Etowah Lane Equipment Rental / BG-Demo – Demo
Callcompleted
Etowah Lane Equipment Rental · 4 Aug 2026 15:15
Hannah Lowe read out the side-by-side test against Signalvane. Tammy Ledbetter and DeShawn Mitchell want the brain; CFO Laura Kessler wants a three-year cost comparison and security and procurement finished first.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Hannah Lowe read out the side-by-side test against Signalvane. Tammy Ledbetter and DeShawn Mitchell want the brain; CFO Laura Kessler wants a three-year cost comparison and security and procurement finished first.
What happened: Hannah Lowe reported that the brain answered twenty-two of the twenty-five customer-written questions with cited sources, against eleven for Signalvane. Laura Kessler joined late and asked what it does that the company does not already pay for.
Customer view: DeShawn and Tammy both said they want the brain. Laura said she is not against it but will not say yes on enthusiasm.
Commercial: Jordan Pike gave the Enterprise proposal as £155k all-in, a total deal value and not a yearly figure. Laura wants a three-year comparison with the renewal step spelled out, line by line, and a smaller-scope option.
Watch: Laura said Friday 4 Dec 2026 is possible but not promised, and depends on security and procurement.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Demo readout, cost case
Importance
upsell
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- Jordan Pike sends Laura Kessler the three-year cost comparison with line-by-line breakdown and smaller-scope option by the end of the following week.
- Hannah Lowe sends Carlos Medina the readout with sources, the security questionnaire pack and the written answer on permission mapping.
- Carlos Medina sets up the connector working session and lines up past credit cases.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- The CFO signs only after security and procurement finish, so the 4 Dec 2026 decision date may slip.
- The CFO wants the cost set against what is already paid for Signalvane and challenges the case line by line.
- The test does not show how many credit losses the brain would have caught.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Two business leaders say they want the brain and have tried it with their own teams.
- A smaller-scope option alongside Enterprise gives the CFO a pilot route.
Transcript
Jordan PikeHi, everybody. Can you hear me okay? Hannah, I see you're in the room already.
Hannah LoweHello, yes, I'm here. Audio sounds fine on my side. Good afternoon, Jordan.
DeShawn MitchellLoud and clear. Sorry, I'm just walking in from the car park. Let me tell you where I was this morning, because it matters for this call. I'm at a branch, the manager has three contractor trucks lined up at the counter, and the screen in front of him says one thing about that customer's credit and the screen in the regional office says another. He looked at me and said, which one do I believe? That's the whole reason we're doing this.- Jordan PikeThat's exactly the right way to start. Thanks, DeShawn.
Tammy LedbetterI'll say that happens in Georgia every single week. Hi, all. I'm here, I just have a hard stop a bit before the hour.- Jordan PikeNo problem, Tammy. Here's the plan, and I'll keep an eye on the clock. We have about fifty minutes. First, Hannah gives the readout from the side-by-side test. Then questions. Then we talk about what happens next. Carlos, you're here, great. Is Laura joining?
Carlos MedinaHi, Jordan. Yes, I'm here. Laura said she'd come in a few minutes late, she's finishing something with the lenders. I think she will be on shortly.- Jordan PikePerfect. Hannah, why don't you start with the setup, so that when Laura arrives we can bring her in without repeating everything.
- Hannah LoweOf course. Before I share my screen, can I ask what each of you most needs to know from this? I'd rather aim at that than walk through everything.
- DeShawn MitchellShow me the account, not the dashboard. I want to know if a branch manager gets a straight answer about a contractor, with a source behind it.
- Tammy LedbetterSame from me. And whether I can trust it enough to repeat it to a customer.
- Carlos MedinaFor me it's two things. Where the answers come from, and what happens to the data. I assume it stays in our Snowflake account, but I want to hear you say it.
- Hannah LoweGood. The short answer is yes, it runs inside your Snowflake account. The longer answer is that I'll show you exactly where that boundary sits in a moment. Let me share the screen. Can you see it?
- DeShawn MitchellI see it. Go ahead.
- Hannah LoweSo, the test. DeShawn's team and Tammy's branch managers wrote twenty-five questions between them, the kind they actually ask when a contractor shows up at the counter or when credit reviews an account. Same twenty-five questions, put to the brain and put to Signalvane, which is the analytics suite you already own. Nobody tuned anything per question. Each answer was marked on whether it was correct and whether it came with a source you could click through to.
