won't. Thank you for saying it so plainly.
- Saskia MendesCan I say the other thing, though? Someone in finance is going to look at the renewal and ask why we're paying £44,000 a year for 40 licensed users when a handful of people are in there. And I'd have to answer that, and right now my answer isn't great. So I need something I can put in front of them.
- Daniel OkaforThat's fair, and it's exactly the right question for them to ask. What I can do is pull together a short summary of what's been asked of the brain over the last few months, who's been asking, and what it was used for. Not a wall of charts. More the sort of thing where you can say, here's what the directors actually got out of it.
- Saskia MendesYes. And can we make it simpler? Can it be one page? They won't read more than that.
- Daniel OkaforOne page, I'll hold myself to that. I'll include the client view examples you mentioned, if you're happy for me to describe them in general terms.
- Saskia MendesGeneral terms is fine. Keep the clients out of it.
- Daniel OkaforOf course. The other thing I wanted to put to you is getting the directors back in the habit. We could do a short training session, built around their own clients rather than a tour of every feature. Pick a handful of live accounts, show them how to ask the brain what's going on with each, and let them try it themselves. Would that help, or is that the sort of thing that gets cancelled when a client rings?
- Saskia MendesIt would get cancelled, honestly, unless I hang it off something they already attend. What did the client actually say, that's the question I keep asking them. If they see the brain answer that in seconds, with their own client on the screen, that lands. Let me look at their weekly meeting. Could you do half an hour in that?
- Daniel OkaforI can do half an hour, certainly. Just tell me when, and who'll be in the room, and I'll tailor it. I'd want to avoid anything that feels like a lecture.
- Saskia MendesGood. They'd hate a lecture. Let me speak to them this week and come back to you with a slot.
- Daniel OkaforLovely. One more thing on the contract side, and I won't guess at things that aren't mine to decide: the renewal paperwork sits with Priya Raman, your account owner, and I'll make sure she knows where we've landed on usage, so you're not getting a form through with no context around it.
- Saskia MendesAppreciated. Does she need a decision from me this week?
- Daniel OkaforThe contract ends on Thursday, so ideally she'd hear from you before then. But I'd rather you had the one-pager and the conversation with your directors first. I'll tell Priya that's what you're doing.
- Saskia MendesOkay. I'll be honest, I can't promise what finance will say. I'm for keeping it, the directors need this, it's just that I need the proof. And someone might ask about fewer licences, so I'd rather you heard that from me now than sideways.
- Daniel OkaforI'm glad you've said it. We can look at that together, and I'd rather we had the numbers in front of us than argued from instinct. I'll set out what current usage looks like against the licences so you can see the shape of it.
- Saskia MendesRight. Good. Thank you.
- Daniel OkaforOne more idea, and tell me if it's too much. Growth includes the dashboards builder, and I don't think anyone at Delancey Haig has built much on it. We could set up a single view per director: their own clients, open invoices, complaints, vacancies, so there's one place to look on a Monday morning rather than a search.
- Saskia MendesHm. I like it, but I'm wary of building something nobody opens, which is more or less what we've got now. Can we make it simpler? What if it's just the one view, and whichever director uses it most tells us what's missing?
- Daniel OkaforYes, start with one and let them shape it. That also gives you something visible to say to finance, that your own people have built on it. I'd count that as investment from your side.
- Saskia MendesOkay. I'll ask one of the directors who uses it most if they'd help. Leave that with me.
- Daniel OkaforJust to close the loop on next steps, so we both have the same list. I'll send you the one-page summary of what's been asked and by whom, plus an outline for the half-hour session, by Wednesday. I'll come back to you on that, and if it's slipping I'll tell you before then. I'll also put the usage against licences on a separate sheet, for your eyes first. And I'll update Priya so she's not working blind.
- Saskia MendesAnd I'll speak to the directors about a slot in their weekly meeting and let you know by Wednesday too, so you can hold the diary. I'll also have a think about the dashboard and who'd build it. Right. That's quite a lot, but it feels like a plan.
- Daniel OkaforIt does to me too. Anything else on your mind before I let you go?
- Saskia MendesOnly that I was dreading this call, if I'm honest. I thought you'd come with a sales pitch or a telling off. And Friday wasn't the tool's fault, it was ours. I want that said out loud, because I'm not going to pretend adoption is better than it is.
- Daniel OkaforThat's kind, and I'll take it, but let's make sure it's easier for them to pick up. That's our job as much as yours. You've been one of the people who got the most out of the brain from day one, and I'd like to help you get the directors there with you.
- Saskia MendesMm. Me too. Right, I should go, I've got a client call on the hour. Thanks for not making it awkward.
- Daniel OkaforNot at all. Thank you for being so open, it makes this much easier. I'll be in touch by Wednesday with the summary. Take care, and enjoy what's left of the sunshine.
- Saskia MendesCheers, Daniel. Speak soon.
- Daniel OkaforSpeak soon. Bye for now.
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