Ashwell Mercer Interiors / BB-Demo – Renewal
Callcompleted
Ashwell Mercer Interiors · 2026-06-11 11:45
Renewal call on 11 Jun 2026. About four people are active against 40 licensed seats, and the Finance Director says she cannot take a higher price to the board. A stalled accounting connection and an overdue invoice sit alongside it.
What was said
What this says
Current to 13 Oct 26Renewal call on 11 Jun 2026. About four people are active against 40 licensed seats, and the Finance Director says she cannot take a higher price to the board. A stalled accounting connection and an overdue invoice sit alongside it.
What happened: Marcus Bell hosted the renewal call on 11 Jun 2026. Valerie Okon opened on an overdue invoice, and Craig Ashwell said variations on the Thames Valley job were not properly in the brain.
Customer view: Marcus showed about four active users against 40 licensed, down about a third on the quarter. Craig accepted the project managers had gone back to spreadsheets, and Valerie asked what the £44k buys.
Commercial: Growth is contracted at £44k and matches what has been invoiced. The higher renewal price will come in writing, and Valerie will not promise signature by Tuesday 21 July 2026 because anything new goes to the board.
Watch: a high priority ticket on the accounting connection means credit control sees old invoices, and Valerie is holding their training until it works. Most questions come from Craig, a key-person risk.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Theme
Renewal price versus usage
Importance
renewal
Sentiment
mixed
Voice
decision-maker
Who was there
BB-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
Current to 9 Oct 26- Marcus Bell to get a proper update on the accounting connection ticket this week, and Valerie Okon to name who owns that connection.
- Craig Ashwell to send Marcus the Reading fit-out example so he can build the usage and value page.
- Priya Raman to send the renewal proposal with options, each carrying a deadline, aiming for Tuesday 21 July 2026.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- A higher renewal price meets a Finance Director who needs board approval and sees only four active users.
- The high priority accounting connection ticket is unresolved, so credit control sees stale invoices and has drifted away.
- Most questions come from Craig Ashwell, so usage depends on one person.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- A one-page value summary built on the Reading fit-out example could give the board a case for the Growth subscription.
- A thirty-minute session with the project managers on their own variations could bring the missing team back.
- Craig asked whether ten active people still need 40 seats, so the proposal can set out tier and add-on options.
Transcript
Priya Raman NoneHello, hello. Can everyone hear me all right? Marcus, you're on mute, I think. Yes, there we go.
Marcus Bell NoneSorry, sorry. Morning all. Still just about morning. Can you hear me now?
Valerie Okon NoneWe can hear you. Before we start, can I ask about invoices. I have one showing as overdue on your side and I want to understand what you think is outstanding.- Priya Raman NoneOf course, Valerie, and thank you for raising it straight away. Let me do a quick recap of where we are and I'll come back to that. So, the contract runs to 22 August 2026, the renewal date is 23 August 2026, and what we'd like is to have the paperwork signed by Tuesday 21 July 2026 so nobody's rushing in August.
Craig Ashwell NoneCan I jump in with the thing that's bothering me first? We've got the Thames Valley office job, the big one. Three variations instructed on site and I can't see any of them in the brain properly. That's the worry. Sorry, I know it's a renewal call.- Priya Raman NoneNo, that's exactly the right thing to bring. That's what this is all about, Craig. Marcus, you've got the numbers?
- Marcus Bell NoneI have, yeah. I've pulled the numbers. Let me share my screen. Can you see it? Usage over the last quarter, and then I want to cover the two tickets, and then the renewal itself.
- Craig Ashwell NoneI can see it.
- Marcus Bell NoneRight. So you're licensed for forty users on Growth. Over the last thirty days, the average number of people actually active is about four. And that's down about a third on the quarter before.
- Craig Ashwell NoneFour.
- Marcus Bell NoneAbout four, yes. I'd rather be straight with you than wrap it up.
- Valerie Okon NoneForty licensed and four using it. That's what we're paying forty-four thousand for.
