Ashwell Mercer Interiors / BG-Demo – Check In
Callcompleted
Ashwell Mercer Interiors · 21 Mar 2025 11:15
Craig Ashwell says the brain is catching unraised variations and has spread across credit control and commercial, and that he is not shopping around. Six or seven daily users against forty licensed; site managers are the gap.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Craig Ashwell says the brain is catching unraised variations and has spread across credit control and commercial, and that he is not shopping around. Six or seven daily users against forty licensed; site managers are the gap.
What happened: Marcus Bell ran a check in with Craig Ashwell. Six or seven people use the brain on an average day against forty licensed, and use has spread to credit control and project managers.
Customer view: Craig says the commercial team now find variation emails and calls in the brain, and he is not shopping around. He wants one page for the board on what it has earned.
Commercial: Growth at £40k a year, customer since 23 Aug 2024, term to 22 Aug 2025, renewal date 23 Aug 2025. Craig wants his finance lead present for any talk of terms, and Priya Raman picks up the commercial side.
Watch: Site managers are not yet users and phone use on site is unconfirmed. Valuation sheets in SharePoint may need a new connector, and the platform cannot measure hours saved.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Adoption widening, renewal approaching
Importance
praise
Sentiment
positive
Voice
champion
Who was there
BG-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Marcus Bell sends the one page summary after the call, copying Priya Raman.
- Craig sends five or six site names and the new coordinator's name, and checks with IT whether valuations are in SharePoint.
- Marcus checks the phone question with the product team and books the early summer quarterly review.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Only six or seven people use the brain on a normal day against forty licensed, and site managers are not yet in.
- Craig wants hours saved on a board page, which the platform cannot measure.
- Craig wants his finance lead in the room for any talk of terms ahead of the 23 Aug 2025 renewal date.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Train five or six site managers, then possibly quantity surveyors as a second wave.
- Connect the valuation sheets, if they sit in SharePoint, so valuations sit next to variations.
- Build a one page directors dashboard of agreed, valued and paid per live job with the dashboards builder.
Transcript
Marcus BellMorning Craig. Can you hear me alright? I've got you a little quiet on my side.
Craig AshwellYeah, loud and clear. Hang on, I'll turn you up. There. Morning Marcus.- Marcus BellLovely. Sorry, I'm in the corner room with the heating on full, so if I sound like I'm in a sauna, that's why.
- Craig AshwellReading's the opposite. Windows open, builders next door doing something with a drill. I'll mute if it gets bad.
- Marcus BellNo worries at all. Thanks for making time. I've pulled the numbers, and I'll share my screen in a sec. Mostly I want to cover how the team's been using it, the tickets, and then what you'd like from the next few months. Sound alright?
- Craig AshwellBefore you do. The job that's keeping me awake is the big landlord fit-out. Variations stacking up, half of them not recorded. What has the client signed? That's all I keep asking. And the answer is still sat in somebody's inbox.
- Marcus BellRight. And that's exactly what the brain's meant to help with, isn't it? Pulling the emails and the calls together against the project.
- Craig AshwellThat's why I brought it in. And to be fair it's getting there. The commercial team ask it, where's the variation, and it shows them the email chain and the call where the client said yes on site. That used to be three people and a spreadsheet.
- Marcus BellMm. That's good to hear. Can I show you what I'm seeing? Sharing now. You should see a line going up.
- Craig AshwellGot it. Up and to the right. I like that.
- Marcus BellSo this is the last quarter against the one before. Average active users a day is up by a good two fifths. Six or seven people on an average day, which is the highest it's been since you went live back in August.
- Craig AshwellSix or seven. Out of forty, mind.
- Marcus BellYeah, fair. Forty licensed, so there's plenty of room. I'll come back to that, because I think that's the interesting bit. But first, who's asking the questions? Because that's the thing I look at most.
- Craig AshwellGo on.
- Marcus BellIt's spread across more people than before. Last time it was mostly you and one person in commercial. Now there's credit control in there, and a couple of project managers. Nobody's carrying more than their share.
- Craig AshwellYeah, that's the credit control team. They were sceptical. Now they're asking it which clients have an unsigned variation before they chase a valuation. Saves a very awkward phone call.
