Merriott Lyle Distribution / BG-Demo – Check In
Callcompleted
Merriott Lyle Distribution · 22 Sep 2025 13:30
Deepa Chauhan wants more branch managers using the account view. Around fifty of two hundred Enterprise seats are active. Contract and invoices agree at £116k and renewal sits at the end of February.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Deepa Chauhan wants more branch managers using the account view. Around fifty of two hundred Enterprise seats are active. Contract and invoices agree at £116k and renewal sits at the end of February.
What happened: Daniel Okafor opened with usage, around fifty daily active people on two hundred seats, weighted to head office. Deepa said branch managers tried it, got a confusing answer once and went back to ringing someone.
Customer view: Deepa wants a short remote session built on three questions: is a customer on stop, what have we said to them, and is there an open dispute. She also wants the review run straight off the account view, but credit control and the regions each want a different list order.
Commercial: Daniel confirmed the order form and invoices line up at £116k a year with nothing overdue. Contract end is 27 Feb 2026 and renewal is 28 Feb 2026. Deepa would not discuss money without the people who sign it off.
Watch: Low branch use is the renewal risk, and the settled dispute shown as open is unresolved. An on-site training day is a paid add-on, but Daniel advised starting remote.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Branch adoption and 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 training outline and slots by the end of the week.
- Daniel Okafor to take the two-lists question to the team and report back without guessing.
- Deepa Chauhan to send the branch and account for the disputed status and check the moved colleague's login.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Only around fifty of two hundred Enterprise seats are active, mostly at head office, so branch value is not visible ahead of renewal.
- A branch manager saw a settled dispute shown as open and the account has not yet been identified, so trust is unresolved.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- A short remote training session for a few branch managers could lift branch use, with the on-site training day add-on as a later option.
- Testing the regional directors' quietest-branches question on Merriott Lyle data could widen what the brain is used for.
Transcript
Daniel OkaforAfternoon, Deepa. Thank you for making the time. I think it's just the two of us today, is that right, or are you expecting anyone else to join?
Deepa ChauhanAfternoon, Daniel. Just me. I did mention it to a couple of the regional directors but you know what Mondays are like, they're all out visiting branches.- Daniel OkaforOf course. Can you hear me all right? Your picture's a bit frozen on my side.
- Deepa ChauhanSound's fine. Let me switch the camera off and on again. There. Better?
- Daniel OkaforMuch better. How was your weekend? Did you get away anywhere, or was it the usual?
- Deepa ChauhanThe usual, mostly. Birmingham's been grey for about a week now, so nobody wanted to go anywhere. Yours?
- Daniel OkaforQuiet. I finally got round to sorting the garden, which took longer than I'd planned. Anyway, I won't keep you from the agenda. I just wanted a proper check-in, to see how the team is finding it now we're a few months in, and to make sure we're not missing anything on our side.
- Deepa ChauhanGood. I'll tell you the one thing I need from this call, and then we can go wherever you like. I want to know how I get more of the branch managers actually looking at the account view, instead of ringing head office when a trade customer says their order's gone missing.
- Daniel OkaforThat's a good one to start with, because it's exactly what I wanted to look at with you. Can I share my screen? I've pulled up the usage picture for the last few weeks.
- Deepa ChauhanPlease. Go ahead.
- Daniel OkaforRight, can you see that? So this is active people over the last month, averaged out. You're licensed for two hundred seats on Enterprise, and on a typical day we're seeing around fifty people in there. It's a touch down on the previous quarter, a few percent, nothing dramatic, but I'd rather say so than have you find it later.
- Deepa ChauhanMm. Fifty out of two hundred. Which account, which branch? That's what I always want to know. Fifty people where?
- Daniel OkaforFair question. From the activity, it's weighted towards head office: your own team, key-account managers, and credit control. The branches are there, but thinly. Quite a lot of the branch logins look like they happened once or twice and then stopped.
