Delancey Haig / BB-Demo – Check In
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Delancey Haig: documents · 2025-04-28 13:45
Saskia Mendes was candid that only ten or eleven of forty Growth users are active. Her CFO has asked what the company gets for the money. Daniel Okafor agreed a value summary, director sessions and a Priya Raman follow-up.
What was said
What this says
Current to 11 Oct 26Saskia Mendes was candid that only ten or eleven of forty Growth users are active. Her CFO has asked what the company gets for the money. Daniel Okafor agreed a value summary, director sessions and a Priya Raman follow-up.
What happened: Saskia Mendes described a split team. A core group uses the brain daily, a middle group needs nagging, and some directors still ask coordinators for summaries.
Customer view: Rupert, the finance lead, has asked what they get for the money. Saskia wants one page showing what the brain replaced and what it cost, and she says disputes caught early are what he cares about.
Commercial: The Growth order form is £42k a year and matches what has been invoiced. Forty licences against ten or eleven active is a sizing decision for the renewal on 3 Jul 2025.
Watch: Daniel flagged that a small number of people may ask a large share of the questions, and Saskia thinks she is one of them. That is a key-person risk.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Theme
Adoption gap before renewal
Importance
renewal
Sentiment
mixed
Voice
champion
Who was there
BB-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
Current to 9 Oct 26- Daniel Okafor to send a value summary and example questions by role early next week.
- Daniel Okafor to ask Priya Raman to contact Saskia Mendes about the renewal and confirm timing by the end of the week.
- Saskia Mendes to send roles for the director session and the director's account of the review.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- Only ten or eleven of forty Growth users are active, so the CFO may question value and seat count at renewal.
- A small number of people may ask a large share of questions, which is a key-person risk.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- Director sessions and a list of good questions by role could widen use and let the customer grow into forty seats.
- A one-page value case built on disputes caught early gives the CFO the evidence he wants.
Transcript
Daniel Okafor NoneAfternoon, Saskia. Thank you for making the time. Can you hear me all right? I think it's just the two of us today, but tell me if anyone else is joining.
Saskia Mendes NoneHi Daniel, yes, loud and clear. Just me. Sorry, give me one second, I've got half a sandwich in my hand and a director standing at my desk.- Daniel Okafor NoneNo rush at all. Eat. I'll wait.
- Saskia Mendes NoneRight, he's gone. Okay. So, story from the week. One of our client-account directors went into a review last Thursday and the client's finance lead opened by asking about a disputed contractor invoice. And she'd already seen it. She'd pulled it up that morning, with the complaint notes next to it. She said the client actually went quiet.
- Daniel Okafor NoneOh, that's lovely to hear. That's exactly the sort of moment you bought it for, isn't it? Walking in with the whole picture rather than three tabs and a hope.
- Saskia Mendes NoneExactly that. The directors need this. Which is partly why I wanted to be straight with you today, because that's one director. I don't want to pretend everyone is doing it.
- Daniel Okafor NoneI appreciate that, and I'd rather hear it straight. How is the team finding it, more generally? Not just the people who love it.
- Saskia Mendes NoneMixed, if I'm honest. We've got a core group who use it most days. Then a middle group who use it when I nag them. And then some directors who still ask their coordinators to go and look things up and send them a summary.
- Daniel Okafor NoneMm. That's very common, actually, in the first year. The coordinators become a sort of human interface. Do you know roughly how many of the directors are in that last group?
- Saskia Mendes NoneA handful. I'd say a third of the directors, maybe a bit more. I haven't counted properly. What did you see on your side?
- Daniel Okafor NoneSo just to close the loop on the numbers, because I've got the usage in front of me. You're licensed for forty users on Growth. Over the last month the average number of people active has been somewhere around ten or eleven. That's a touch down on the previous quarter, a few percent, nothing dramatic.
- Saskia Mendes NoneRight. So ten or eleven out of forty. That's not great, is it.