- Hannah LoweThe result, and I'll be precise about it. The brain answered twenty-two of the twenty-five with cited sources. Signalvane answered eleven.
- Tammy LedbetterEleven. Okay. And which ones did it miss?
- Hannah LoweMostly the numeric ones. Questions like what a contractor currently owes across all branches, or how a particular account's rental days compare with the last period. Signalvane gave back a chart or a partial figure, but not a number you could quote with its source. The brain gave the number and showed which records it was built from.
- DeShawn MitchellAnd I want to be fair to the suite. It's good at what it was bought for. Group reporting, trends, the board pack. This is a different job.
- Jordan PikeAgreed, and to be transparent, we're not saying rip anything out. We're saying the account question is the gap.
- Carlos MedinaCan I ask about the three the brain missed? I'd like to know whether those are things we should worry about.
- Hannah LoweYes, and I'll put that in writing as well. To be precise, one of the three needed a source that wasn't connected for the test, so it correctly said it had nothing to cite. The other two were ambiguous across branches, and the brain asked which branch rather than guessing. I'd call that behaviour acceptable, but you may disagree. It's a judgement.
- Carlos MedinaMm. I'd rather it said it didn't know than made something up. That's fine by me.
Laura KesslerHello, sorry, I'm late. I'll keep my camera off, I'm walking between rooms. What decision are we being asked to make today?- Jordan PikeHi, Laura, thanks for joining. Short answer: no decision today. Today is a readout. What we'd like to get out of the call is agreement on what you need from us to make a decision later.
- Laura KesslerGood. Then tell me the result, and keep it short.
- Hannah LoweTwenty-five questions, written by your own teams. The brain answered twenty-two with cited sources. Signalvane answered eleven, mostly the numeric ones.
- Laura KesslerAnd Signalvane is the thing we already pay for. So the obvious question is: what does this do that we don't already pay for?
- DeShawn MitchellLaura, if I can. It's the account view. Branch, national accounts and credit all looking at the same contractor and agreeing. Right now they don't, and that's where we lose money and lose time at the counter.
- Laura KesslerI understand the story, DeShawn. I'd like the numbers. What does it cost, and what's the three-year cost against what we spend today?
- Jordan PikeFair. Here's where we are on price. The Enterprise proposal is one hundred and fifty-five thousand, £155,000, all-in, with implementation included. That's the total value of the deal, not a yearly figure, and I'll break it into the implementation and the subscription in the cost comparison so you can see each part.
- Laura KesslerMm. I don't accept a list price without challenge, as you know. Send me the comparison. I want it next to what we pay for the suite, and I want the three-year view, with the renewal step spelled out.
- Jordan PikeUnderstood. What would make this a yes, from your side, apart from the cost case?
- Laura KesslerSecurity and procurement finished first. I don't sign before then. And I'd want to hear from the people who would use it that it replaces something, not adds a screen.
- Tammy LedbetterLaura, can I speak to that? I'm one of the people who would use it. I ran my own questions through it last week as well, not only the twenty-five. My branch managers asked it about contractors they know well, so they could tell if it was wrong. It wasn't wrong. And when it gave an answer there was a link to the contract or the invoice behind it.
- Laura KesslerDid anyone check those links?
- Tammy LedbetterYes. I clicked through four or five myself. I wasn't being polite.
- Laura KesslerFine. Noted.
- DeShawn MitchellLet's keep this moving. Hannah, can you show Laura one of the numeric ones live? The contractor balance one.
- Hannah LoweYes. Give me a second, I'm switching to the chat view. I'll use one of the questions from the set so nothing is staged. Here: what is the total outstanding for this national contractor across all branches, and which branches hold the largest part.
- Hannah LoweAnd there's the answer. A single figure, a split by branch, and underneath, the sources. These three are your accounting system, this one is the CRM account record, and this is a credit note that the brain has flagged as a one-off so it doesn't confuse the picture.
- Laura KesslerDoes it match what finance has on its own report?
- Carlos MedinaIt does. I checked that one myself last Thursday. There was a small timing difference of a day, because the invoice posted after the nightly refresh, and the brain said so in the answer.
- Laura KesslerInteresting. And how fresh is it generally?
