Grisedale Search & Selection / BB-Demo – Qbr
Callcompleted
Grisedale Search & Selection: documents · 2026-03-02 13:30
Stuart Haworth asked what the consultants gain and called it a £24k tool few use. Only three or four of 15 licences are active, and all four connectors are in use. A 30-minute consultant session was agreed.
What was said
What this says
Current to 11 Oct 26Stuart Haworth asked what the consultants gain and called it a £24k tool few use. Only three or four of 15 licences are active, and all four connectors are in use. A 30-minute consultant session was agreed.
What happened: Marcus Bell reviewed usage on Starter. About three or four of 15 licence holders are active in a normal month, up a little on last quarter, with no tickets in the last month.
Customer view: Lauren Pilkington said the client page is why they bought it and consultants no longer get caught out on calls. She could not say it had turned into placements, and Stuart said that is not fee income.
Commercial: All four connectors are used, a hard limit, and Nadia Bashir does not want a fifth mailbox yet. Stuart wants a conversation with Priya before signing, and Marcus will brief her on price and connectors.
Watch: Stuart wants to see usage numbers after the consultant session before the renewal talk.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Theme
Low adoption and value doubts
Importance
renewal
Sentiment
mixed
Voice
decision-maker
Who was there
BB-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
Current to 9 Oct 26- Marcus Bell to send slots for a 30-minute consultant session, ideally on a Monday morning.
- Marcus Bell to brief Priya Raman on the renewal, price and connector questions.
- Marcus Bell to send a short note with the usage numbers, then show Stuart the numbers after the session.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- Stuart does not see fee income from the Starter subscription and may push on price at the 1 May 2026 renewal.
- Only three or four of 15 licence holders are active, which weakens the value case.
- Lauren Pilkington and Nadia Bashir carry most of the usage, a key-person risk.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- Getting more consultants active could build the value case before renewal.
- A fifth connector for the shared resourcing mailbox is a possible add-on once the mailbox is tidied.
Transcript
Marcus Bell NoneHello, can you hear me all right?
Lauren Pilkington NoneYep, loud and clear. Afternoon, Marcus.
Stuart Haworth NoneAfternoon. Did you see the football on Saturday? Absolute misery. I'm not even going to talk about it.- Marcus Bell NoneI did, I'm trying to forget it. Nadia, are you with us?
Nadia Bashir NoneYes, sorry, just got my headset working. Hello, everyone.- Lauren Pilkington NoneQuick one before we start. One of the consultants asked me this morning whether she can see a client's complaints on the same page as their open roles. I said yes, but I wanted to check with you.
- Marcus Bell NoneYeah, that's on the client page, I'll show you in a second. Right, let me share my screen. Can you see it?
- Stuart Haworth NoneI can see a lot of blue.
- Marcus Bell NoneThat's the one. So, what I want to cover today is three things. How the team's been using it since the last review, what's working and what's not, and then a quick word on the renewal, which is coming up on 1 May 2026. Happy to jump on a longer call after if we need it.
- Stuart Haworth NoneGive me the headline first. Is it earning its keep?
- Marcus Bell NoneI've pulled the numbers, so let me answer that properly. You've got 15 licences on Starter, and in a normal month about three or four of you are in there actively. That's up a little on last quarter, so it's heading the right way, but it's still a small group out of the fifteen.
- Stuart Haworth NoneThree or four. Out of fifteen. Right. So who's the three or four?
- Lauren Pilkington NoneThat's me, Nadia, and a couple of the senior consultants. The others dip in when they've got a client call coming up.
- Nadia Bashir NoneI'm in most mornings, to be honest. I check the connectors and make sure the overnight refresh has come through before the consultants start.
- Marcus Bell NoneWhich is exactly the admin job, so thank you. And it's been quiet on the support side, no tickets from you in the last month, which usually means it's ticking along.
- Stuart Haworth NoneQuiet's good. Quiet's cheap. But what's in it for the consultants? That's what I keep coming back to.
- Lauren Pilkington NoneCan I take that one? So the thing that's saved us hours is the client page. Before, if a client rang up annoyed, the consultant had to go digging through the inbox to find the last email and then the CRM to see what roles were open. Now it's all in one place. That's the whole reason we bought it.
- Stuart Haworth NoneAnd does that turn into placements?
- Lauren Pilkington NoneI can't say it's turned into placements directly. I'd be making it up. What I can say is the consultants don't get caught out on a call any more, and one of them told me she's stopped keeping her own spreadsheet of complaints.