- Daniel Okafor NoneIt's not where I'd want it to be, and I don't think it's where you want it either. But I'd also say it's a steady base rather than a falling one. The people using it are using it properly. The question is how you widen that.
- Saskia Mendes NoneYeah. Okay. Can we make it simpler? That's honestly my question. Because when I ask the directors why they don't log in, it's never that it's bad. It's that it's one more place to go.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThat's a really useful way to put it. One more place to go. Let me think about what that points at. Is it that they don't know what to ask, or that they don't think of it at the moment they need it?
- Saskia Mendes NoneThe second. They think of it afterwards. They come out of a meeting and go, oh, I should have checked. It's not the first thing they reach for before a call.
- Daniel Okafor NoneRight. So the habit is the gap, not the tool. That's actually a better problem to have, though I appreciate it doesn't feel like it.
- Saskia Mendes NoneIt doesn't, but go on. What do other people do?
- Daniel Okafor NoneA few things I've seen work. One is tying it to a fixed moment. So, before any client review, the director opens that client's page. Same as you'd check the diary. Not a rule, just a ritual. The second is having someone like you, or a couple of your best users, show a ten minute example in a regular team meeting. Real client, real question.
- Saskia Mendes NoneThe director from last Thursday would do that. She'd love to, actually. She's quite competitive.
- Daniel Okafor NoneWell, that helps. Competitive directors are the best kind of champion. And if it's useful, I can join one of those sessions and take questions, so it's not all on you.
- Saskia Mendes NoneYes. Please. I'd rather you were in the room than me explaining it again for the fifth time.
- Daniel Okafor NoneOf course. Just so I get it right, would that be the monthly directors' meeting, or something smaller?
- Saskia Mendes NoneProbably smaller to start. The directors who are sitting on the fence. Let me work out who. I'll send you names, no, actually, roles, I'll send you roles and you can tell me if it's a sensible mix.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThat would be great. Whatever's easiest. I'll come back to you with a couple of options for timing once I've seen it.
- Saskia Mendes NonePerfect. Okay. What else have you got? I know there's more on your list.
- Daniel Okafor NoneA couple of things. Support, first. I can see one ticket from you in the last month, nothing urgent, nothing high priority. It's been dealt with, but I wanted to check you were happy with how it went.
- Saskia Mendes NoneOh, that was one of the coordinators. A how-do-I question, I think. Got an answer quickly, she was fine. No complaints at all.
- Daniel Okafor NoneGood. That's what I hoped. And on the nightly refresh, anything that felt stale or behind? Anyone saying the numbers weren't what they expected?
- Saskia Mendes NoneNot that I've heard. Nobody's said that. The invoices come through, the vacancies come through. I'd have heard, believe me. People tell me within about five minutes if something looks wrong.
- Daniel Okafor NoneHa, that I believe. And the invoices on our side are all settled, so nothing outstanding from my end. Just mentioning it for completeness.
- Saskia Mendes NoneYes, finance would have been on at me otherwise. Fine. So that's all clean.
- Daniel Okafor NoneIt is. So then the thing I should raise, and you'll have been expecting this, is the renewal. Your contract runs to 2 Jul 2025 and the renewal date itself is 3 Jul 2025. We started on Wednesday 3 July 2024, so it's coming up on a year.
- Saskia Mendes NoneGosh, has it been a year? That went fast. Yes, I knew it was coming. Rupert mentioned it last week, actually.
- Daniel Okafor NoneAh, okay. And how's Rupert feeling about it? I don't want to put you on the spot.
- Saskia Mendes NoneNo, it's fine. He's not against it. He's asked a very fair question, which is what are we getting for the money, and can I show him. Which is why I wanted to talk about the usage honestly today.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThat's fair, and I'd want to answer that properly too. For reference, it's £41,800 a year on the order form and that's what's been invoiced, so those two line up. I'd rather give Rupert a proper value case than a sales pitch.
