Harcastle Environmental / BG-Demo – Proposal
Callcompleted
Harcastle Environmental · 22 Jun 2026 16:30
Lewis Kerr walked Nicola Brearley and CFO Andrew Sugden through the £6,225 expansion proposal. Andrew is not against it but needs a one-page business case before he signs by 30 Jun 2026.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Lewis Kerr walked Nicola Brearley and CFO Andrew Sugden through the £6,225 expansion proposal. Andrew is not against it but needs a one-page business case before he signs by 30 Jun 2026.
What happened: On 22 Jun 2026 Lewis presented the proposal at £6,225 plus VAT, on top of the £44k Growth subscription and co-termed to the renewal. Nicola explained it as closing a gap that lets missed collections reach customers before the account team knows.
Customer view: Andrew asked what it saves and who is asking the questions, noting one heavy user would be a risk. He also wants the integration effort estimated before he signs.
Commercial: Lewis did not sell more seats and kept the renewal price out of this conversation. The expected close in BG-Demo's system is 30 Jun 2026.
Watch: Lewis flagged that a source system change can silently stop a feed loading, so records indexed should be monitored after go-live.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Expansion proposal and business case
Importance
upsell
Sentiment
positive
Voice
decision-maker
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 one-page summary the same day, with the total, VAT, co-termed position and who is asking questions.
- Nicola Brearley to draft the business case by the end of the following week and introduce the IT colleague.
- Andrew Sugden to read the case and sign on or before 30 Jun 2026 if it holds.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Andrew will not sign until the one-page business case exists, and Nicola has no pound figure for what missed collections cost.
- A source system change could quietly stop the new feed loading without anyone noticing.
- The effort needed from the customer's IT colleague is not yet estimated.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- The expansion extends the brain to the depots and the wider customer base, with Andrew saying the shape is right.
- Usage is up by about half on the previous quarter, which supports further adoption.
Transcript
Lewis KerrAfternoon, Nicola. Can you hear me all right? I've got the recording going, so apologies in advance.
Nicola BrearleyLoud and clear. Afternoon, Lewis. Sorry, I've just come out of another call, give me one second, I'm finding the right window.- Lewis KerrNo rush at all. We're not due to start for a minute anyway.
- Nicola BrearleyRight. Worst complaint of the week, since you're asking. A customer in the North East had the same bin missed three times on one round, and nobody on the account team knew until they rang the main line.
- Lewis KerrThree times. That's not a good week for them, or for you.
- Nicola BrearleyNo. Which is more or less why we're doing this call. Let's see it from the customer's side: they shouldn't have to tell us twice. Anyway, it's fixed, the account manager rang them this morning. Is Andrew on yet?
Andrew SugdenI'm here. Sorry, I was on mute. Afternoon both. What's the headline?- Lewis KerrAfternoon, Andrew. Good to have you. The headline is this: we've scoped the expansion Nicola and I talked through, I've written it up as a proposal, and the total comes to £6,225, plus VAT. I'd like to confirm today whether that's what you want to buy, and whether the end of this month still works for you to sign.
- Andrew SugdenSix thousand two hundred and twenty-five, plus VAT. Is that all in, or are there bits on top?
- Lewis KerrThat's the deal in total as it stands in the proposal. No extras hiding behind it. And just so we're clear, it sits on top of your existing Growth subscription, which is £44,000 a year, so it doesn't change that figure.
- Andrew SugdenUnderstood. And that one's the annual number, the forty-four.
- Lewis KerrCorrect. Forty-four thousand a year for the subscription, order form and invoices agree, which I checked again this morning because I don't like quoting from memory.
- Nicola BrearleyCan I just say what it's for, in my words, so Andrew hears it from the business side? Then Lewis can correct me.
- Lewis KerrPlease do.
- Nicola BrearleySo at the moment the account managers see a customer's collections, their tickets, their calls and their invoices in one place. That's been the whole point and it's working. What they don't see is one more source we keep going back to by hand, and it's exactly where the missed collections come from. Three things we want: the picture earlier, fewer phone calls to the depots, and fewer customers telling us before we tell them.
- Andrew SugdenHow many customers does it touch?
- Nicola BrearleyEveryone, in principle. It's the same customer base the account managers already work from, so it isn't a pilot on a corner of the business. It just makes the view they've got more complete.
- Andrew SugdenFine. What's the margin on that? Not yours, Lewis, ours. What does it save us?
- Nicola BrearleyThat's where I'd want to be careful, honestly. I can tell you where the time goes today. Each missed collection that escalates costs us a credit, an account manager's afternoon and sometimes a depot supervisor's. I haven't put a pound figure on all of it, and I don't want to invent one on a call.
- Andrew SugdenThen that's my one request. Write it down. A short business case, one page. What the problem costs now, what we expect to change, who owns it. I don't sign before that exists.
- Nicola BrearleyFair. I'll draft it. Is end of next week too late for you?
- Andrew SugdenThat's fine. And put it in the plan, please, so it isn't a surprise in the next budget round.