- Deepa ChauhanThat doesn't surprise me, to be honest. The key-account managers and credit control, they're in it every day because it's their job. The branch managers, I think they tried it, got a slightly confusing answer once, and went back to ringing someone.
- Daniel OkaforDo you know what the confusing answer was? Just to close the loop, if it was a data issue we ought to know about it.
- Deepa ChauhanI don't have the detail, which is annoying. One of them said it showed a dispute on an account that had already been settled. I asked for the account and never got it. So I can't tell you if that was the brain or somebody's note that hadn't been updated.
- Daniel OkaforRight. Well, no tickets have come through from you in the last month at all, so nothing's been flagged on our side, and I'd read that as quiet rather than anything worse. But it's a really useful thing to chase. If you can get me the account and the branch, I'll look at where that dispute status comes from and tell you plainly whether it was the source or the way it was shown.
- Deepa ChauhanI'll ask the manager again. Show me where that number comes from, that's all I ever say to people, and if I can show them, they trust it. If I can't, they go back to rumour.
- Daniel OkaforWhich is the whole point of the thing, really. One version of each trade account. So let me ask you something. When a branch manager does use it and it works, what do they actually use it for? What's the question they ask?
- Deepa ChauhanUsually three things. Is this customer on stop, or close to it. What have we said to them recently, by phone or email. And is there an open dispute on an invoice. If they can get those three in one place, they're happy.
- Daniel OkaforThat's a nice clean set. And that's the kind of thing that works well as a short guided session, rather than a general walk-through. People don't need the whole brain, they need those three questions and how to phrase them.
- Deepa ChauhanYes. Yes, that's it. Because when I've done the general demo for the regions, their eyes glaze over. Too much on the screen.
- Daniel OkaforSo what I'd suggest is a small, focused training session, built around those three questions, and run it with a handful of branch managers first, not everybody. Pick the ones who'll be honest with you.
- Deepa ChauhanI like honest. The ones who'll tell me it's rubbish to my face. There are two or three I'd pick straight away. Could you do it remotely? Getting people into one room is a headache with this many branches.
- Daniel OkaforRemote is absolutely fine. There's also an on-site training day available as an add-on, if you ever want a day with a group in person, but I wouldn't start there. Start small, see what sticks. I'll come back to you by the end of the week with a couple of possible slots, and a short outline for you to look at.
- Deepa ChauhanPlease. Send me the outline first, because I want to make sure it doesn't promise the regions something it can't do. I've been caught out on that before, with a different system.
- Daniel OkaforUnderstood. I'll keep it to what's there today and nothing else. If the regions ask for something that isn't there, we'll say so.
- Deepa ChauhanThank you. Right. That was my one thing, so everything else is a bonus.
- Daniel OkaforWell, a few things from me, then. Can I ask about the monthly account-data review you chair? Is that still going ahead with credit control and the regional directors?
- Deepa ChauhanIt is. Monthly, first week usually. Credit control, a couple of the regional directors, someone from sales operations, and me. It's the one meeting where everyone looks at the same account list, which is the part I fought hardest for.
- Daniel OkaforAnd are you bringing the brain into that meeting, or is it still spreadsheets on the screen?
- Deepa ChauhanHalf and half. Honestly. I'll pull up an account in the brain to make a point, and then someone says, can you export that, and we're back in a spreadsheet. I'd like to get to the point where the review runs straight off the account view.
- Daniel OkaforThat would be a good place to get to. What stops it today? Is it a trust thing again, or is it something about the layout?
- Deepa ChauhanA bit of both. Credit control have their own way of ordering the list, by days overdue. They like it in that order. And the regional directors want it by branch. And nobody's the same. So we end up with two lists.
- Daniel OkaforRight. So two views of the same accounts. Let's keep that one for a moment, because I think it's something we can look at properly rather than guess. I don't want to tell you it's a five minute change and then be wrong. Can I take that away, speak to our team, and come back to you with what's possible?
