Carnmoor Fleet Leasing / BG-Demo – Discovery
Callcompleted
Carnmoor Fleet Leasing · 20 Aug 2025 14:00
On 20 Aug 2025 Gemma Thorne described quarterly client reviews built by hand from four systems that disagree. Sophie Ling positioned Growth at £54k all-in. Gemma is a champion, not the signer, and wants a demo on her own data.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026On 20 Aug 2025 Gemma Thorne described quarterly client reviews built by hand from four systems that disagree. Sophie Ling positioned Growth at £54k all-in. Gemma is a champion, not the signer, and wants a demo on her own data.
What happened: Gemma Thorne, Head of Client Services, said account managers build quarterly review packs by hand from four systems that do not agree. Sophie Ling outlined the brain and Growth.
Customer view: Gemma's driver is retention of corporate fleets, and two clients have challenged the numbers shown to them. She does not take commercial decisions alone and wants nothing client-facing until she has seen it on her own data.
Commercial: Sophie quoted £54k all-in for Growth, implementation included, as a total and not an annual figure. She pencilled a decision around Tuesday 18 November 2025.
Watch: The leasing platform export and Snowflake status are unknown, and email is parked. The evidence does not show what followed the call.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Client review packs, Growth fit
Importance
neutral
Sentiment
positive
Voice
champion
Who was there
BG-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Sophie Ling to send Gemma a one-page summary for her manager, covering what it does, what it connects to and what it costs.
- Sophie Ling to arrange a technical call with Carnmoor IT and a solutions colleague on the leasing platform export and Snowflake.
- Gemma Thorne to pick two or three friendly clients for a demo on their own data and bring in the service desk lead.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Gemma's manager signs off and has not been met, and he wants to see his own clients' data first.
- The leasing platform is customised and how it exports is unknown, as is whether Snowflake is in place.
- Adoption could stall if account managers get logins and do not use them, which Gemma raised herself.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Growth fits several teams and about 40 users, with four or five connectors to start and eight available.
- Email can be added later as a connector once account managers are comfortable, and Growth includes the dashboards builder.
Transcript
Gemma ThorneHello? Can you hear me okay? I've got a client review open on the other screen, so apologies if I'm typing.
Sophie LingHi Gemma, yes, loud and clear. Afternoon. Don't worry about the typing, I've got my own pile of things open too.- Gemma ThorneGood. It's been one of those weeks. Half my account managers are away, and the clients who aren't want their reviews brought forward. Typical for August.
- Sophie LingHa, yes. Everybody's on holiday except the people who need something. Well, thanks for making the time. What I thought we'd do, if it suits you, is spend it on how things work at Carnmoor today, what's annoying about it, and then I can tell you honestly whether the brain would help or whether I'd be wasting your time. Does that sound alright?
- Gemma ThorneThat's fine. Where do you want me to start?
- Sophie LingMaybe the review you've got open. What's the trouble with it?
- Gemma ThorneRight, so, okay. This one's a corporate client, a big employer, a good few vehicles with us. We run about thirty-eight thousand cars and vans across the whole book, so you can imagine. Every quarter the account manager sits down with their fleet manager and walks through the numbers: how many vehicles, what's coming up for replacement, how many calls went to the driver service desk, what we've invoiced, what's been disputed. And to get that pack together they have to pull from about four places. Fleet data from the leasing platform, the queries from the service desk, invoices from the accounting system, and then whatever remarketing know about vehicles coming back. And none of them agree.
- Sophie LingWhen you say none of them agree, what does that look like in practice?
- Gemma ThorneWell, the service desk will say a client raised, I don't know, a dozen queries about one depot, and the account manager's got three in the CRM because that's all anyone logged. Or the vehicle count on the invoice is different from the fleet list because something went off contract mid-month. So the review turns into an argument about whose number is right, and the client's sitting there watching us do it. What I want is for the review to start from agreed numbers.
- Sophie LingMm. And who's building these packs? Is it the account managers themselves?
- Gemma ThorneYes, each one does their own. Which is the other problem, they all build them slightly differently. One of them has a spreadsheet she's been refining for years, and it's lovely, but nobody else can read it. If she's off sick, that client's review is basically stuck.
- Sophie LingRight, so there's a bit of key-person risk in there as well.
- Gemma ThorneExactly that. Which client, which fleet, what did the client actually see? Those are the three questions I keep asking and I can never answer quickly.
- Sophie LingThat's a good way to put it. How long does a pack take, roughly?
- Gemma ThorneDepends. For the big ones, a couple of days of someone's week, every quarter. For the smaller ones, an afternoon. Multiply that by the number of corporate clients and, well, it's a lot of afternoons.
- Sophie LingYeah. And the service desk, are they part of the review, or do they sit separately?
- Gemma ThorneSeparately, and that's partly on me, I used to run the desk before I took on client services, so I know how they work. They're brilliant at fixing the thing in front of them, a driver with a breakdown, a driver who's lost a fuel card, but what they know about a client doesn't flow back to the account manager unless somebody remembers to ask. Let's get the service desk in on this, because honestly they'd have a lot to say.
