What was said
What this says
Current to 11 Oct 26Check-in on 25 Aug 2026. Darren Blakey said usage fell when an admin left in June and has not recovered. Marcus Bell raised whether Starter still fits. They agreed to find a new owner, train them and review in a month.
What happened: Marcus Bell opened with concern about a drop in active users since last quarter. Darren Blakey said an admin left in June and usage fell off then.
Customer view: Darren said the leaver was the one pulling people together and showing them how to use the brain. He said he did not want to lose it and asked whether it could be brought back.
Commercial: Marcus said this matters for the renewal and raised whether Starter is still the right fit, or a pause for a quarter. Renewal talk was made conditional on usage moving in the right direction.
Watch: The plan was a new owner from trade accounts, a training session and a check-in in a month. The evidence does not show whether that session or check-in happened.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Who was there
BB-Demo
Them
Follow-up
Next steps
Current to 9 Oct 26- Darren Blakey to identify the new owner, which he expects to take a week or two.
- Marcus Bell to send a calendar invite and run a short training session with that person.
- Marcus Bell and Darren Blakey to check in again in a month to judge whether usage is moving in the right direction.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- Usage fell after the admin left in June and has not recovered, so the brain is not delivering value for Linthorpe.
- Adoption depended on one person, and no replacement owner has been named yet.
- Marcus Bell raised moving off Starter or pausing for a quarter if usage does not return.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- Darren Blakey said he does not want to lose the brain and wants it brought back.
- A person in trade accounts was already asking the brain questions and could take the champion role.
Transcript
- Marcus Bell NoneDarren, hi, thanks for the time. I wanted to jump on a call to see how things are going with the brain at Linthorpe. I've been looking at your usage data.
- Darren Blakey NoneYeah, hi Marcus. How are things?
- Marcus Bell NoneI'm good. So I wanted to be straight with you, I'm seeing some numbers I'm a bit concerned about. Your active users have dropped quite a bit from last quarter. What's been happening on your end?
- Darren Blakey NoneYeah, I know. We had some turnover in the team, actually. One of the admin people left in June, and that's when usage just fell off. We haven't really picked it back up.
- Marcus Bell NoneRight. So it's not that people don't like the brain, it's that your champion for it walked?
- Darren Blakey NoneExactly. They were the one pulling people together and showing them how to use it. Without them, it's just been, I don't know, people aren't using it as much.
- Marcus Bell NoneThat's tough. I'll be honest, this matters for your renewal. You're coming up on your first anniversary with us, end of August, and if we can't get usage back, we need to talk about what the next year looks like.
- Darren Blakey NoneWhat do you mean?
- Marcus Bell NoneI mean, we want to keep you on as a customer, but if the brain's not delivering value because nobody's using it, we should probably have a think about whether Starter is still the right fit. Or whether you want to pause for a quarter and get your team re-energised.
- Darren Blakey NoneHmm. I don't want to lose it. Can we bring it back?
- Marcus Bell NoneI think so. You probably need someone else to own it. Do you have anyone in the team who was using it and could take the champion role?
- Darren Blakey NoneThere's someone in trade accounts who was asking it questions. Maybe them.
- Marcus Bell NoneGood. So what if we get them up to speed: do a short training call, walk through the search interface and some common questions, and they commit to pushing the team to use it. How long would that take?
- Darren Blakey NoneMaybe a week or two to see if they'll do it.
- Marcus Bell NoneOK. So here's what I'd suggest. You find that person, I'll do a training session with them, and then let's check in again in a month. If we can get users back up, I'm not saying to where you were, just moving in the right direction, then we can talk confidently about renewing. Sound fair?
- Darren Blakey NoneYeah, that's fair.
- Marcus Bell NoneBrilliant. So I'll follow up over email with a calendar invite for that training, and we'll reconnect in a month. Thanks, Darren.
- Darren Blakey NoneThanks, Marcus.