What was said
What this says
Current to 11 Oct 26Saskia Mendes said she wants to renew but must show senior colleagues what it is worth, and twelve of forty active users will not make the case. Plan: starter questions, a client review dashboard, a value summary and a seat review.
What happened: Daniel Okafor and Saskia held a two-person check-in. She described the same dozen or so people using it, with directors out of the office relying on her team.
Customer view: Saskia said "I want to renew" and that it has earned its keep where people use it. She needs proof for the people above her and wants contractor-invoice disputes first.
Commercial: Growth is £42k a year for forty users, matching the invoices. She does not want to pay for idle seats but will not cut before the directors have had a proper go.
Watch: Data was fresh, support was fine and nothing is overdue. The risk is adoption and a signatory who has yet to hear the case; Saskia will bring them to the quarterly review.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Who was there
BB-Demo
Them
Follow-up
Next steps
Current to 9 Oct 26- Daniel Okafor sends starter questions and a one-page value summary by the end of the following week.
- Daniel Okafor builds the client review dashboard template and runs director sessions on their own clients.
- Priya Raman sends the renewal paperwork once Saskia is comfortable on scope and seats.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- Active use is about twelve of forty seats, so internal sponsors may question the value.
- Use sits with Saskia's team, and directors out of the office do not use the brain.
- She is unwilling to pay for idle seats, so the seat count may be challenged.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- Growth includes the dashboards builder; a client review template could give each director a single view.
- Starter questions and sessions on directors' own clients could widen use before renewal.
Transcript
- Daniel Okafor NoneHello Saskia, can you hear me alright? Thanks very much for making the time this afternoon.
- Saskia Mendes NoneHi Daniel, yes, loud and clear. Hang on, I'm just shutting a door, it's lively out here. Right, that's better.
- Daniel Okafor NoneNo problem at all. Just to check who has joined, I think it's the two of us today?
- Saskia Mendes NoneJust us. Lovely day for it, isn't it? Finally warm. Everyone's walking round the office with their jackets off, complaining.
- Daniel Okafor NoneSame here. I've been telling myself the walk to the station is good for me. Mm, it is, until about the second hill.
- Saskia Mendes NoneHa. Anyway, everyone else is out at client reviews, it's that time of the month. Can I tell you something that happened this week first? It's why I'm in a decent mood.
- Daniel Okafor NonePlease do.
- Saskia Mendes NoneSo one of the client-account directors was heading into a review on Tuesday. She opened the brain on her phone in the lift and it showed her a complaint the client had sent in the week before. Nobody had told her. She'd have walked in cold. Instead she opened the meeting with it, said sorry, and the client actually thanked her.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThat's exactly what it was bought for, isn't it? I love that. How is the team finding it more generally? I've got the usage figures here, but I'd rather hear it from you first.
- Saskia Mendes NoneHonestly? Mixed. The ones who use it, love it. The ones who don't, don't touch it. I'm not going to pretend otherwise. Go on, what do the numbers say?
- Daniel Okafor NoneSo across the last thirty days you've had about twelve people active on average, out of your forty licensed users. That's slightly down on the previous quarter, a couple of percent, so nothing dramatic. But I wouldn't want it to keep drifting.
- Saskia Mendes NoneTwelve of forty. Yeah. That sounds right, sadly. It's the same dozen or so. Me, my team, and a handful of directors who've made it a habit.
- Daniel Okafor NoneAnd the ones not using it, is that a particular group, or is it spread about?
- Saskia Mendes NoneIt's the directors who are out of the office most of the week. They ring my team and ask for the facts instead. Which works, but it's slow, and it's exactly what we bought this to stop. Can we make it simpler for them? That's what I keep coming back to.
- Daniel Okafor NoneMm. When you say simpler, what's getting in the way, do you think? Is it knowing what to ask, or is it getting to it?
- Saskia Mendes NoneKnowing what to ask. They open it, they see a box, they freeze. The ones who use it have three or four questions they always ask before a review. What's open with this client, what's been invoiced, any complaints, any placements at risk. Everyone else hasn't got those.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThat's really useful, because we can do something about that. What if we write down a short list of starter questions, built around the client review? Just one page, the sort of thing a director asks before walking in. And I could run a short session with the directors, on their own clients.
- Saskia Mendes NoneOn their own clients, yes. That's the bit that works. Show a director their own client, whole, and they're sold. A generic demo and they switch off.
- Daniel Okafor NoneAgreed. Their own data, every time. Would they come if you put it in the diary?
- Saskia Mendes NoneIf I put it in with a client name in the title, yes. If it says training, no.
- Daniel Okafor NoneFair enough, I'll remember that. No training in the title.
- Saskia Mendes NoneHa, good. Go on.
- Daniel Okafor NoneWhile we're on it, there's something on your plan I don't think the directors have seen. Growth includes the dashboards builder, so rather than asking the same questions each time, a director could have a single view per client, already sitting there when they open it. How have you found that side of it?
