Ashwell Mercer Interiors / BG-Demo – Check In
Callcompleted
Ashwell Mercer Interiors · 13 Jan 2025 10:45
Marcus Bell showed Craig Ashwell that three to four people use the brain daily against 40 licensed seats. Craig says he cannot defend the seats at renewal without a value case. Two working sessions were agreed.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Marcus Bell showed Craig Ashwell that three to four people use the brain daily against 40 licensed seats. Craig says he cannot defend the seats at renewal without a value case. Two working sessions were agreed.
What happened: Marcus took Craig through usage on the 13 Jan 2025 check-in. Average daily use was three to four people, down roughly a third on the previous quarter, against 40 licensed seats.
Customer view: Craig says much of that use is his own and the team drifted back to their own spreadsheets. He likes the product but needs to show the board what it has earned.
Commercial: The Growth order form is thirty-nine thousand six hundred pounds a year and matches what was invoiced. The term ends 22 Aug 2025, and price talk was left to Priya.
Watch: Craig is the main user, so the account is exposed if he is away. Connectors and refresh were running and no tickets were raised, so this is adoption, not stale data.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Low usage 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- Marcus Bell to book the project manager and credit control sessions this month.
- Craig Ashwell to nominate two project managers and involve the finance director.
- Marcus Bell to send the usage note, the user list and the list of jobs where it paid off.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Craig will not sign the Growth renewal without a hard look if usage stays as it is.
- Much of the use is Craig's own, so the account depends on one person.
- One invoice showed as outstanding and could tangle with the renewal.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- A project manager session on variations and a credit control dashboard build could restart adoption.
- A short list of jobs where the brain caught something gives Craig a value case for the board.
Transcript
Marcus BellMorning, Craig. Can you hear me all right?
Craig AshwellMorning, Marcus. Yeah, loud and clear. Sorry, I'm a minute or two behind, I've just come off the phone about a retail unit job and I'm still annoyed about it.- Marcus BellNo problem at all. What's happened with it?
- Craig AshwellThe tenant's changed the layout three times. Three. The site team have built to the latest drawing and I'm looking at the file and I can't see a signed variation for any of it. Where's the variation? That's what I keep asking. We build it, then we argue about who asked for it.
- Marcus BellRight, that's the sort of thing the brain should help with, so it's a good place to start. Let me share my screen. What I wanted to cover today is quite simple. First, how the team's been using it since the autumn. Second, anything that's getting in the way. And third, a quick word about the renewal in August, just so it's not a surprise to anyone. Is that all right?
- Craig AshwellYeah, go on. Though I'll tell you now, I've got a feeling I know what the usage page is going to say.
- Marcus BellMm. Okay, well, I've pulled the numbers, so let me just put them in front of you. Can you see it?
- Craig AshwellI can see a line going the wrong way.
- Marcus BellThat's about right, yeah. Over the last month the average is somewhere between three and four people using it on a given day. That's down by roughly a third compared with the previous quarter. And you're licensed for forty, so it's a small slice of the seats.
- Craig AshwellForty seats and three or four people. Right.
- Marcus BellI'm not saying that to point a finger. I'd rather understand it with you. When we set this up, the idea was project managers, the commercial team and credit control would all be looking at the same client. Variations, calls, invoices, emails, in one place.
- Craig AshwellYeah, and that's still what I want. Look, I'll be straight with you, Marcus. A lot of that three or four is me. I'm in there most days. I ask it what a client has signed, what's been invoiced, what's been promised on a call. And it's good. When I use it it's really good.
- Marcus BellThat's what I see in the questions as well. A big share of them come from you. Which is great for you, but it does mean if you're on a site visit for a week, the whole thing goes quiet.
- Craig AshwellHa. Yeah. It does.
- Marcus BellSo can I ask, from your side, why do you think the others have drifted off? Is it that they don't trust the answers, or they've forgotten, or it's not part of the week?
- Craig AshwellHonestly, it's the last one. They're on site, they're firefighting, they've got their own trackers and their own spreadsheets, and when it's busy they go back to what they know. Nobody sat down and said stop using it. They just stopped. I should have pushed harder after the first couple of months. That's on me.
- Marcus BellI'd say it's on both of us. We did the training at the start and then I'd have expected to be closer to it than I've been. I've got a lot of accounts on my list, but that's not your problem.
- Craig AshwellNo, fair, appreciate that. Go on.
- Marcus BellThe other thing I looked at is tickets. You've raised none in the last month. Nothing high priority, nothing at all.
- Craig AshwellWhich sounds good.
- Marcus BellIt can be. With a busy user base, few tickets can mean everything's working. With a smaller one, it can just mean nobody's looking. I think we're in the second situation, to be fair.
