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Lewis Kerr

Merriott Lyle Distribution / BB-Demo – Negotiation

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Merriott Lyle Distribution: documents logo Merriott Lyle Distribution: documents · 2025-01-29 14:15

On 29 Jan 2025 the CFO tested the Enterprise order form total of £146k plus VAT, a capped first-term price movement and service credits. Credit control wants a reconciliation check before go-live. Signature is targeted for 14 Feb 2025.

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What was said

What this says

Current to 11 Oct 26

On 29 Jan 2025 the CFO tested the Enterprise order form total of £146k plus VAT, a capped first-term price movement and service credits. Credit control wants a reconciliation check before go-live. Signature is targeted for 14 Feb 2025.

What happened: Negotiation call on 29 Jan 2025 for a company-wide Enterprise order form. Lewis Kerr stated the total of £146k plus VAT and said it includes implementation and is not an annual figure.

Customer view: Malcolm Ridgway, the Chief Financial Officer, wants two measures, a baseline and a date to show his board. Bernadette Lowry wants a reconciliation check of the brain against the ledger before go-live, with her team choosing the sample.

Commercial: Owen Tallis offered a little room on price, first term only, capped and based on the subscription line, to be confirmed in writing. Fiona Marsden needs any movement on the order form itself, a connector schedule and the right master agreement version.

Watch: Malcolm signs only after Fiona's checklist and legal review. The call does not show whether it was signed.

AI · claude-sonnet-5-5 · 11 Oct 2026

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Themes

Current to 9 Oct 26
Theme
Enterprise order form negotiation
Importance
neutral
Sentiment
mixed
Voice
decision-maker
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Who was there

BB-Demo

CRMmade from

Them

CRMmade from

Follow-up

Next steps

Current to 9 Oct 26
  • Lewis Kerr sends the revised order form, connector schedule and covering note on the day of the call.
  • Owen Tallis confirms the first-term movement in writing and names the executive sponsor before signature.
  • Malcolm Ridgway signs, all being well, by 14 Feb 2025.
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Risks

Current to 9 Oct 26
  • Signature depends on the first-term price movement being confirmed in writing and the master agreement reference matching the copy legal reviewed.
  • The reconciliation check may fail first time, and Bernadette expects a written answer on who changed a figure.
  • A service credit does not undo a wrong stop on an account, which the CFO noted.
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Opportunities

Current to 9 Oct 26
  • Enterprise company-wide across branch, key-account and credit control teams, with an executive sponsor and agreed measures reviewed at the first quarterly business review.
  • Additional users and connectors can be added later as add-ons, co-termed to renewal.
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Transcript