- Sophie LingWould they be willing? Sometimes a desk feels like it's being audited.
- Gemma ThorneThat's a fair worry. I'd frame it as, we want your knowledge to show up in the review, not we want to check your work. They'd be fine with that, I think. I'd have to say it carefully.
- Sophie LingUnderstood. Let me tell you briefly what we do, and you stop me if it doesn't match what you need. B-Glass is one layer that sits over your CRM, your calls, emails, tickets, finance and so on, and you ask it questions in plain English. And the important bit for your IT people is that it's built and runs inside your own Snowflake account, so the data doesn't go off to us.
- Gemma ThorneOkay. So I'd ask it, what's happened with this client this quarter, and it gives me the answer across all of those?
- Sophie LingBroadly, yes. It would pull together the fleet and contract side, the tickets the desk logged, the invoices, and you'd see them as one picture, with the source for each bit so you can check it. It doesn't replace the leasing platform, it reads from it.
- Gemma ThorneAnd it wouldn't just make things up? Because I've seen a couple of these tools and they sound very confident.
- Sophie LingFair challenge. It answers from your records and points at where it got each thing. If the data isn't there, it says so. It can't be better than what's in the systems, though. If the service desk doesn't log something, it won't know.
- Gemma ThorneRight. That's honest, at least. Which brings me back to the desk, then.
- Sophie LingIt does. Can I ask about the systems? What's the CRM, helpdesk and accounting situation like? Are they all fairly modern, or is there anything bespoke?
- Gemma ThorneMostly standard. We've got a CRM, a helpdesk for the driver queries, the accounting system. The leasing platform itself is the old bit, it's been customised over the years. I'd have to get somebody from IT to tell you how it exports.
- Sophie LingThat's the one I'd want to understand. Fleet data is the heart of it for you, so how we read from the leasing platform matters. I'd bring a colleague from our solutions side to a call with your IT people, fairly early.
- Gemma ThorneOkay, yes. That's sensible. I'd rather find out now than halfway through.
- Sophie LingAnd do you know whether you have Snowflake today? Or would that be new?
- Gemma ThorneI honestly don't know. I think our data people have something, but I'm guessing. That's another one for IT.
- Sophie LingNo problem, we'll put it on the list. Who would actually use it, if I picture the first few months? Who's asking it questions?
- Gemma ThorneThe account managers first, for sure. Then me and my team leads. The service desk, once they've seen it's useful. And remarketing, because they want to see, for a client's fleet, what's coming back and in what condition, and what the client's been like to deal with. Right now they ask us and we ask them. Round and round.
- Sophie LingSo several teams. Do you have a rough idea of how many people?
- Gemma ThorneBetween the three teams, forty-ish if everyone who'd touch it got a login. Maybe a bit under to start.
- Sophie LingThat's helpful, because that's more or less what our Growth tier is built for. It covers several teams, forty users and eight connectors, so eight systems feeding the brain. From what you've described you'd be at four or five to begin with: the CRM, the helpdesk, the accounting system, the leasing platform, and perhaps your email.
- Gemma ThorneEmail, yes, because so much of what clients say to account managers is in inboxes and never gets written down. Though I'd want to be careful about that. Privacy, and the account managers might not love it.
- Sophie LingUnderstood, and that's a choice, not a given. Some customers start with the structured systems and add mail later when people are comfortable.
- Gemma ThorneI'd prefer that. Start with what's written down.
- Sophie LingOkay. Can I ask what's driving the timing? Why now rather than next year?
- Gemma ThorneA couple of things. Two clients have been awkward about their reviews this year. One said, quite politely, that the numbers we showed them didn't match what they'd got from their own team. That stuck with me. And we've got a renewal round coming with some of the biggest corporate fleets, and I'd like those conversations to start from solid ground. We don't want to lose the corporate fleets we already have. They're the core of the business.
- Sophie LingThat makes sense. So it's less about adding clients and more about keeping and deepening the ones you have.
- Gemma ThorneYes. Retention, really. And being able to say to a client, here's your fleet, here's what your drivers asked us, here's what we did, on one page.
- Sophie LingIs there anyone else who needs to be convinced? I'd normally expect somebody on the finance side or in IT to have a view.
- Gemma ThorneThere's the person I report to, who signs things off. I don't take commercial decisions on my own, and I wouldn't want to. He'd want to see it on our own data before he said anything. And IT, as I said. Finance probably just want to know the cost and that it's not a surprise.
- Sophie LingThat fits how we usually do it. After this I'd do a demo, and the demo is on your own data, not a sample, so your boss can see his own clients. Would you be comfortable with a handful of real records being loaded for that?
- Gemma ThorneDepends how it's done. I'd want IT to agree what goes in. Probably a couple of clients, ones that are friendly.
- Sophie LingTotally. We'd pick them with you. Choosing clients where you already know the answers is useful, because then you can tell straight away if it's right.
- Gemma ThorneOh, that's good. Yes. I know where the bodies are buried with a few of them.
- Sophie LingHa. Right. Shall I give you a feel for the numbers, so there are no surprises later?
- Gemma ThornePlease. Better to know.
