Merriott Lyle Distribution / BG-Demo – Check In
Callcompleted
Merriott Lyle Distribution · 29 May 2026 15:00
Deepa Chauhan wants proof of who uses the brain to take to the account-data review. Daniel Okafor showed a thin branch group, about sixty active users of two hundred, and a renewal due 28 Feb 2027.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Deepa Chauhan wants proof of who uses the brain to take to the account-data review. Daniel Okafor showed a thin branch group, about sixty active users of two hundred, and a renewal due 28 Feb 2027.
What happened: Deepa Chauhan asked for usage by team and branch group to take to the monthly account-data review. Daniel Okafor showed that branch managers barely register and that a few people ask a large share of the questions.
Customer view: Deepa said the key-account managers love it and branch managers go on rumour. She will not promise the regions anything that does not exist.
Commercial: Enterprise at £128k a year, with renewal on 28 Feb 2027. Deepa said she would have to take it to the people who sign off money, and sixty active users out of two hundred is a weak opening line.
Watch: Deepa is herself one of the heavy askers, which Daniel flagged as a key-person risk for the programme.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Branch adoption and usage proof
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 usage pack by team and branch group, with rollout months flagged, by the end of the following week.
- Deepa Chauhan to send about six branch managers and a list of regional directors, then confirm the account-data review date.
- Daniel Okafor to join the first part of the next account-data review and prepare the branch session around their own accounts.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- About sixty active users against two hundred licences gives finance a value question before the 28 Feb 2027 renewal.
- A small number of people ask a large share of the questions, including Deepa herself, so losing one or two would be felt quickly.
- Branch managers act on rumour rather than the brain, which leaves two versions of the same trade account.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Bringing the branch group on would use licence headroom already paid for under Enterprise.
- A short remote session for about six trusted branch managers using their own accounts could spread the habit.
- A year-on-year usage view by team gives Deepa a story for the regional directors and credit control.
Transcript
Daniel OkaforHello Deepa, can you hear me alright? Thank you for making the time. I think it's just the two of us today, is that right?
Deepa ChauhanHi Daniel, yes, I can hear you. Just us. Sorry, I'm in a different room from usual, the big meeting room's been taken, so shout if there's an echo.- Daniel OkaforNo echo at all, sounds clear. How has your week been?
- Deepa ChauhanLong. We had the regional directors in on Wednesday and it spilled into Thursday. So it's Friday afternoon and I'm sort of coasting, to be honest.
- Daniel OkaforAh, the Friday afternoon call. I'll try to keep this tidy, then. Did the directors' days go well?
- Deepa ChauhanMostly. A lot of talk about stock and about which accounts are slow to pay. Which is actually why I wanted this call, so can I say the one thing I need from it, before we get into your agenda?
- Daniel OkaforPlease, yes. That's what I'd like to hear first.
- Deepa ChauhanI need a clear picture of who is actually using the brain, by team and by branch group, so I can take it to the monthly account-data review with credit control and the regional directors. At the moment I'm saying it's useful, and people are nodding, but I can't show them where it's being used. Show me where that number comes from, as I keep saying to everyone else.
- Daniel OkaforThat's fair, and it fits nicely with what I've prepared. Just to close the loop on where we are: you're on Enterprise, two hundred licensed users, and the order form, the invoices and our records all agree at £127,500 a year. So there's nothing untidy on the money side that you need to worry about.
- Deepa ChauhanGood. I'd hate for that to be a surprise. Nothing outstanding on our side either, as far as I know. Finance would have told me.
- Daniel OkaforNothing overdue on our books, no. Everything's been paid on time. So let me give you the headline on usage and then we can dig into the detail. Active users over the last month are sitting at about sixty on average.
- Deepa ChauhanAbout sixty. Out of two hundred.
- Daniel OkaforOut of two hundred, yes. And I'll be straight with you, that's a touch down on the previous quarter, nothing dramatic, a couple of percent, but I wouldn't want to dress it up as growth either.
- Deepa ChauhanMm. I suspected as much. It doesn't surprise me, if I'm honest. The people who got it at the start are still using it. It's the others, the ones we hoped would come along later.
- Daniel OkaforHow is the team finding it? Meaning, from what you hear, not what the dashboard says.