  1. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    Afternoon, everyone. Can you all hear me alright?
  2. Fiona Marsden
    Fiona Marsden None
    Yes, loud and clear, thanks Lewis.
  3. Malcolm Ridgway
    Malcolm Ridgway None
    Fine here. Is Owen joining, or is it just you today?
  4. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    Owen's on his way, he's coming off another call. Ah, there he is.
  5. Owen Tallis
    Owen Tallis None
    Sorry, sorry. Afternoon all. Overran by five minutes and then the lift in our building decided to have a moment. Have I missed much?
  6. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    Not a thing. We'd literally just said hello.
  7. Bernadette Lowry
    Bernadette Lowry None
    Afternoon. I'll be honest, I'm only here because Malcolm asked me to be. I've got questions, and I'd rather ask them now than find out the answers later.
  8. Malcolm Ridgway
    Malcolm Ridgway None
    Right. What's changed since the last call?
  9. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    Two things, really. First, the security review points your team raised have been answered on our side, and Fiona has those in writing. Second, the order form has been updated for the schedule changes Fiona asked for. And just so I'm clear on where we are: you want Enterprise, company-wide, so the branch teams, the key-account teams and credit control all see the same picture of each trade account, and you'd like it signed by Friday 14 February 2025. Is that still right?
  10. Malcolm Ridgway
    Malcolm Ridgway None
    That's the intent. Subject to the number, and subject to what the schedule actually says.
  11. Owen Tallis
    Owen Tallis None
    Good. Then what's the next dated step? I'd like us all to leave this call with one.
  12. Malcolm Ridgway
    Malcolm Ridgway None
    You'll get one. Number first.
  13. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    Of course. To put a number on it, the order form total is £146,500, plus VAT. That's the total value of the deal and it includes the one-off implementation fee. It is not an annual figure, and I'd rather nobody repeated it to the board as one.
  14. Malcolm Ridgway
    Malcolm Ridgway None
    Then split it. What's the implementation and what's the subscription?
  15. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    They're shown as separate lines on the order form. I don't want to quote them from memory on a call, so I'll put both in my covering note today and you'll have them in writing.
  16. Malcolm Ridgway
    Malcolm Ridgway None
    You have the document open in front of you, I assume.
  17. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    I do. And I'd still rather you read them off the page than hear them off me.
  18. Malcolm Ridgway
    Malcolm Ridgway None
    Put it in writing, then. And I'll hold you to the page. Is that the number, or is there room in it?
  19. Owen Tallis
    Owen Tallis None
    There's a little room, and I'll be straight about where it ends. Anything I do on price applies to the first term only, and there's a ceiling I won't go past. I'm not going to chase the total down the page today. Let's not discount twice. If we do something, we do it once, on the first term, and it falls away at renewal, and everyone knows that going in.
  20. Malcolm Ridgway
    Malcolm Ridgway None
    A ceiling expressed as what? A percentage of what?
  21. Owen Tallis
    Owen Tallis None
    Of the first-term subscription fee. Not the implementation, and not the total. The base is the subscription line. I'll confirm the exact movement in writing, not on this call.
  22. Malcolm Ridgway
    Malcolm Ridgway None
    Good. I don't take a percentage without the base.
  23. Owen Tallis
    Owen Tallis None
    Understood. That's why I said it.
  24. Fiona Marsden
    Fiona Marsden None
    Can I come in on that? From a procurement side, I need whatever movement there is to be visible on the order form itself, not in an email chain. If it's in an email, I can't attach it to the contract file.
  25. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    That's fair, Fiona. Anything agreed goes on the order form. The emails are just the cover.
  26. Fiona Marsden
    Fiona Marsden None
    Thank you. Second point. The order form refers to the master agreement. I need it to cite the version our legal team and yours reviewed, and I need the connector list as a schedule rather than a sentence.
  27. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    Yes. The connectors you've named, the CRM, the accounting system, the helpdesk and the call recorder, are each written in, and each carries a commitment to go live within a set number of days of the start. So that's contractual, not a hope.
  28. Fiona Marsden
    Fiona Marsden None
    And if one slips?
  29. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    Then the order form says what happens. I'd point you to the service levels schedule, because I think that's where Bernadette's question sits as well.
  30. Bernadette Lowry
    Bernadette Lowry None
    It does. So I know what I'm being sold: if the overnight load fails and my team chases an account on stop using yesterday's figures, what happens?
  31. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    Enterprise is the tier that's credited for both availability and data freshness. The nightly refresh is due to be complete by 07:00 your local time on business days. If it isn't, that's a breach for the month, and a service credit applies against that month's fee.
  32. Bernadette Lowry
    Bernadette Lowry None
    A credit doesn't unstop an account. It doesn't un-chase a customer either.
  33. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    No, you're right, it doesn't. The credit is the money remedy. The practical one is that you can see on the page when the data was last refreshed, so your team knows what they're looking at before they pick up the phone.
  34. Bernadette Lowry
    Bernadette Lowry None
    I'll believe it when it reconciles. The ledger says otherwise more often than people admit. When your thing says a trade account is fine and the statement says it's overdue, which one do I trust?
  35. Owen Tallis
    Owen Tallis None
    The ledger. Always. The brain reads from the accounting system, and the accounting system stays the source of truth. If the two disagree, that's a data problem we investigate, and it's exactly what we'd want to find during implementation, not a year in.
