Harcastle Environmental / BG-Demo – Proposal
Callcompleted
Harcastle Environmental · 20 Feb 2025 11:45
Lewis Kerr walked Nicola Brearley through the Growth proposal at £52k plus VAT including implementation. She is positive but cannot commit budget alone, and the collections connector is the open delivery risk.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Lewis Kerr walked Nicola Brearley through the Growth proposal at £52k plus VAT including implementation. She is positive but cannot commit budget alone, and the collections connector is the open delivery risk.
What happened: Lewis walked through the proposal page by page: Growth tier, connectors, price and users. Nicola confirmed Growth is what she wants and signature by Fri 28 Mar 2025 is realistic but not comfortable.
Customer view: Nicola says the price is roughly what she guessed. Her worry is getting it through the budget holder, who will ask what happens if it is not used.
Commercial: The £52k is the whole proposal including implementation, not the annual subscription. Lewis would send the split in writing, and quarterly billing is available on request.
Watch: The older collections system could move timing, and Lewis would not commit a go-live until Marcus Bell has spoken to someone in operations. Nicola also needs her data team to confirm room in their Snowflake account.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Growth proposal, budget approval
Importance
renewal
Sentiment
positive
Voice
champion
Who was there
BG-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Lewis Kerr to send the price breakdown, the one-page note and a plain-English note for the data team today.
- Nicola Brearley to arrange a half-hour call between Marcus Bell and the operations contact.
- Nicola Brearley to return dates for the budget holder call by the end of next week.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Nicola cannot commit budget alone and the budget holder will test whether the brain gets used.
- The collections connector commitment is unresolved and could move go-live ahead of the summer peak.
- Data team approval and room in the Snowflake account are not yet confirmed.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Extra users in blocks of ten or connectors in blocks of five once usage supports it.
- Quarterly billing option if the finance team prefers it.
Transcript
Lewis KerrHello Nicola, can you hear me all right?
Nicola BrearleyYes, loud and clear. Can you hear me? I've got the headset on today because the office is a bit of a zoo.- Lewis KerrPerfectly fine. Thanks for making the time, I know it's been a busy week for you.
- Nicola BrearleyBusy is one word for it. Let me tell you about this morning, actually, because it's the reason I'm a bit scratchy. We had a customer, a restaurant group, a big one for us, who's had a missed collection three weeks running. Three. And the account manager only found out when the owner rang the managing office directly.
- Lewis KerrAh. That's not a good phone call to receive.
- Nicola BrearleyNo. And the thing that really gets me is that the information was all there. The ticket was sitting in the helpdesk, the driver's note was in the collections system, the customer had left a message with our call centre. Three places, and nobody was looking at all three at once. So that's the week's worst complaint, and it's pretty much the whole reason we're talking to you.
- Lewis KerrUnderstood. And it's a useful way in, because that's exactly what I wanted to confirm before we go through the proposal. From the demo and our last conversation, what you want to buy is the Growth tier, so that account managers can see each customer's collections, missed-collection tickets, calls and invoices in one place. Have I got that right?
- Nicola BrearleyThat's it. One view per customer. Account managers, customer service and my commercial team all working from the same picture.
- Lewis KerrGood. And the date you've been working to is signature by the end of March, so Friday 28 March 2025. Is that still realistic from your side?
- Nicola BrearleyIt's realistic. I wouldn't say it's comfortable. There are a couple of people I need to bring along, but yes, that's what I've told them.
- Lewis KerrThat's fine. Then let me share my screen and walk you through the proposal, and you stop me whenever something doesn't look right. Can you see it?
- Nicola BrearleyYes. It's a bit small. Could you make it bigger? There we go, that's better.
- Lewis KerrSo, page one is just the summary of what we've agreed in principle. Growth tier, because you have several teams who need it, not one. Commercial operations, account management and customer service. That's the reason Starter wouldn't work for you, it's built for one team.
- Nicola BrearleyRight. And the customer service team, would they be asking questions of it, or just looking at pages?
- Lewis KerrBoth, really. Pages for the customer view, so they open a customer and see the whole history. And chat, so someone can type something like which sites have had a missed collection this month and get an answer that cites the tickets and the notes behind it. Growth also adds the dashboards builder, so your team can build its own views of complaints by depot, for instance.
- Nicola BrearleyWhich depot, which round? That's what I'd want to be able to ask. Not just which customer, but which round keeps failing.
- Lewis KerrYes. And that comes down to whether the round information is in a system we connect to. I don't want to promise that from memory. In the demo we used the extract your team sent, which had the round reference on it, and it behaved properly. But for the live set-up we'd confirm where that field lives during onboarding.
- Nicola BrearleyFair enough. I'd rather you say you'll check than tell me yes and find out in April.
- Lewis KerrQuite. Moving on to page two, which is the connectors. These are the systems we'd bring in: your CRM, the helpdesk, the call recorder and the accounting system for the invoices. Plus the collections data we've just been discussing, which is the one that needs a proper conversation.
- Nicola BrearleyThe collections system is the awkward one. It's older, and the people who understand it are in the operations team, not in IT.
- Lewis KerrThat's useful to know. What we do in the order form is put a go-live commitment against each connector, so you're not relying on a vague promise. For the collections one I'd want to be careful about the commitment we make until we've had a look, so we'd agree that one with Marcus. Marcus Bell is our customer success manager and he'd run your onboarding.
- Nicola BrearleyHave I met Marcus?