- Priya Raman NoneIt's a fair question, Valerie. And, to keep momentum, I'd say the licence was sized for the whole project, commercial and credit-control group, and the question is how we get them back in rather than whether it was the right tool.
- Craig Ashwell NoneHonestly? It's me and a couple of others. The project managers went back to spreadsheets when site got busy. I let that happen. That's on me.
- Marcus Bell NoneMm. That's a common pattern, to be fair. When people are on site all week, the thing that isn't in front of them drops away.
- Valerie Okon NoneAnd credit control? Who's using it there?
- Marcus Bell NoneLooking at the activity, very little from that team in the last month. A few questions from you, Craig, most of them. So there's a bit of a key-person thing, which I'd flag, because if you're away for a fortnight the questions basically stop.
- Craig Ashwell NoneYeah. Fair. I'm not away much, but fair.
- Valerie Okon NoneI'd like to come back to the invoice. Can you tell me the position as you see it?
- Priya Raman NoneYes. So on our side there's one invoice showing overdue. I don't have the detail in front of me, Valerie, and I don't want to quote something wrong. Marcus, can you see it?
- Marcus Bell NoneI can see that it's flagged overdue but I'm not in billing. What I'd suggest is I ask our finance team to send you a statement so you're looking at the same thing we are. Then we're not guessing on a call.
- Valerie Okon NoneThat would be helpful. Please send it to me, not to Craig. And I will check it against our ledger. We'll pay on the agreed terms.
- Craig Ashwell NoneValerie, do we know why it's sitting there? Is it just in the run?
- Valerie Okon NoneI'm not going to say a date until I've looked. I don't commit to dates I can't keep.
- Craig Ashwell NoneRight. Fine. Understood.
- Priya Raman NoneThat's absolutely fine. Happy to make this easy. Statement goes to you, you check it, and we talk once you've seen it. No pressure on a date on this call.
- Marcus Bell NoneCan I take the tickets while I've got the screen up? There were two in the last thirty days. One was a how-to question about the dashboards builder, that was closed quickly.
- Craig Ashwell NoneThat was one of mine.
- Marcus Bell NoneRight, thought so. The other was a high priority one, about the accounting system connection not bringing invoices through. That's the one I want to be careful about, because I know it touches credit control directly.
- Valerie Okon NoneIs that connected to the overdue invoice?
- Marcus Bell NoneI wouldn't want to say it is. They might be separate. The ticket was about your invoices coming into the brain, and the overdue item is about our invoice to you. Different directions, if that makes sense.
- Valerie Okon NoneIt does. I only ask because if the credit team can't see invoices in there, they won't use it. They have the accounting system open all day anyway.
- Craig Ashwell NoneThat's a good point, actually. That's probably why they drifted. What's the use if the numbers are old?
- Marcus Bell NoneYeah. And I can't promise a date on the engineering side, I'd be making it up. What I can do is get you a proper update on that ticket this week and sit with whoever in your team owns that connection.
- Craig Ashwell NoneWho owns it? Valerie, is that your team?
- Valerie Okon NoneSomeone in my finance team set it up. I'll find out who looks after it now and send Marcus a name.
- Marcus Bell NoneBrilliant. Thanks.
- Priya Raman NoneCan I bring us round to the renewal then, because I think this is the useful bit. At the moment you're on Growth at £44,000 a year. That's the contracted figure and it matches what's been invoiced.
- Valerie Okon NoneYes, I have the same figure. What will it be from August?
- Priya Raman NoneSo, as we wrote to customers at the start of the year, list pricing has moved for renewals from this summer. The exact number will be in the proposal, and I'd rather send it in writing than say it badly on a call. I'll get it to you with the terms laid out clearly.
- Valerie Okon NoneSo it goes up.
- Priya Raman NoneThe list price is higher, yes. I won't pretend otherwise, Valerie. What I'm keen to do is look at what you actually need, and make sure what you pay reflects the value you're getting.