  36. Bernadette Lowry
    Bernadette Lowry None
    Who changed that, though? If a figure moves, can I see who or what moved it?
  37. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    I'd want our solutions engineer to answer that properly rather than have me guess. What I can say is that it runs inside your own Snowflake account, so your team controls access and can see what's there. I'll get you a written answer on how changes are traced.
  38. Bernadette Lowry
    Bernadette Lowry None
    Written. Fine. And before go-live I want a reconciliation check. A sample of trade accounts, branch by branch, the brain against the ledger, signed off by my team. Not a demo with tidy data.
  39. Owen Tallis
    Owen Tallis None
    That's reasonable, and I'd rather agree it now than argue about it later. We can write a reconciliation check against a sample of your accounts into the implementation plan as an acceptance step. I'd want your team to choose the sample, not us.
  40. Malcolm Ridgway
    Malcolm Ridgway None
    Put it in the schedule.
  41. Owen Tallis
    Owen Tallis None
    It goes in the schedule.
  42. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    Let me put the order form on screen so we're all looking at the same thing. Malcolm, the service levels are the last schedule. I'll scroll down to it now.
  43. Malcolm Ridgway
    Malcolm Ridgway None
    Give me a minute. I'm reading it, not skimming it.
  44. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    Take your time.
  45. Malcolm Ridgway
    Malcolm Ridgway None
    Paragraph on service credits. It says a credit for each month with a breach. A credit of what, against what?
  46. Owen Tallis
    Owen Tallis None
    A proportion of one month's fee, for each month with a breach. The base is the monthly share of the subscription, not the implementation. The proportion is written on the page, third line down.
  47. Malcolm Ridgway
    Malcolm Ridgway None
    Third line. Yes, I see it. And that's the same for availability and for freshness?
  48. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    Same mechanism, and as I said it's Enterprise that gets freshness covered as well. The lower tiers are credited for availability only.
  49. Malcolm Ridgway
    Malcolm Ridgway None
    Fine. Payment. We're a wholesaler, we live on trade credit in both directions. What are your terms, and what does the shape of the invoicing do to my cash across the year?
  50. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    Standard is the subscription invoiced annually in advance, on thirty-day terms. Quarterly invoicing is available on request.
  51. Malcolm Ridgway
    Malcolm Ridgway None
    And the cost of that is?
  52. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    My understanding is that it's a billing arrangement rather than a price change, but I won't say that from memory. I'll confirm it in the covering note, so you have it in writing.
  53. Owen Tallis
    Owen Tallis None
    To save you a round trip: it's a billing arrangement. The total on the order form stays as it is, and the invoices simply come in quarterly instalments. Lewis will still put it on the page.
  54. Malcolm Ridgway
    Malcolm Ridgway None
    And the implementation?
  55. Owen Tallis
    Owen Tallis None
    A one-off, fixed fee, invoiced separately from the subscription. It runs for twelve weeks from the start.
  56. Fiona Marsden
    Fiona Marsden None
    Is the security review support inside that fee, or on top?
  57. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    Inside it. For Enterprise, security review support is part of the implementation line, so there's no separate charge for it.
  58. Fiona Marsden
    Fiona Marsden None
    Good. Right, the master agreement version. Let me pull up the one our legal team reviewed. Bear with me, it's in a folder I never remember the name of.
  59. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    No rush.
  60. Fiona Marsden
    Fiona Marsden None
    Sorry, that took longer than it should have. I have it. The one we reviewed is the copy our legal team marked as final. Does your reference on the order form point at that same copy?
  61. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    It should do, but I'm not going to say yes without checking the file against yours. I'll compare them this afternoon and confirm in writing, and if there's any difference I'll tell you before the order form goes anywhere near a signature.
  62. Fiona Marsden
    Fiona Marsden None
    That's all I need. Thank you.
  63. Malcolm Ridgway
    Malcolm Ridgway None
    Now the part I actually care about. The board will ask what they got for this. What do I show them, and when?
  64. Owen Tallis
    Owen Tallis None
    Fair question. We agree two or three measures at the kickoff, things your own teams will recognise: how many questions the branch and credit control teams ask the brain, and how long it takes to get to the bottom of a disputed invoice. Then we review them with you at the first quarterly business review after go-live.
  65. Malcolm Ridgway
    Malcolm Ridgway None
    I'm not interested in features. I've sat through the features. I want the two measures, the baseline and the date.
  66. Owen Tallis
    Owen Tallis None
    Then that's what we write down. The baseline comes from your side, from what the teams do today, and the review date goes in the plan. You'd also have an executive sponsor on our side as part of Enterprise, so there's a named senior person who owns that conversation with you.
  67. Malcolm Ridgway
    Malcolm Ridgway None
    Named. In writing.
  68. Owen Tallis
    Owen Tallis None
    Named, in writing, before signature.
  69. Bernadette Lowry
    Bernadette Lowry None
    While we're on baselines. I'll choose the sample for the reconciliation check with my team, and I'll give you the criteria. I won't put any account's credit position in an email to sales. If we need to look at real accounts, we do it in a working session with the right people in the room.
  70. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    Understood, and that's the right way round. Criteria by email, accounts in the session. I'll make sure the plan says the same.
  71. Bernadette Lowry
    Bernadette Lowry None
    And when the check fails, because it will the first time, I want the answer to the question of who changed that, not a shrug.
  72. Owen Tallis
    Owen Tallis None