- Deepa ChauhanThe key-account managers love it. They ask it things before they ring a customer. Which account, which branch, what's open, what's disputed. Credit control use it too, in bursts, usually when something's gone wrong with an invoice. The branch managers are the problem. They've got forty things on and a counter full of builders, and they go on rumour. Somebody at the next branch said this customer's a nightmare, and that's the account view.
- Daniel OkaforRight. And that's the group you most want to move.
- Deepa ChauhanYes. Because when a branch manager acts on rumour and the account team is looking at the brain, we get two versions of the same trade account. That's the whole reason we bought it, one version.
- Daniel OkaforUnderstood. Let me share my screen and show you what I can see, and you tell me if it matches your feeling. Can you see it?
- Deepa ChauhanGive me a second. Yes, there it is. A bit small, but I can see it.
- Daniel OkaforI'll make it bigger. So this is the last quarter by group. The orange bars are your key-account teams, the blue are credit control, and this thin grey one at the bottom is the branch group. You can see how thin it is.
- Deepa ChauhanOh, that is thin. I thought it'd be bigger than that. Is that every branch, or just the ones that signed in?
- Daniel OkaforThat's everyone who's asked a question or opened a page in the period. So a branch manager who has an account but never opened it won't appear at all.
- Deepa ChauhanRight, so the real picture is probably even more lopsided. Fine. At least I know.
- Daniel OkaforOne more thing worth saying, and it's the thing I'd flag as a risk rather than a problem. A big share of the questions come from a fairly small number of people. If one or two of them moved on, you'd feel it quickly.
- Deepa ChauhanYes. I know who they are. I'm one of them, which is not great, is it. I'm the head of the systems team and I'm asking more questions than half the regional sales people.
- Daniel OkaforIt's a compliment to you and a flag for the programme, both at once. I wouldn't read it as failure. You've got the habit in the right pockets. It just hasn't spread.
- Deepa ChauhanMm. So what do I do about the branches? Because I'm not going to promise the regions anything that doesn't exist. I've been burnt on that before, with the old reporting tool.
- Daniel OkaforWhich is why I wouldn't suggest a feature. What exists today is enough. The pages and the chat already answer most of what a branch manager asks: what's this account's recent order history, is anything in dispute, when did someone last speak to them. It's the habit, not the tool.
- Deepa ChauhanSo training.
- Daniel OkaforA small amount, aimed well. Not all the branches. I'd pick a handful of branch managers you trust, the ones who'd talk to their peers, and do a short session with them using their own accounts. Their real customers, so they see the answer to something they actually care about.
- Deepa ChauhanOn their own accounts. Yes, I like that. When we did the first rollout we used the demo set and people's eyes glazed over.
- Daniel OkaforIt's always the way. People only believe it when they see a name they know.
- Deepa ChauhanCould we do it remotely? I can't get branch managers into Birmingham, and I'm not sure I can get them out of the branch for more than about an hour.
- Daniel OkaforRemotely is fine, an hour is plenty. We could split it into two groups if the numbers are a problem. I'd rather have six people paying attention than twenty with their cameras off.
- Deepa ChauhanSix is about right. Let me think about who. I'd want a mix, some from the Midlands and some from the North, otherwise one side says it's not for us.
- Daniel OkaforThat's sensible. If you send me the names, I'll look at how each of them has used it so far, so I'm not standing there asking them to open something they've never seen.
- Deepa ChauhanLovely. Now, tickets. I've seen a couple of things go through. Anything I should know about?
- Daniel OkaforTwo tickets in the last month, and neither was high priority. Nothing urgent, nothing that touched freshness or availability. For a customer your size, honestly, that's quiet, and I'd take quiet. I'll send you the two so you can see what they were.
- Deepa ChauhanQuiet's good. Though quiet could also mean people have stopped bothering, couldn't it?
- Daniel OkaforIt could, and I did think about that. Which is why I'm reading it alongside the usage rather than on its own. In your case I think it's mostly that the people using it know what they're doing. But I take your point, and it's why I'd like to get the branch group in, so we hear from them.
- Deepa ChauhanYes. Okay. That makes sense.