- Hannah LoweTo be precise, the nightly refresh finishes by 07:00 local time on business days, on every tier. For Enterprise, freshness is also covered by service credits, so if it misses, there's a remedy in the contract. That's written into the order form, not just a promise on a call.
- Laura KesslerI'll want to read that wording. Put it in the pack.
- Hannah LoweI'll put that in writing, yes.
- Carlos MedinaCan I go back to the architecture for a second? I want Laura and the others to hear it as well.
- Hannah LowePlease. Let me switch to the diagram. So, your Snowflake account is here. The brain is built and run inside it. Your source systems, the CRM, the accounting system, the helpdesk, the call recorder, connect in on this side. Nothing is copied out to us to be stored. We administer the brain, you own the account and the data.
- Carlos MedinaAnd access? If a branch manager asks about a contractor that belongs to another region, what do they see?
- Hannah LoweIt follows the permissions you set. The short answer is that they see what they could see in the source system. The longer answer is that single sign-on and user provisioning are part of Enterprise, so you'd tie it to your existing groups. I wouldn't want to overstate it, so I'll check the exact mapping for your setup with our security lead and send it in writing.
- Carlos MedinaGood. That's the sort of thing the security team will ask.
- Jordan PikeAnd to be transparent, Laura, since you mentioned security first: the Enterprise process includes a full security review, and Hannah runs it. We'd send the questionnaire answers and the architecture document, and your team can come back with whatever they want. If something isn't a fit, you'll hear it from us straight, not from a footnote.
- Laura KesslerAppreciated. Who on my side would handle that?
- Carlos MedinaThat would come through me first, and then to our security and procurement people. I can line that up.
- Laura KesslerGood. Then let's get to the question I keep coming back to. Strip out the demo. If we buy this, what stops being bought, or what stops being done by hand?
- DeShawn MitchellI'll take it. Today my account managers spend part of every week stitching together a view of each national contractor. Pulling from the CRM, asking credit, asking the branches. That's the work that goes away. It's hours of senior people, every week, across a lot of accounts.
- Tammy LedbetterAnd on the branch side, it's the phone calls. I get a call from a manager who wants to know if he can release equipment to a contractor, and I have to ring the regional credit person. If he could ask and see the answer himself, I get that time back.
- Laura KesslerThat's still a story. I need it as a number I can put in front of the board. How would you size it?
- Jordan PikeThat's what we'd build into the cost case. Your teams give us the time estimates, we don't invent them, and you challenge every line. I'd rather you pull it apart than take it from us.
- Laura KesslerGood. I'll challenge it.
- DeShawn MitchellLaura, one more thing, and then I'll stop. Credit losses. If a branch releases equipment to a contractor who's already over limit at another branch, that's the loss. One view prevents that. That's not hours, that's money.
- Laura KesslerI know what the credit losses are, DeShawn. I'd like to know how many of them this would have caught. Can the test tell us that?
- Hannah LoweNot directly, and I'd rather say that than stretch it. The twenty-five questions test whether the brain gives correct, sourced answers. They don't prove how many losses would have been avoided. We could look at a past set of incidents with your credit team and ask the brain what it would have shown on the day. That would be a fairer test of that point.
- Laura KesslerThat I would find useful. Carlos, can you identify a handful of past cases?
- Carlos MedinaYes. I'll talk to credit. I'd want to keep the cases anonymous in anything that goes outside, but that's easy.
- Tammy LedbetterSorry, I need to jump in on timing. I have to go in about ten minutes. Can I say my piece on the branch side before then?
- Jordan PikeOf course, Tammy. Go ahead.
- Tammy LedbetterI want the brain. I'll just say it. I've seen the suite and I've seen this, and the second one answers the question my managers ask. If we're being asked who wants it, I do, and so do the managers I tried it with. What I'd need is that it's simple enough that a branch manager doesn't need training.
- Hannah LoweThat's useful to hear. It's a chat box, so the learning curve is small, but we do a short walkthrough for each group that's going to use it. I'd suggest we plan for it rather than hope. We'd cover it in the rollout plan.
- DeShawn MitchellAnd I'll say it too, for the record, Laura. I want the brain. I've seen the account view I've been asking for, and my team has seen it. What I can't do is commit anything without you, so I'm not going to try.
- Laura KesslerThank you, DeShawn, that's the correct order of things. I hear both of you. I'm not against it. I'm just not able to say yes on an enthusiasm, however sincere.