- Saskia Mendes NoneThat's what I need. A page. One page. Here's what the directors do with it, here's what it replaced, here's what it cost us.
- Daniel Okafor NoneRight. So what did it replace, in your words? Because I'd rather use your language than mine.
- Saskia Mendes NoneBefore it, a director would ask a coordinator to pull vacancies from the CRM, placements from the other system, invoices from accounts, and then someone would trawl the inbox for complaints. It took, honestly, most of a morning. Sometimes a day. And it was usually out of date by the time they read it.
- Daniel Okafor NoneMm. Most of a morning. That's a good line. And now?
- Saskia Mendes NoneNow it's a question. Those who use it get the answer in a minute or two. That's the honest version, for those who use it.
- Daniel Okafor NoneI like that you keep saying that. For those who use it. It's the right caveat. So for Rupert, I think the story is two parts. What's already working for the core group, with that example from Thursday, and then the plan for the people who aren't there yet.
- Saskia Mendes NoneYes. Because if I only show him the first half he'll ask about the second. He always does.
- Daniel Okafor NoneHe sounds sensible. Shall I draft something and you tell me what's wrong with it? I can pull the questions people have asked over the past few months and who's been asking them, so we're not relying on anyone's memory.
- Saskia Mendes NoneOh, that would be brilliant. Yes. Who's asking, particularly. I think it's too concentrated, but I don't know. Can you show me that?
- Daniel Okafor NoneI can. And I'll be straight with you, in a lot of accounts a small number of people ask a large share of the questions. It's worth knowing, because if one of them moves on, you feel it. So it's not a criticism, it's something to plan around.
- Saskia Mendes NoneRight. I'm probably one of them. Okay. So be honest in it. Don't dress it up.
- Daniel Okafor NoneI won't. That's the only version that helps you with Rupert anyway.
- Saskia Mendes NoneGood. What would you need from me for that?
- Daniel Okafor NoneTwo things, really. One, the example from Thursday, in as much detail as the director's happy to share, with anything client-sensitive taken out. Two, any sense from you of what Rupert will want to see, in terms of numbers. Cost per director, time saved, I don't know what he cares about.
- Saskia Mendes NoneHe cares about whether disputes get caught earlier. That's the one. If we can say we caught a disputed contractor invoice before it turned into a write-off, he'd listen.
- Daniel Okafor NoneRight, and do you have a case where that happened? Even one.
- Saskia Mendes NoneThe one I just told you about is close. It didn't become a write-off, but it might have. I need to check with the director what she'd have done otherwise. What did the client actually say, that's the thing I want to get from her.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThat's a good question to ask her. I'd keep it in her words as well. If she says, I'd have gone in blind, that says more than any chart I can produce.
- Saskia Mendes NoneAgreed. I'll ask her tomorrow. I'll try and get you something in writing by the end of the week.
- Daniel Okafor NoneLovely, thank you. And I'll leave Priya to pick up the commercial side of the renewal, since she holds the contract with you. I'll make sure she sees whatever we put together first, so she's not coming in cold.
- Saskia Mendes NoneOh good. Yes, Priya. I haven't spoken to her in a while. Is she expecting to call me?
- Daniel Okafor NoneI'd expect so, yes. I don't want to guess the day for her, because it's her diary and not mine. But I'll ask her to get in touch with you, and I'll come back to you by the end of this week to say when.
- Saskia Mendes NonePerfect. Thank you. I hate it when it's vague.
- Daniel Okafor NoneUnderstood. Now, one more thing on the usage, if you've got a minute. You've got forty licences and ten or eleven people active. Is that because you bought for the whole directorate on purpose, with the plan to grow into it?
- Saskia Mendes NoneYes. That was the plan. All the client-account directors, plus the coordinators, plus a few from finance and operations. We thought it'd fill up. It's not filled up.