- Daniel OkaforCan I ask you about the nightly refresh? In the account-data review, do people ever say the numbers are out of date?
- Deepa ChauhanNot recently. There was a stage last year when credit control said an invoice was showing as open when it had been paid, but that was a timing thing, wasn't it? I remember it was sorted.
- Daniel OkaforThat's the one I remember too, and I haven't seen it come back. The refresh should be done by seven each business morning, so if anyone ever says the view is behind, tell me straight away and I'll check it against the log.
- Deepa ChauhanWill do. And I'll tell credit control that too. They're the ones who'd notice first, they're in it first thing.
- Daniel OkaforGood. Let me show you one more view, then. This is by team, not by branch, and it's the one I think you might want to take to the review. It shows questions asked per month, by group, so you can see the trend rather than a single number.
- Deepa ChauhanThat's more like it. Can it go back a full year? Because someone's going to ask me what it was like this time last year.
- Daniel OkaforIt can. You came on in February last year, so you've got the early months, which are a bit odd because of the rollout, and then a steadier run. I'll put that comparison in the pack and flag which months are rollout noise.
- Deepa ChauhanPlease. If I can say this is where we started, this is where we are, and this is the group we want to change, I think that's a story the regional directors will listen to.
- Daniel OkaforI think so too. And it gives credit control something to hold on to as well, because they're the ones who can say what it saves them.
- Deepa ChauhanYes, let's get credit control in the room properly for the next review. They tend to send one person and that person has to dash off. I'd like the head of credit control to hear the numbers.
- Daniel OkaforWould it help if I joined that review, for the first ten minutes? I can walk through the usage and answer anything technical, and then leave you to run your meeting.
- Deepa ChauhanThat would actually help a lot. It's easier for me to say this is what the vendor sees than this is what I think. Slightly less biased.
- Daniel OkaforHa, I'm not sure I'm unbiased, but I'll be accurate. Tell me the date when you've got it and I'll put it in my diary.
- Deepa ChauhanIt's usually early in the month. I'll confirm next week.
- Daniel OkaforPerfect. Now, just so it's not a surprise later, I do want to touch on the renewal. It's not close, but I like to mention it early.
- Deepa ChauhanGo on.
- Daniel OkaforYour renewal date is 28 Feb 2027. It's some months away, and I'll write to you formally with the notice nearer the time, which is my job. The reason I mention it now is that I'd like us to arrive there with a clear story about what the brain has done for you, rather than scrambling for one in the last few weeks.
- Deepa ChauhanUnderstood. I'll be honest, I'd have to take it to the people who sign off money. I don't go around them on that. They'll want to know what it's worth, and sixty active users out of two hundred isn't a great opening line.
- Daniel OkaforNo, and I wouldn't hide it. But the real question is whether the sixty are getting value, and from what you've told me, they are. The aim between now and then is to move that number, and to be able to show it moving. That's why the branch sessions matter.
- Deepa ChauhanSo the sessions are partly about the renewal.
- Daniel OkaforThey're about getting you value, and the renewal follows from that. If I got it the other way round, I think you'd see through me.
- Deepa ChauhanI would, yes. Fine. That's the right order.
- Daniel OkaforOne more practical thing. You've got headroom on the licences, two hundred against about sixty in use, so there's no need to talk about adding users. If anything, the conversation at renewal is whether the shape of the contract still fits how you work. I'm not suggesting any change now, I just want to be upfront that it's a question we'll ask together.
- Deepa ChauhanWould you say it's a risk, the gap between what we pay for and what's used?
- Daniel OkaforI'd say it's a fair thing for your finance people to ask, and better that we raise it than they do. But I'd say it's headroom as much as risk. A company with around one hundred and twenty branches, if the branch group came on board, would fill a lot of those licences.
- Deepa ChauhanYes. That's my argument too. Two hundred was never meant for the head office alone. It was the branches, key accounts and credit control, all in one view.
- Daniel OkaforExactly. So we're really just finishing the original job.
- Deepa ChauhanCan I ask something slightly different? On the account side. Lewis, who looks after the commercial side for you, is he still the right person if I need to talk about the contract?
- Daniel OkaforYes, Lewis is still your account owner, and I'm your day to day contact. For anything contractual, Lewis is the person. I'd always bring me in as well so we're not giving you two answers.