- Lewis KerrCan I help with that? To put a number on the investment side so you're not working from my email, I'll send you a one-page summary today. The total, the VAT position, what it's co-termed to, and what's included.
- Andrew SugdenCo-termed to what?
- Lewis KerrYour renewal. The current term ends on 10 Apr 2027 and the renewal date is 11 Apr 2027, so the expansion runs alongside the subscription and comes up for renewal with it. You don't end up with two dates to manage.
- Andrew SugdenGood. I like one date. Does anything about the renewal price change because of this?
- Lewis KerrNot because of this, no. I'd rather deal with the renewal properly when we get there, and your customer success manager, Marcus, will start that conversation well ahead of it. Today is only about the expansion. I don't want to muddy the two.
- Nicola BrearleyWhich is helpful, because Andrew and I both remember the last time we mixed things up.
- Andrew SugdenMm. We did.
- Nicola BrearleyCan I ask something on usage, Lewis? Because I know what you're going to say and I'd rather say it first. We've got forty licensed users and we're nowhere near using them. I wasn't asking for more seats.
- Lewis KerrAnd I wouldn't sell you any. You've got forty licensed, and the number of people actually asking questions is around ten or eleven on an average day. It's up by about half again on the previous quarter, which is good, but there's plenty of headroom. This proposal isn't about users. If you ever hit the ceiling, I'll say so, but on this evidence it'd be wrong to suggest it.
- Nicola BrearleyGood. That's partly why I trusted this one. You didn't try to pad it.
- Lewis KerrAppreciated. Honestly, a bigger team using it more is a better case for you than a bigger bill.
- Andrew SugdenThat growth in active people. Is that the account managers, or is it just Nicola?
- Nicola BrearleyHa. It was mostly me for a while. It's more of them now. A couple of the account managers use it every morning before their calls, and a couple of the depot supervisors have started. I can get you a proper split if you want it for the case.
- Andrew SugdenI do. Who's asking the questions matters. If it's one person, that's a risk.
- Lewis KerrThat's a fair point and one we watch on our side too. I can pull the list of who's asking and how it's spread, and send it with the summary. Then the case rests on what we've actually recorded.
- Nicola BrearleyLovely. Can we talk timing, then? Because if the sign date is the end of the month, what actually happens after that? Which depot, which round, who's first to see it?
- Lewis KerrRight, so, the expected close we've got in the system is Tuesday 30 June 2026. If you sign by then, the implementation team will contact you to agree the order of work. I won't promise you a go-live date on this call, because I'd be quoting from memory, and I'd prefer to send you a written plan with their dates in it.
- Nicola BrearleyThat's all right. I'd rather have it right. What do you need from us before they start?
- Lewis KerrTwo things, realistically. Someone on your side who owns the source system and can grant access, and someone from your operations who can say what good looks like. I assume the first is someone in IT and the second is you.
- Nicola BrearleyThat's right. A colleague in IT will own access, and I'll be the one saying whether it's useful. I'll introduce them this week.
- Andrew SugdenAnd what does that colleague in IT cost us in time? Because integration costs have to be in the plan. I don't want a surprise.
- Lewis KerrFair question, and I'd rather not guess a number of days on a call. I'll ask the implementation lead to put an estimate of your team's effort in the written plan, so you can budget it. If it's more than you expect, you'll know before you sign, not after.
- Andrew SugdenThat's what I need. Thank you.
- Nicola BrearleySorry, one more from me, and then I'll let you both go. Is there anything in this we'd regret not asking? Anything people trip over on a connector like this?
- Lewis KerrThe honest answer: the most common trip is when someone changes a system and the feed quietly stops loading. Nobody notices for weeks. So tell your IT colleague to let us know if anything changes at the source, and we'll keep an eye on whether the records indexed keep moving. It's the kind of thing that looks fine until a complaint tells you otherwise.
- Nicola BrearleyWhich is the thing I'm trying to avoid in the first place. Yes. Good. I'll make sure that's written in.
- Andrew SugdenLet me say where I am. I'm not against it. The shape is right, the figure is small against the subscription, and Nicola's reasons make sense. But I need the page first. If it's sound, I'll sign inside your date.
- Lewis KerrThat's all I could ask. So, to be clear on who sends what. I send you the one-page summary today, with the total, VAT, co-termed to your renewal, and the list of who's asking questions. Nicola drafts the business case by the end of next week. Andrew reads it, and if it holds, you sign on or before Tuesday 30 June 2026.
- Nicola BrearleySounds right. And I'll copy you on the intro to IT so the implementation team can go straight to them.
- Andrew SugdenAgreed. Anything else, Lewis?
- Lewis KerrOnly that I'll keep Marcus in the loop so he knows about it ahead of your next review. Otherwise, no. Thanks both, I think that was a sensible conversation.
- Nicola BrearleyThanks, Lewis. Speak soon.
- Andrew SugdenThank you. Goodbye.
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