- Daniel Okafor NoneOkay. So there's a decision in there for you and Rupert, even if it's a quiet one. Either you grow into the forty, which is the ritual and the sessions we've been talking about, or you look hard at whether forty is the right number. I'm not pushing in either direction, I just want us to look at it together rather than have it surface at the last minute.
- Saskia Mendes NoneNo, that's fair. Honestly I'd rather grow into it. If I thought we only needed a dozen I'd tell you. I think the directors just need a nudge. And maybe some smaller wins to talk about.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThen let's give it a proper go between now and the summer, with the sessions, and look at the numbers again before the renewal. If it's moved, great. If it hasn't, we have an honest conversation with Rupert, and nobody is surprised.
- Saskia Mendes NoneYes. Okay. I like that. A proper go. Not a vague one.
- Daniel Okafor NoneNot a vague one. Right. Can I ask about the coordinators, actually? You said they're acting as the interface for some directors. Are they using it themselves, or are they still going to the old sources?
- Saskia Mendes NoneMostly using it, I think. A couple of the longer serving ones still go to the CRM first, out of habit. They trust it. But the newer ones go straight to the brain. So there's a generational thing, I suppose, though that sounds awful.
- Daniel Okafor NoneHa, it's not awful, it's very normal. Habits are habits. Maybe the newer ones can show the others a trick or two. Sometimes that lands better than a vendor doing a demo.
- Saskia Mendes NoneTrue. They'd be pleased to be asked, too. Right, I'll include them in the list of roles.
- Daniel Okafor NonePerfect. And if there's anything that frustrates them in how it works, I'd want to hear that. Not just the praise. Is there anything that comes up repeatedly?
- Saskia Mendes NoneThere's one thing. People keep saying they don't know what they're allowed to ask. They worry they'll phrase it wrong and get rubbish back. Can we make it simpler, again, sorry, that's my refrain. Maybe a list of good questions, by role.
- Daniel Okafor NoneNo, that's a great refrain, keep it. A short list of good questions, by role, pinned somewhere they'll see it. I can help with that. We've got examples from other recruitment teams I can adapt, and then you tell me which ones sound like your directors.
- Saskia Mendes NoneYes please. And if some of them are about disputes, even better. Make it personal to what we do.
- Daniel Okafor NoneWill do. I'll write the first draft and send it over with the value summary, so you've got both in one go. I'd like to have that with you early next week.
- Saskia Mendes NoneEarly next week is great. That gives me time to chase the director and get her quote.
- Daniel Okafor NoneRight. Let me just double check I've got the list. I'm sending you a value summary with who's asking what, plus a short set of example questions by role. I'm asking Priya to get in touch with you about the renewal, and I'll confirm the timing by the end of this week. And I'm joining a small session with your fence-sitting directors, once you've sent me the roles.
- Saskia Mendes NoneThat's it. And from me, the roles, and the director's account of Thursday. I'll try to get both to you before the end of the week.
- Daniel Okafor NoneWonderful. Anything else on your mind, before we finish? Anything about the product itself, or the way we work with you?
- Saskia Mendes NoneNot really. Support's been fine. You've been good. I'd say if anything, I wish we'd done more with you in the first six months. We were so busy with the rollout that I let the follow-up slide. That's on me.
- Daniel Okafor NonePlease don't take that on. Rollouts are busy, and everyone has a day job. The good news is that there's still plenty of time before the renewal to make a difference. I'd rather look forward than back.
- Saskia Mendes NoneFair enough. Forward. Okay.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThank you again for being so open about adoption. It makes my job much easier, and I think it makes the conversation with Rupert more credible, too.
- Saskia Mendes NoneWell, I'd rather he heard it from me than found out. Right, I've got a one to one in a couple of minutes, so I'll have to run. Thanks, Daniel. Speak soon.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThank you, Saskia. Enjoy the rest of your afternoon, and say hello to the director with the competitive streak. Best wishes.
- Saskia Mendes NoneWill do. Bye now.
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