    Then that's the point of doing it before go-live. We find the awkward ones early, with your team looking, and we fix the source rather than the symptom.
  73. Fiona Marsden
    Fiona Marsden None
    One more from me, since we're listing things. The users. How many people are covered, and what happens if the branches add more later?
  74. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    The user and connector allowances are on the first page of the order form, and I'd rather you read the exact numbers there than hear them from me. If you outgrow them, additional users and additional connectors are available as add-ons, and I'd quote those separately, co-termed to your renewal, so nothing is a surprise.
  75. Fiona Marsden
    Fiona Marsden None
    Co-termed. Good. That's what I wanted to hear.
  76. Malcolm Ridgway
    Malcolm Ridgway None
    Let me say where I am. The price I'll take away and read in the covering note. The schedule is readable. The service credits I understand, and I'd note they don't undo a wrong stop on an account. Bernadette's reconciliation check goes in. Fiona's points go in. What else could stop this being signed by Friday 14 February 2025?
  77. Owen Tallis
    Owen Tallis None
    From our side, nothing I can see, provided the price movement is agreed in writing and the master agreement reference matches. Who signs?
  78. Malcolm Ridgway
    Malcolm Ridgway None
    I do. After Fiona has been through her checklist and legal have seen the final order form. Not before.
  79. Fiona Marsden
    Fiona Marsden None
    Which means I need the revised order form with the schedules attached, and I need it early enough to give legal a proper look. A couple of days isn't enough for them.
  80. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    You'll have it today. Revised order form, the connector schedule, the reconciliation check in the plan, and my covering note with the implementation and subscription lines set out separately and the VAT position on each.
  81. Malcolm Ridgway
    Malcolm Ridgway None
    And the movement on the first term?
  82. Owen Tallis
    Owen Tallis None
    In the order form, once I've confirmed it. I'll do that tomorrow, and Lewis will fold it into a second version so you aren't reading two documents against each other.
  83. Malcolm Ridgway
    Malcolm Ridgway None
    One version. I'll read one version.
  84. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    One version it is.
  85. Bernadette Lowry
    Bernadette Lowry None
    The written answer on tracing changes. When?
  86. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    I'll ask our solutions engineer today and aim to have it with you before the end of the week.
  87. Bernadette Lowry
    Bernadette Lowry None
    Before the end of the week. I'll hold you to it, and I'll read it with the ledger open next to it.
  88. Owen Tallis
    Owen Tallis None
    Fair. I'd expect nothing less.
  89. Malcolm Ridgway
    Malcolm Ridgway None
    Anything else on timing? If I sign on that Friday, when does anything actually switch on?
  90. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    After signature, the kickoff is the first step. We agree owners for each connector, your side and ours, and the plan sets out the twelve weeks. Amara Obi, our customer success manager, picks up from the kickoff and stays with you after go-live.
  91. Malcolm Ridgway
    Malcolm Ridgway None
    Amara. Fine. I'd like her in the room for the kickoff, not just on the email.
  92. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    I'll make sure of it.
  93. Owen Tallis
    Owen Tallis None
    Let me read back the dated steps so we're all holding the same list. Lewis sends the revised order form and the covering note today. I confirm the first-term movement in writing tomorrow, and you get one final version. Lewis checks the master agreement reference against Fiona's file and confirms this afternoon. The written answer on tracing changes goes to Bernadette before the end of the week. Fiona takes the order form to legal. Malcolm reads the schedule and signs, all being well, by Friday 14 February 2025. Have I missed anything?
  94. Fiona Marsden
    Fiona Marsden None
    The named executive sponsor, in writing, before signature.
  95. Owen Tallis
    Owen Tallis None
    Yes, that too. Thank you. I'll send that name myself.
  96. Bernadette Lowry
    Bernadette Lowry None
    And the criteria for the sample are mine to send. I'll have them to Lewis early next week.
  97. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    Perfect. I'll attach them to the plan as soon as they arrive.
  98. Malcolm Ridgway
    Malcolm Ridgway None
    Then I don't think there's anything left for this call. I'd rather read than talk. Send it over.
  99. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    Will do. Thanks, everyone, I appreciate the time, and the straight questions.
  100. Fiona Marsden
    Fiona Marsden None
    Thanks, Lewis. Thanks, Owen. Speak soon.
  101. Owen Tallis
    Owen Tallis None
    Thanks all. Speak next week.
  102. Bernadette Lowry
    Bernadette Lowry None
    Right. I'll be waiting for that email, then.
  103. Malcolm Ridgway
    Malcolm Ridgway None
    Goodbye.
  104. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    Owen, stay on a second, if you can. I want to make sure I have the movement conversation straight before I write it up.
  105. Owen Tallis
    Owen Tallis None
    Sure. Go on.
  106. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    So the movement is first term only, on the subscription line, and it comes with the ceiling you named. I'm not putting a figure in the covering note until you've confirmed it tomorrow.
  107. Owen Tallis
    Owen Tallis None
    Correct. Keep the note clean. Total, the two lines separately, VAT position, billing in quarterly instalments if they want it, and the date. Nothing about any other customer, and nothing from memory.
  108. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    Understood. I'll also update the CRM with the stage and the date tonight, so the close date is the one Malcolm gave us and not a hopeful one.
  109. Owen Tallis
    Owen Tallis None
    Good. Friday 14 February 2025 is the date, and the next dated step is the version in Fiona's hands today. If that slips, tell me the same day.
  110. Lewis Kerr
    Lewis Kerr None
    Will do. I'll send that over today.
  111. Owen Tallis
    Owen Tallis None
    Thanks, Lewis. Speak later.
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