- Sophie LingSo for Growth, with the implementation, the one-off work to get your systems connected and the brain running, we've got the deal down at £53,800 all-in, implementation included. That's a total figure, not an annual one, I don't want to muddy it. We'd talk through how it splits when we get to a proposal.
- Gemma ThorneOkay. That's not nothing. But it's in the range I was expecting, if I'm honest. It'd be about whether I can show it pays for itself. How long is the implementation?
- Sophie LingFor Growth it's about eight weeks from kickoff to live. Your leasing platform is the unknown, so I'd want to firm that up after the technical call.
- Gemma ThorneEight weeks. So if we decided in the autumn, we'd be live before the renewal conversations get going properly?
- Sophie LingThat's the idea. I've got you pencilled for a decision around Tuesday 18 November 2025. Does that feel right, or is it too soon?
- Gemma ThorneHmm. It's tight but not impossible. It depends on getting my boss in a room and IT giving us a view. If the demo happens in September, then yes.
- Sophie LingThen we should work back from that. Demo in September, the IT conversation alongside, proposal after, and you'd have it with weeks to spare.
- Gemma ThorneOkay. And who'd look after us afterwards? I've had suppliers who vanish once the contract's signed.
- Sophie LingFair. That would be Amara Obi, our customer success manager. She owns adoption, the quarterly reviews with you, that sort of thing. I'd introduce you before you sign, so you're not buying from one person and then dealing with a stranger.
- Gemma ThorneGood. I like that.
- Sophie LingCan I ask, are you looking at anything else at the moment, or considering building something yourselves?
- Gemma ThorneWe talked about building it. Our data team said they could knock up a dashboard. And they could, but then who maintains it, and who answers when the account manager asks a question the dashboard doesn't cover? It's the questions I care about. I haven't looked at anyone else properly.
- Sophie LingThat's useful. The dashboard point is real, by the way. Growth includes a dashboards builder, so if some clients do want a fixed view, you can build that too. But I agree, the questions are the point.
- Gemma ThorneRight. And what about the service desk side specifically? Can they see what the account manager sees? Because if they tell a driver one thing and the client's been told another, that's the worst case.
- Sophie LingThey'd be working from the same underlying records, so yes, they'd see the same picture, as long as they have a login. We can control who sees what, though, if there are things the desk shouldn't see, like commercial terms.
- Gemma ThorneProbably there are. I'd have to think about that. What did the client actually see, that's what I want everyone looking at.
- Sophie LingMakes sense. Let me note that as an access question for the technical call.
- Gemma ThorneOkay. Can I ask something a bit awkward?
- Sophie LingGo on.
- Gemma ThorneWhat happens if we sign and it doesn't land? If the account managers don't use it? I've seen that with other tools. People get a login and never open it.
- Sophie LingThat's the commonest way these go wrong, honestly. Usually it's because it was bought by one person and handed down. What helps is having a couple of account managers in from the start, using it on their real reviews, and the CSM watching who's asking questions. If nobody's asking, it's visible quickly, and we'd rather fix it than have you paying for something unused.
- Gemma ThorneOkay. So I should get a couple of the sceptical ones involved rather than just the keen ones.
- Sophie LingBoth, really. The keen ones will carry it, the sceptical ones will tell you if it's wrong.
- Gemma ThorneHa. Yes. Fair.
- Sophie LingRight, I'm conscious of time. Shall I recap what I've got and what happens next?
- Gemma ThornePlease.
- Sophie LingSo the issue is that client reviews are built by hand from the leasing platform, the service desk, the CRM and the accounting system, and the numbers don't agree. Each account manager does it differently and it eats a lot of time. You'd start with the account managers, then the desk and remarketing, roughly forty people. Growth fits, the figure we've discussed is £53,800 all-in, and you're looking at a decision around 18 November 2025.
- Gemma ThorneThat's it, yes. Plus the email question, parked for now.
- Sophie LingParked, yes. Next steps. I'll send you a short written summary today or tomorrow, so you can share it with your boss. I'll also suggest a time for the technical conversation with your IT people and a colleague from our solutions side. And you'll think about which two or three clients we'd use in the demo.
- Gemma ThorneAnd I'll talk to the service desk lead about being in the demo. Let's get them in early. I'll also ask IT about the Snowflake question and how the leasing platform exports.
- Sophie LingBrilliant. Is there anything you'd like me to send that would help with your boss? Something short, I'd imagine.
- Gemma ThorneOne page, yes. Not a brochure. What it does, what it connects to, what it costs. He'll read one page.
- Sophie LingOne page. Understood.
- Gemma ThorneAnd, sorry, one more. Please don't send me anything I'd have to promise to a client. I don't promise anything to clients I haven't seen.
- Sophie LingNoted. Nothing client-facing until you've seen it work on your own data.
- Gemma ThornePerfect.
- Sophie LingGreat. Thanks, Gemma, this was really useful. I'll get that summary over to you.
- Gemma ThorneThanks, Sophie. Speak soon. I'd better get back to this review before it eats my evening.
- Sophie LingGood luck with it. Speak soon, bye.
- Gemma ThorneBye.
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