- Saskia Mendes NoneI built one for my own team early on, vacancies and placements by client. It's good. The directors never got their own. I think that's on me, I never had the time to sit down and build them.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThat's very common, and it's not a criticism. What if I built one as a template, a client review view, and you could point each director at it? Then all they're doing is choosing the client.
- Saskia Mendes NoneChoosing the client. Yes. That's the simplest thing anyone's said to me all month. Do it.
- Daniel Okafor NoneRight, I'll fold that in. Mm, let me just note that down. Sorry, one moment.
- Saskia Mendes NoneTake your time.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThank you. One thing I should ask while I'm in the data, because it matters to the directors: has the information been fresh when they open it in the mornings? I know that's what they'd notice first.
- Saskia Mendes NoneYes, it's always there by the time anyone's at their desk. Nobody's complained about stale data, and believe me, they would. That's one thing I don't worry about.
- Daniel Okafor NoneGood, I'm glad. Just to close the loop on that, then, so there's no issue on the data side.
- Daniel Okafor NoneHow is your own team finding it day to day, by the way?
- Saskia Mendes NoneMy team are fine, they live in it. Two of them could probably run it in their sleep. They're the ones answering the directors' questions, so they're the real power users, if I'm honest. Which is part of the problem, because it's all sitting with them.
- Daniel Okafor NoneJust to close the loop on support as well. One ticket in the last month, nothing high priority, and it's been dealt with. Was there anything about how that went that bothered you?
- Saskia Mendes NoneNo, honestly, support's been fine. It was a quick one. If it hadn't been I'd have shouted.
- Daniel Okafor NoneGood. And nothing overdue on the invoicing side, so your finance team have been very tidy with us. Do pass that on.
- Saskia Mendes NoneI will. Finance only ever tell me when something's wrong, so silence is good silence.
- Daniel Okafor NoneWhich brings me to the date, and I'd rather raise it now than in a rush. You joined us on 3 Jul 2024, the current term runs to 2 Jul 2025, and the renewal falls on 3 Jul 2025.
- Saskia Mendes NoneYes. It's been sitting at the back of my mind. Remind me where we are on the money?
- Daniel Okafor NoneThe order form is £41,800 a year for Growth, with the forty users. And that matches what's been invoiced, so the paperwork and the accounts agree, which is always nice.
- Saskia Mendes NoneRight. So, my honest position. I want to renew. I think it's earned its keep where people use it. But I've got to show the people above me what it's worth, and twelve of forty won't make that case on its own. They'll ask what did the client actually say, what did it catch.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThen let's build that case together. I can put a short summary together: questions asked, who is asking them, and the contractor-invoice disputes it helped you spot early. You'd have it in your hands before you speak to anyone.
- Saskia Mendes NonePut the contractor-invoice disputes first. That's the one that pays for itself. Everything else is nice to have.
- Daniel Okafor NoneWill do. I'll come back to you with a draft by the end of next week. And since you're on Growth, there's a quarterly review in the plan anyway, so I'd suggest we fold the value summary into that. Not an extra meeting, just the one conversation, with whoever you'd like in the room.
- Saskia Mendes NoneGood. I'll bring whoever signs things off. They'll want to hear it from you as well as from me.
- Saskia Mendes NoneAnd can I ask about the forty? If only twelve are active I don't want to pay for seats nobody uses. But I don't want to cut it before the directors have had a proper go either.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThat's sensible, and I'd rather we looked at it properly than guess. Let's do the sessions first, then look at a few weeks of fresh usage and decide the number on that. If you're happy, I'd rather you didn't settle seats on today's picture.
- Saskia Mendes NoneYes, that works. Will it leave enough time before the renewal?
- Daniel Okafor NoneIt should. A couple of weeks is plenty for the sessions and the summary. And on the commercial side, Priya Raman is your account owner at our end, she'll send the renewal paperwork once you're comfortable on scope. I'll make sure she knows where we've got to.
- Saskia Mendes NonePerfect. I'll have a word with a couple of directors next week and see who's keen. The ones who are in the office on Thursdays are the easy ones.
- Daniel Okafor NoneWonderful. Could you send me three or four of the client names you'd like to use, so I can have their data ready? No rush, but before the sessions.
- Saskia Mendes NoneI'll send them tomorrow morning.
- Daniel Okafor NoneLovely. So just to recap. I'll send the starter questions and a draft value summary by the end of next week, and build the client review dashboard as a template. You'll pick the directors and the client names. We'll look at seats after the sessions, and Priya will pick up the renewal paperwork from there. Did I miss anything?
- Saskia Mendes NoneNo, that's it. Oh, and can the summary be one page? Can we make it simpler? Sorry, I keep saying that.
- Daniel Okafor NoneOne page. Understood. Thank you, Saskia, and enjoy the rest of your afternoon.
- Saskia Mendes NoneThanks Daniel. Bye.