- Deepa ChauhanThat's all I'm asking. Don't guess. I've had enough of people guessing.
- Daniel OkaforI won't. Let's get credit control in the room for that one, if you're happy, so that whoever looks at it hears it from the people who use it, not second hand.
- Deepa ChauhanHa. That's my line. But yes, absolutely. Let's get credit control in the room. I'll pick a date once I've seen what you can offer.
- Daniel OkaforPerfect. I'll note that down. Now, one thing I wanted to cover for completeness. Contract and money. I had a look with our finance team and the order form and what's been invoiced line up exactly: it's £116,500 a year, on Enterprise, and there's nothing overdue on your account.
- Deepa ChauhanGood. I'd have been surprised, but good. I don't handle the payments myself, so I'm glad it's clean. On money I'd always want to bring in the people who sign it off, so I'd rather you didn't go into much more with me.
- Daniel OkaforCompletely understood, and I wasn't going to. I only mention it because the renewal comes round at the end of February, and I'd like it to be a calm conversation, not a rushed one. I'll come back to you with a proper renewal conversation in good time, so you and your colleagues have a few months with it.
- Deepa ChauhanEnd of February. Okay. That's your contract end, is it? I think I've got the twenty-seventh of February in my notes.
- Daniel OkaforThat's right. Contract end is 27 Feb 2026, and the renewal date sits the day after, 28 Feb 2026. So there's plenty of runway. The reason I raise it now is that the usage story matters when we get there. If I can say fifty has become a good deal more, and the branches are using it, that's a much easier conversation than the one we'd have today.
- Deepa ChauhanSo the branch training is the renewal case, in a sense.
- Daniel OkaforI'd say it's more that it's what you've told me you want, and the renewal will take care of itself if the value is visible. I'd put it that way round.
- Deepa ChauhanFair. I prefer that way round, too.
- Daniel OkaforCan I ask about people? Anyone new on your side, or anyone moved on that we should know about? I always worry about the champion leaving, and I'd rather ask than assume.
- Deepa ChauhanHa, not me, I'm not going anywhere. There's been a bit of movement in the sales operations team, someone moved across to another area, but the key-account managers are the same. Nothing that I think affects you.
- Daniel OkaforGood. Do the new people have access, or is it someone who used to use the brain and is now elsewhere?
- Deepa ChauhanI'd have to check. I think the one who moved might still have a login. I'll look and tell you. I don't want a seat sitting there for someone who doesn't need it, though with two hundred seats I suppose it hardly matters.
- Daniel OkaforIt doesn't cost you anything either way, you've got plenty of headroom. But it's good practice to tidy up, and it'll make the usage numbers a bit more honest. If you send me a name I can sort it.
- Deepa ChauhanWill do. Anything else on usage? You've got the screen up still.
- Daniel OkaforOne more thing, and it's a positive. The questions people ask are steady. Not rising, but steady, and they're coming from a decent spread of people rather than one or two heavy users, which is the thing I'd normally worry about. So there's no single person we'd be lost without.
- Deepa ChauhanGood. Though I'll admit I'm probably one of the heavier ones.
- Daniel OkaforYou're up there, yes. But not on your own, which is what matters.
- Deepa ChauhanWhat about the sources? I know the nightly refresh was something the regional directors asked about once. They get nervous if the account view is behind what's in their heads.
- Daniel OkaforYes. On Enterprise the refresh is meant to be complete by seven in the morning on business days, and I've not seen anything this month that suggests it's been late. Nothing's been raised, and I've no tickets to point to either way. If anyone does see a stale account, tell me which one and when, and I'll check it against the timestamps rather than take the word of the screen.
- Deepa ChauhanThat's useful. I'll tell the directors. They like hearing it's checked rather than assumed.
- Daniel OkaforGood. So, thinking about what to do between now and the next time we speak. Let me say it back, and you tell me if I've got it wrong.