- Marcus BellHa, yes. Better to know first.
- Craig AshwellAlways. Let's get paid for what we've built, but only what we've built, and only what's agreed.
- Marcus BellThat's it. Okay, tickets. You've had two in the last month, nothing high priority. I had a look and neither was anything that held anyone up. Is that how it felt from your side?
- Craig AshwellI didn't even know there were two. Which means it's fine. If I'm not hearing about it, it's fine.
- Marcus BellGood. Both small, both sorted. And I'd rather you did raise things early, so no hesitation if anything comes up.
- Craig AshwellSpeaking of which, can I ask about the dashboards? We built a couple for the directors. Project margin by client, that sort of thing. Is that the right way to do it, or are we doing something daft?
- Marcus BellNo, not daft at all. It's what the Growth tier's there for, and it tells me you're investing in it, which I like to see. If you want, I can go through them with whoever built them and tidy up the filters. Happy to jump on a call for that.
- Craig AshwellDo that. One of the commercial team built them. They'll be pleased someone's noticed.
- Marcus BellOkay, so headroom. You've got forty licensed and six or seven in on a normal day. Nobody's going to charge you for the people who aren't logged in, so there's no cost to bringing more in. I'd just want it to be the right people. Who's not in there that should be?
- Craig AshwellSite managers, for a start. They're the ones who see the variation happen. Somebody says in the corridor can you just move that partition, and it's gone, nobody writes it down. Then the quantity surveyors, estimating, a couple of the directors who still ask me for a printout.
- Marcus BellMm. Right. So the site managers are where the information starts. If they can say it into the system, or at least ask it something, that closes the loop.
- Craig AshwellExactly. But they're on phones, in hi-vis, in a lift lobby with no signal. They're not going to sit down and learn a tool.
- Marcus BellFair. I wouldn't want to promise anything about how it works on a phone on site, I'd be guessing. Let me check with the product team properly and come back to you, rather than tell you something wrong.
- Craig AshwellDon't guess. I'll take the straight answer.
- Marcus BellWhat I can do is a short session, thirty minutes, with a handful of them. Show them the three questions that matter to a site manager. Where's the variation, what's been agreed, what's outstanding. Just that. Shall we book thirty minutes?
- Craig AshwellYes. Do it. Training, whatever you call it. I'll get you five or six names. Not too many or it turns into a day out.
- Marcus BellFive or six is perfect. And if it lands, we can look at a second wave after. Quantity surveyors maybe.
- Craig AshwellHang on, sorry, I've got the site on the other line. Give me a minute.
- Marcus BellTake your time. I'm not going anywhere.
- Craig AshwellSorry. Sorry about that. A door's gone in the wrong place. Not ours. Anyway. Where were we?
- Marcus BellTraining for the site managers. Five or six names.
- Craig AshwellRight. And I'll tell you what else. The thing I want to be able to say to the board is what it's actually earned us. Not in a vague way. I want one page.
- Marcus BellThat I can do. I've pulled the numbers already, so I'll write you a short summary: who's using it, how that's changed, the questions people are asking, and the two tickets. I'll keep it to a page and send it after the call.
- Craig AshwellAnd what it's saved. Hours. People always want hours.
- Marcus BellI can't give you hours from the platform, honestly. It doesn't measure what people would have done otherwise. What I can do is show the questions asked, and you can put your own cost of time on it. Or we can ask the credit control team how long a chase used to take them.
- Craig AshwellAsk them. They'll tell you. They'll tell you at length.
- Marcus BellHa. Brilliant. I'll set that up with them.
- Craig AshwellRight, the other thing. We're coming up to a year, aren't we? Since we signed.
- Marcus BellWe are. You've been a customer since 23 Aug 2024, so the term runs to 22 Aug 2025 and the renewal date is 23 Aug 2025. Nothing to do today. I'll write to you with the formal notice well ahead of that and we'll have a proper conversation, and Priya Raman will pick up the commercial side.
- Craig AshwellFine by me. Remind me what we're paying, so I've got it in my head when the board asks.
- Marcus BellIt's £39,600 a year, Growth tier, forty users, and that matches the order form and what's been invoiced, so nothing odd there.