- Craig AshwellYeah. Nobody's complaining because nobody's looking. That's about the size of it.
- Marcus BellOkay. So the data side. I've checked the connectors and the nightly refresh and they're all running. The records are coming in, so what you're asking it is up to date. I wanted to say that clearly, because sometimes people assume it's gone stale. It hasn't.
- Craig AshwellGood. That's what I'd have guessed. So it's not broken, it's just not being used.
- Marcus BellExactly that.
- Craig AshwellRight. So what do we do about it? Because I'll be blunt, I can't walk into a renewal conversation and defend forty seats when most of the building's never opened it.
- Marcus BellUnderstood. Before we get to that, can I suggest something practical? I'd rather we got usage moving first and then talked about the renewal with real evidence in front of us, not a line on a chart.
- Craig AshwellGo on.
- Marcus BellTwo things. One, a short session with the project managers. Not a general training, I'd keep it to a specific job. Take that retail unit you've just been complaining about. Show them how to see the client's calls, the emails, the drawings that were agreed, and what's been invoiced against the work, in one view. So the question is, has this been recorded as a variation or not. That's the thing you care about.
- Craig AshwellYeah. I like that. Make it about money they haven't got yet, they'll turn up.
- Marcus BellHa, exactly. And two, a similar one for the credit control side. How a client's open invoices sit against what's been agreed and signed. That's the dashboard view, and it's included in what you've got. I don't think anyone's built one on your side.
- Craig AshwellNo. I keep meaning to. Can you build it, or do we?
- Marcus BellI'd rather sit with someone from your team and build it together, so they know how to change it afterwards. Happy to jump on a call and do it live. Shall we book thirty minutes for that?
- Craig AshwellYeah. Do it. Get it in the diary for this month, not next.
- Marcus BellWill do. Who do you want from your side? I'd want a couple of project managers and someone from credit control.
- Craig AshwellLet me think. I'll nominate two project managers, the ones who'll actually do it, not just the ones with the biggest jobs. And I'll sort out credit control, but, ah, that's a bit awkward.
- Marcus BellWhy's that?
- Craig AshwellAnything touching cash, I don't go there without our finance director in the room. She'll want to be part of it anyway. I'll ask her.
- Marcus BellThat's fine, makes sense. And while we're on it, I should mention one thing and then leave it with you. On our side there's one invoice showing as outstanding. I'm not chasing, it's not my area, and it may well be sitting in a queue somewhere. I'd just rather you heard it from me.
- Craig AshwellRight. Okay. I'll pass that to finance today. I don't talk cash on my own, you know that. But thanks for saying it straight.
- Marcus BellNo problem. It's not a big thing, I just didn't want it to get tangled up with the renewal.
- Craig AshwellSure. Now, the renewal. Remind me where we are.
- Marcus BellSo you're on Growth, the order form is thirty-nine thousand six hundred pounds a year, and that's what's been invoiced as well, so the two match. The term ends on 22 Aug 2025 and the renewal date is 23 Aug 2025. Plenty of time. I'll come back to you in good time before that with a proper renewal conversation.
- Craig AshwellThirty-nine six for forty seats. And I'm telling you, if it looks like this in August, I'm not signing that without a hard look. I like the product, Marcus. I do. But I've got to be able to say what it's earned us.
- Marcus BellTotally fair. And I'm not going to talk price with you today, that's Priya's side, and she'll pick it up nearer the time. What I can do is make sure you've got the value in front of you first. So what I'd like is for us to look together at where the brain's actually helped. Variations caught, invoices lined up, that kind of thing.
- Craig AshwellYeah. If you can give me something I can put in front of the board, a couple of jobs where it flagged something we'd have missed, that helps.
- Marcus BellI can pull that together from the questions you've asked. Some of those must be sitting in there already. I'd want you to check I've read them right, because you know the jobs and I don't.
- Craig AshwellFine. Send me the list and I'll tell you which ones were real money.
- Marcus BellPerfect. Then, to sum up. I'll send you a short note after this with the usage numbers and the two sessions. I'll find a slot this month for the project managers, and one with credit control and your finance director. You nominate the two project managers and speak to finance about the invoice. And I'll put together that list of jobs where it paid off.
- Craig AshwellSounds right. One more thing, actually. Can you make it so I can see who's using it? Not to tell anyone off. Just so I know who's gone quiet.
- Marcus BellYes, I can send you that with the note. Names and roughly how often. Then we can look at it again at the next check-in and see whether the sessions moved anything.
- Craig AshwellGood. Right, I've got to go and ring that tenant. Thanks, Marcus. Speak soon.
- Marcus BellThanks, Craig. Good luck with the variation. Speak soon.
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