- Deepa ChauhanGood. I like having one thread. I've been on enough supplier calls where nobody knows who said what.
- Daniel OkaforThat's what I'm here for. Right, anything else on the usage side before I move on?
- Deepa ChauhanYes, actually. Can you show me the breakdown by role, not just team? I want to see key-account managers separately from regional directors. The directors say they use it, and I don't believe them.
- Daniel OkaforHa. Let me see what I can pull. I can split by group today, and I can take the regional directors out of the sales group if they're tagged separately. If they aren't, I'll need a short list of names from you, and I'll match them up.
- Deepa ChauhanI'll send you a list. It's about a dozen people, and I'll be tactful about why.
- Daniel OkaforPlease do. I'd treat it as a coverage view, not a league table. No one's going to be named in front of the room.
- Deepa ChauhanRight, because that's the thing. I never let a data question turn into a blame question. If the directors feel exposed they'll stop coming, and then I've lost the only audience that matters.
- Daniel OkaforCompletely agree. I'll present it as where the brain is reaching and where it isn't yet.
- Deepa ChauhanGood. Thank you. That's the framing.
- Daniel OkaforShall I talk through next steps, so I don't lose them? Then we can finish early, which I imagine is welcome on a Friday.
- Deepa ChauhanVery welcome. Go on.
- Daniel OkaforSo, from my side. One, I'll send you a usage pack by team and by branch group, with the year on year view and the rollout months flagged. I'll come back to you by the end of next week with that. Two, I'll send you the two recent tickets so you've got the detail. Three, once you've sent me the names, I'll prepare the branch manager session around their own accounts.
- Deepa ChauhanAnd from mine. I send you six or so branch managers, mix of Midlands and the North, and the list of regional directors for the role split. I confirm the date of the next account-data review, and make sure credit control send someone senior.
- Daniel OkaforThat's it exactly. And in that review I'll join for the first stretch if you'd like me there.
- Deepa ChauhanI would. Yes. Keep it short and factual, and I'll do the rest.
- Daniel OkaforWill do. Is there anything you wanted to raise that I haven't asked about? Sometimes the real thing comes out in the last two minutes.
- Deepa ChauhanHa, you know me. Not really a big thing. One small one. People ask me whether they can put the account view in front of customers, in a meeting, on a screen. I tell them the account view is internal. Is that still the right answer?
- Daniel OkaforI'd say internal is the safe answer, yes. Showing a customer your own view of their account, with notes and disputes in it, is something I'd want you to think about carefully, and I'd rather not guess at a policy for you. If it's a real request from the regions, let's talk it through properly rather than me improvising now.
- Deepa ChauhanThat's what I thought. Internal for now, and I'll tell them it's under review if they push. I'm not promising the regions anything that doesn't exist.
- Daniel OkaforWhich is the right instinct, and it'll save you trouble.
- Deepa ChauhanThank you, Daniel. This has been more useful than I expected. I came in thinking you'd tell me everything was fine and I'd be none the wiser.
- Daniel OkaforI'd rather tell you the sixty is a bit soft and give you something to do about it. It's more use to you, and honestly it's more interesting for me too.
- Deepa ChauhanIt is, yes. I'll make sure the names are with you early next week, and I'll find the review date.
- Daniel OkaforWonderful. And if anything changes on your side in the meantime, a reorganisation, someone leaving the systems team, anything, just tell me. I'd rather hear early.
- Deepa ChauhanOf course. Nothing planned that I know of, touch wood. The only change is the regional directors have asked for a quarterly rather than monthly cut, but I'll keep the monthly review going regardless.
- Daniel OkaforGood. Keep it monthly if you can, it's how the habit forms. Anyway, I've kept you long enough. Have a restful weekend, if the regional directors allow it.
- Deepa ChauhanHa, I'll try. You too. Say hello to Lewis from me.
- Daniel OkaforI will. I'll send a short note after this to just close the loop on what we agreed. Speak soon, Deepa.
- Deepa ChauhanThanks, Daniel. Bye for now.
- Daniel OkaforSorry, one last thing, I'd stopped the share but forgot to say, I'll put the follow-up note in your inbox this afternoon. Bye.
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