- Stuart Haworth NoneHm. That's nice, but it's not fee income. I'm not being funny, Lauren.
- Lauren Pilkington NoneNo, I know. It's just what I can see from where I sit.
- Marcus Bell NoneFair point, Stuart, and I don't want to oversell it. What I can show you is what people are asking it, because that's the best measure of whether it's useful. Let me pull up the questions.
- Marcus Bell NoneSo this is the last quarter. The most common thing is people asking for a summary of a client before a call. Then open roles by client. Then anything to do with complaints. There's a long tail of one-offs as well.
- Nadia Bashir NoneCan I ask something? Is it only me that can add a new source? Because someone in the team wanted to connect another mailbox and I wasn't sure.
- Marcus Bell NoneGood question. You're the admin, so yes, that's you. On Starter you've got a limit on connectors, four of them, and that one is a hard limit. Let me check how many you're using.
- Marcus Bell NoneSorry, bear with me. Right, you're using all four. So if you wanted a fifth, we'd need to talk about adding connectors. That's not something I'd push, it depends what the mailbox adds.
- Stuart Haworth NoneWhat's that cost?
- Marcus Bell NoneI'd rather not guess on that, Stuart. Pricing's with Priya, she's your account owner, and I'll ask her to come back to you directly. I'd only be giving you a rough number and it wouldn't be right.
- Stuart Haworth NoneFine. Tell her I'll want a conversation, mind. I don't sign anything without one.
- Marcus Bell NoneUnderstood. I'll make sure she knows that, and that it's about the renewal as well.
- Lauren Pilkington NoneSorry, going back a bit. The mailbox thing. It's the shared one the resourcing team use for candidate replies. Is that worth it, Nadia?
- Nadia Bashir NoneProbably not yet. We'd need to tidy it up first, there's a lot of rubbish in there. I'd rather get the four we've got working properly.
- Marcus Bell NoneThat's sensible. Make it work, then grow it. And on that note, the records indexed have been steady, so the four connectors are loading fine. Nothing's gone stale.
- Stuart Haworth NoneRight. So the honest summary is it works, not many people use it, and I'm paying twenty-four grand for it.
- Marcus Bell NoneThat's a fair way of putting it. It's £24,000 a year, and you've got licences for 15 people with only a handful using them. So the opportunity is getting more of the consultants in, not paying for more.
- Lauren Pilkington NoneThat's what I'd like to do. I think the problem is they just don't think to open it. They go to their inbox first.
- Marcus Bell NoneYeah, it's a habit thing. I've seen it work when someone runs a short session with the team, thirty minutes, using their own clients. Shall we book 30 minutes with the consultants? I can run it or Lauren can, whichever you'd prefer.
- Lauren Pilkington NoneOoh, yes please. Would you do it? They listen to someone outside more than they listen to me.
- Stuart Haworth NoneIf it gets them using it, do it. But I'm not having them off the phones for an hour.
- Marcus Bell NoneHalf an hour, early in the week, before the phones get busy. I'll suggest a couple of slots.
- Nadia Bashir NoneMonday mornings are quieter for us, if that helps.
- Marcus Bell NonePerfect, that helps. Okay, on the renewal. The contract runs to 30 Apr 2026 and renews on 1 May 2026. I'll send the notice in the usual way, and Priya will pick up the commercial side with you, Stuart.
- Stuart Haworth NoneWill the price move?
- Marcus Bell NoneThat's one for Priya, I'm afraid. I don't want to say something I can't stand behind. I'll flag that you'll be asking.
- Stuart Haworth NoneFair enough. Straight answer, at least.
- Lauren Pilkington NoneCan I just check, the session with the consultants, does that happen before the renewal? Because I'd like Stuart to see people using it.
- Marcus Bell NoneYes, I'd aim for the next couple of weeks so there's something to look at. Then we can see in the usage whether it's made a difference.
- Stuart Haworth NoneGood. Do that, show me the numbers after, and we'll talk. Anything else?
- Marcus Bell NoneThat's everything from me. So, next steps. I'll send you some slots for the consultant session, I'll brief Priya on the renewal and the connector question, and I'll send a short note with the usage numbers so you've got them in writing.
- Lauren Pilkington NoneBrilliant, that'd save us hours. Thanks, Marcus.
- Stuart Haworth NoneCheers. Right, I've got a client waiting. Speak soon.
- Marcus Bell NoneThanks, all. Speak soon.
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