- Deepa ChauhanGo on.
- Daniel OkaforOne. You'll get me the account and the branch for that settled dispute that showed up as open, and I'll check where it came from. Two. I'll send you an outline for a short remote session for a few branch managers, built around the three questions, with a couple of possible slots, by the end of the week. Three. I'll take the two-lists question, credit control by days overdue and the regions by branch, to our team and come back with what's possible, no guessing. Four. You'll check whether that colleague who moved still has a login.
- Deepa ChauhanThat's all four. And the fifth is that I choose who gets invited and I choose the date for getting credit control in the room.
- Daniel OkaforFive. Yes, absolutely. That's yours.
- Deepa ChauhanGood. Now, can I ask something slightly different? It's a bit off the agenda.
- Daniel OkaforOf course. Please.
- Deepa ChauhanWhen we first went live, there was a lot of talk about the brain eventually covering more than just the account side. Calls, tickets, finance. I know we've got the calls and the invoices in there. But I keep getting asked by the regional directors whether it could answer questions about, say, which branches are quietest. Is that the sort of thing it's for, or am I stretching it?
- Daniel OkaforIt's the sort of thing it's designed for, in principle, because it sits across the systems you've connected. Whether it can answer that particular question depends on what's been connected and what's in it, and I'd rather not say yes to something I haven't looked at. What I can do is take that exact question, in the director's words, and test it on your data and show you what comes back.
- Deepa ChauhanI'd like that. Not to promise anyone anything. Just so I know what the honest answer is.
- Daniel OkaforThat's exactly how I'd do it. You send me the question as they'd ask it, and I'll tell you what the brain says, and where the answer comes from, so you can show people.
- Deepa ChauhanShow me where that number comes from. Yes. That's exactly it.
- Daniel OkaforI think that's become my line now too.
- Deepa ChauhanGood, you've caught it. Right. Anything else on your list?
- Daniel OkaforOnly one thing, and it's more of a courtesy. Lewis Kerr is still your account owner on our side, and I'm still your CSM, so if anything on the commercial side comes up before the renewal, Lewis is the one to ask for. I just don't want you to feel you've got to go through me for everything.
- Deepa ChauhanFine. I'll keep that in mind. I've always found it easiest to start with you, though.
- Daniel OkaforThat's kind. Start with me, then, and I'll bring Lewis in where it's about the contract.
- Deepa ChauhanPerfect. Oh, one more small thing before I forget. Could you send me something I can forward to the branch managers, just a line or two on what the account view is and who to ask? Not a manual. Something short.
- Daniel OkaforYes. I'll draft a short note you can put your own name to, and you can change it however you like. Plain words, no jargon. I'll send it along with the training outline.
- Deepa ChauhanBrilliant. That's me done, I think.
- Daniel OkaforThen let me say thank you. I really appreciate the straight answers, especially on the branch managers, because it helps me know where to put my effort.
- Deepa ChauhanAnd thank you for not being defensive about the numbers. Some suppliers would have glossed over fifty out of two hundred.
- Daniel OkaforIt's not a bad number, it's a starting point. And the people who are using it are using it well, which is the harder half. How is the team finding it, from what you hear day to day? Is it mostly positive, or do I only hear the polite version?
- Deepa ChauhanMostly positive. Key-account managers like it, credit control like it because they're not chasing three people for one answer. The grumbles are about the branches not using it, which is my job, not yours.
- Daniel OkaforIt's a joint job, I think. Which is why I'd like to help with the training. Anyway, I'll let you get on. Speak soon, and I'll come back to you by the end of the week with the outline and the slots.
- Deepa ChauhanThanks, Daniel. And I'll send you the branch and the account for that dispute this afternoon, or tomorrow at the latest.
- Daniel OkaforLovely. Best wishes, Deepa. Bye for now.
- Deepa ChauhanThanks. Bye, Daniel.
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