- Valerie Okon NoneI'll be direct. With four people using it, I can't take a higher price to the board. I can't sign anything new without the board.
- Craig Ashwell NoneValerie, hang on. It's not that it doesn't work. We haven't made it work. There's a difference.
- Valerie Okon NoneThen show me the difference, Craig. Show me one thing that has got us paid sooner or recorded a variation we'd have missed.
- Craig Ashwell NoneOkay. Okay. Fair. Let's get paid for what we've built, that's the point of it. I'll find an example. I think the Reading fit-out had one, where we had the variation and the client's valuation side by side.
- Marcus Bell NoneThat would help a lot. If you can give me the project, I can pull what the brain showed on that one, the calls, the emails, the invoices, and we can put it on one page for Valerie and the board.
- Priya Raman NoneThat's a good plan. A one-page value summary, then the proposal alongside it, so the board sees the cost and the benefit together.
- Valerie Okon NoneWhat does the board need to see, in your view?
- Marcus Bell NoneHonestly? Who's using it, what they asked, and what decision it fed. If that's thin, we should say it's thin, and then talk about what changes.
- Valerie Okon NoneI appreciate that. Most suppliers wouldn't say it.
- Marcus Bell NoneWell. I'd rather you trusted the numbers.
- Craig Ashwell NoneCan I ask something? If we only get ten people properly on it, do we still need forty seats? I'm not asking for a discount, I'm asking what's sensible.
- Priya Raman NoneIt's a sensible question. Growth is built for several teams, and the forty is the included number. I'd want to look at what the tiers and add-ons allow before I answer, so I don't get it wrong. Can I take that away and come back with options in the proposal?
- Craig Ashwell NoneYes. Do that.
- Valerie Okon NoneAnd I would want any option in writing, with a date it holds until.
- Priya Raman NoneOf course. Anything I put in will carry a deadline. Sorry, yes, I should have said.
- Marcus Bell NoneCan I suggest one practical thing on usage, that doesn't depend on any of the commercial side? A thirty-minute session with the project managers, Craig. Just show them how to ask about their own job, variations first. Shall we book thirty minutes?
- Craig Ashwell NoneYes. Do it. Before the end of the month, if you can. I'll make sure they're there.
- Marcus Bell NoneI'll send some times today. And I'd like someone from credit control on that as well, Valerie, if you can spare one person.
- Valerie Okon NoneOnce the accounting connection is sorted. There's no point showing them stale numbers. I'll hold that until you confirm it's working.
- Marcus Bell NoneFair enough. That's the right order.
- Priya Raman NoneSo let me play back what I've got, and stop me if I've got it wrong. One. Marcus asks our finance team to send Valerie a statement for the overdue invoice, and Valerie checks it against the ledger. Two. Marcus gets a proper update on the accounting connection ticket this week, and Valerie names the person who owns that connection.
- Craig Ashwell NoneThree, I find the Reading example and send it to Marcus.
- Priya Raman NoneThree, yes, thank you. Four. Marcus puts together the usage and value page. Five, I send the proposal with the options, each with a deadline. And the aim is still to have it settled by Tuesday 21 July 2026, ahead of the renewal on 23 August 2026.
- Valerie Okon NoneI'll say this once more so nobody is surprised. Anything new goes to the board. I can't promise it will be signed by that date.
- Priya Raman NoneUnderstood, completely. We'll give you what you need in good time for the board, and I'll ask when their next meeting is so we work backwards.
- Valerie Okon NoneI'll check the date and tell you.
- Craig Ashwell NoneRight. Thanks, everyone. Sorry I went off on the project at the start. Where's the variation, that's all I think about.
- Marcus Bell NoneNo, that's the whole point. That's the story we need to tell. Thanks, all. Speak soon.
- Valerie Okon NoneThank you. Goodbye.
- Priya Raman NoneThanks, everyone. Best of luck with the Thames Valley job, Craig. Bye.
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