- Jordan PikeUnderstood, and that's fair. Let me say it back so we're aligned. You'd like a cost comparison against the suite, over three years, with the renewal step visible. You want the security and procurement path laid out. And you'd like some evidence on the credit side. Did I miss anything?
- Laura KesslerThe comparison needs to say plainly what we'd still be paying for under both scenarios. Not just the new line. And I want to know what a pilot or a smaller start would look like, if there is one.
- Jordan PikeGot it. I'll include a smaller-scope option next to the Enterprise one, so you can see the difference clearly, including what you would not get.
- Laura KesslerThat's all I want. A real comparison.
- Tammy LedbetterI'm going to have to drop. Thanks, everybody. Jordan, Hannah, great work. DeShawn, keep me posted.
- DeShawn MitchellWill do, Tammy. Thanks for making the time.
- Jordan PikeThanks, Tammy.
- Carlos MedinaWhile we've got a few minutes, can I ask about the connectors? Which ones did the test use, and which ones would be needed for the full thing?
- Hannah LoweGood question. The test used the CRM, the accounting system and the helpdesk, plus the call recorder for a few of the account-history questions. For the full rollout I'd want to confirm the list with you, because the branch systems may be different from what we've seen. I'd rather scope it with you than assume.
- Carlos MedinaRight. The branch systems are the messy part. I'd rather be honest about that now.
- Hannah LoweI appreciate that. It's much easier to plan around than to discover later. I'd suggest a working session with you and one person from the branch operations side, no slides, just a list of what exists and who owns each source.
- Carlos MedinaI can do that. Next week works, if you send an invite.
- Jordan PikeI'll get that invite out today. And Laura, a quick question on timing, so I forecast honestly. We've pencilled in Friday 4 December 2026 as the target for a decision. Does that still look realistic to you given security and procurement?
- Laura KesslerIt's possible. I wouldn't promise it. It depends on how fast security is finished. If the questionnaire comes back clean and procurement doesn't find surprises, yes. Otherwise it slips, and I'd rather you plan for that.
- Jordan PikeUnderstood. I'll mark it as possible, not committed. That's honest.
- DeShawn MitchellLaura, anything you need from me for the cost case? Names, hours, anything from national accounts.
- Laura KesslerYes. A short note from you on how many people in your team do the stitching, and roughly how much of the week. Not a spreadsheet, just a paragraph. And ask Tammy for the same from her side.
- DeShawn MitchellDone. You'll have it before the weekend.
- Laura KesslerThank you. And Jordan, one more thing. Give me the list of what's in the one hundred and fifty-five thousand. Line by line. I don't want to find out later that something I assumed was included is an extra.
- Jordan PikeYes. Line by line, with what's one-off and what's recurring. Nothing hidden.
- Laura KesslerGood. Then I think that's all I need from this call. I'll wait for the pack. Thank you all.
- Hannah LoweBefore you go, Laura, one practical thing. The readout document with all twenty-five questions and each answer is available. Would you like it with the sources visible, so someone on your side can check a sample independently?
- Laura KesslerYes. Send it to Carlos and he can have someone pick ten at random.
- Carlos MedinaHappy to. I'll have one of my analysts do it, someone who wasn't in the test.
- Jordan PikeExcellent. That's the kind of check I'd want in your seat.
- DeShawn MitchellOkay. Anything else from anyone? Otherwise let's not take the full hour. We got what we needed.
- Jordan PikeQuick recap, then, so the actions are clear. I send the cost comparison to Laura, three-year view, with the smaller-scope option and the line-by-line breakdown. Hannah sends the readout with sources to Carlos, and the security questionnaire pack, plus the written answer on how permissions map to your groups. Carlos sets up the connector working session and lines up the credit cases. DeShawn sends the paragraph on time spent. Laura, anything I've got wrong?
- Laura KesslerNo. Get it to me by the end of next week and I'll read it properly.
- Jordan PikeEnd of next week. You have it.
- DeShawn MitchellThanks, everyone. Good session. Thanks, DeShawn, out.
- Laura KesslerGoodbye.
- Carlos MedinaThanks, Jordan, Hannah. Speak next week.
- Hannah LoweThanks, Carlos. I'll send that invite shortly.
- Jordan PikeHannah, still here? Just confirming the recording is stopping. Thanks, Jordan.
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