- Lewis KerrNot yet. I'll introduce you once the paperwork moves. He's very practical, you'll get on.
- Nicola BrearleyGood. Right, go on then. Page three. I assume that's the one I'm dreading.
- Lewis KerrIt's the price page, yes. To put a number on it, the total value of the deal as proposed is £51,600, plus VAT. That is the figure for the whole proposal, and it includes the one-off implementation fee. It isn't the annual subscription on its own.
- Nicola BrearleyOkay. So what's the yearly bit, then? Because that's what I'll have to put in the budget every year.
- Lewis KerrFair question, and I won't quote the split from memory. The proposal document separates the subscription from the implementation, and I'll send you that breakdown today so you've got it in writing rather than from me on a call. What I can say is that the subscription is annual, billed in advance, on thirty-day terms.
- Nicola BrearleyThirty days. That's standard for us too. Can it be quarterly?
- Lewis KerrQuarterly is available on request. I'd put that in the order form if you want it. It's easier for some finance teams.
- Nicola BrearleyMm. I'll ask. I think they'll prefer annual if the number's right, but I'd like to have the option.
- Lewis KerrOf course. Anything on the price page that surprises you?
- Nicola BrearleyNot surprised. It's roughly what I'd guessed after the first call. I'm more worried about whether I can get it through without a fight. Honestly, the way it works here, I can't commit budget on my own. The person who holds it above me has to see a clear reason for it.
- Lewis KerrThat makes sense, and I wouldn't want you to feel you had to. What would help them most? A written case, or a call with me?
- Nicola BrearleyBoth, probably. A one-page note I can forward, and then a short call where they can ask you the hard questions. They'll ask what happens if it doesn't get used. That's the question they always ask.
- Lewis KerrThat's a good question, and I'd rather it was asked. The honest answer is that the value comes from the teams actually asking the brain things. So in the first weeks we'd agree with you who the regular users are, and Marcus would check usage with you. Growth includes quarterly reviews, so you'd have a standing point where you look at how many questions are being asked and by whom.
- Nicola BrearleyRight. So there's a mechanism, not just a licence.
- Lewis KerrYes. And it's in your interest as much as ours, because we don't want a renewal conversation where nobody can say what it's worth.
- Nicola BrearleyI like that you said that out loud. Okay. What about IT? They're going to want to know where the data lives. Last time we bought anything with data in it there was a three-month argument.
- Lewis KerrThen this is where we're slightly different. The brain is built and run inside your own Snowflake account. Your data doesn't go to a separate environment of ours. So your data team keeps control of the account, the access and what's connected.
- Nicola BrearleyWe have a Snowflake account. The data team set it up last year, and I think they use it for the finance reporting. I'd have to check how much room there is, and who needs to approve something new going into it.
- Lewis KerrThat's one of the first things I'd suggest we sort out. If it's helpful, I can put together a short note for your data team describing what we'd set up inside the account and what we'd need from them. Then they're not hearing about it second-hand from you.
- Nicola BrearleyYes please. That would save me a lot of explaining. And keep it plain. They'll read it properly, but I'd like the first paragraph to make sense to somebody who isn't technical.
- Lewis KerrWill do. First paragraph in plain English, details underneath.
- Nicola BrearleyPerfect. Now, timing. If we sign at the end of March, when would we actually start seeing something? Because I've told people it'll help with the summer peak and I don't want to be wrong.
- Lewis KerrThe implementation is a fixed-length programme, and I'd rather give you the exact weeks from the proposal than guess here. It's on page four. As a rule, Growth is a matter of weeks rather than months, but the collections connector is the thing that could move it, which is why we'll look at it first.
- Nicola BrearleySo the sooner we get somebody from operations talking to Marcus, the better.
- Lewis KerrExactly. Even before signature, if you're comfortable with it. A half-hour call with the person who knows that system would let us write a commitment we can actually keep.
- Nicola BrearleyI can do that. There's a lady in operations who has been there for years and knows every field. I'll ask her this week.
- Lewis KerrLovely. Is there anything else on the proposal that you'd change? Scope, users, anything about how it's laid out?
- Nicola BrearleyUsers. Let me think. Account managers, customer service, my team, a couple of the depot managers eventually. I don't think we'd hit the limit at the start, but I'd like to know what happens if we do.
- Lewis KerrYou can add users in blocks of ten, and the same for connectors in blocks of five. It's an add-on to the order form, co-termed to your renewal so you're not running two cycles. I'd only suggest it if your usage supports it, I wouldn't want to sell you extra seats on day one.
- Nicola BrearleyGood. I appreciate that. Right, so what do you need from me?
- Lewis KerrThree things. One, the half-hour call between Marcus and the person in operations. Two, a view from your data team on the Snowflake account. And three, a date for the short call with your budget holder, with me there to answer questions. In return, I'll send over the breakdown and the one-page note today.
- Nicola BrearleyLists of three, I like it. Okay. Operations call, data team, budget holder. I'll come back to you with dates by the end of next week.
- Lewis KerrThat's fine. And if the budget conversation raises anything you'd like me to rework, tell me early. I'd rather adjust the proposal than have it sit.
- Nicola BrearleyWill do. Thanks, Lewis. This was clearer than I expected. Let's see it from the customer's side. If I can get that restaurant group one view of their collections, I'll have done my job.
- Lewis KerrThat's the aim. I'll send everything over today. Speak soon, Nicola.
- Nicola BrearleySpeak soon. Bye.
Callsmade from