- Craig AshwellGood. Any talk of cash or the terms, I'd want my finance lead in the room. That's not a call for me on my own.
- Marcus BellCompletely understand. And on price, that's Priya's side, not mine, so I'll leave that to her. I'll make sure she knows you'd want finance there.
- Craig AshwellGood. For what it's worth, I'm not shopping around. I haven't got the time, and it works.
- Marcus BellThat's kind. I'll take it. Honestly the way you've spread it across credit control and commercial is what makes it stick.
- Craig AshwellIs there anything we haven't plugged in that we should? The valuations still live in a sheet that credit control keep. I'd love the valuations next to the variations.
- Marcus BellOkay, so valuations next to variations. That's a good one. I'll check what's connected today against what Growth allows, and whether the valuation sheets sit somewhere we can reach, SharePoint or similar. Then I'll tell you what it would take.
- Craig AshwellI think they're in SharePoint. I'll ask a colleague in IT to confirm.
- Marcus BellPerfect. Once I know where they live, I can tell you what's involved.
- Craig AshwellAnd the dashboards, I've got a thought. Could the directors have one page that says, for every live job, what's been agreed, what's been valued, what's been paid? One page.
- Marcus BellThat's the dashboards builder, and I think it's doable from what's already indexed. Valuation might need that SharePoint source. Let's do the session with whoever built the first two and sketch it. I'd rather draw it with them than guess.
- Craig AshwellYes. Draw it. I'll show you the version I scribbled.
- Marcus BellSend me a photo of the scribble.
- Craig AshwellIt's on the back of a site report. You won't like the handwriting.
- Marcus BellCan I ask about people as well? Anyone joined, anyone moved on, anyone who was a big user who's gone quiet? Because I look at that more than anything.
- Craig AshwellNobody's left. We've taken on a new project coordinator in the commercial team, who'll want a login. Otherwise it's the same faces.
- Marcus BellGreat, I'll make sure they're set up. Send me the name, or ask your admin to add them. Who's your admin these days? I want to be sure there's more than one person who can do that.
- Craig AshwellMe and a colleague in IT. Two of us.
- Marcus BellGood. Two is the right number, because if one's on holiday or moves on, you're not stuck.
- Craig AshwellI do go on holiday. Once a year. Whether I like it or not.
- Marcus BellNext thing is the review. Growth includes a quarterly one, and I'd like the next to be early summer, so we've got a proper look at the year before anything on the renewal side. Is that sensible?
- Craig AshwellSensible. Put it in the diary, send me the invite. If I've got finance there for that, even better.
- Marcus BellWill do.
- Craig AshwellCan I tell you one that made me smile? Last month the credit team were chasing a client for a valuation and asked the brain what had been agreed on that job. Turned out there was an email from the client approving extra work, and nobody had raised the variation. We'd have done the work and eaten it.
- Marcus BellAnd that's the one I'd put at the top of the one-pager, if you're happy for me to. Nothing about the client, just that it caught an agreed variation that hadn't been raised.
- Craig AshwellFine. Leave the client out. I never put a client's name in writing.
- Marcus BellUnderstood. Just the story. Can I ask how people are using it? Is it mostly chat, the questions, or are they reading the pages and searching?
- Craig AshwellChat, mostly. Ask it a question, get an answer. The pages, the managers like, the ones that summarise each client. Search, I use when I'm trying to find the thing somebody said six months ago.
- Marcus BellThat's a healthy mix. A lot of customers only ever use chat and never see the pages. The client summary pages are where the project, commercial and credit side all sit together, which is what you bought it for.
- Craig AshwellWhich is why I want the site managers on the pages. One page per job.
- Marcus BellThen that's the thing to show them in the session. One job, one page, three questions.
- Craig AshwellGood. Right. What have I got to do?
- Marcus BellLet me say it back, and stop me if I've got it wrong. I'll send the one-pager after the call. I'll set up a short chat with credit control about how long chasing used to take. I'll speak to whoever built the dashboards, and we'll sketch the one-page job view for the directors. You'll send me five or six site names for a training session, check with IT whether the valuations are in SharePoint, and give me the name of the new coordinator. And I'll put the next review in the diary for early summer, and check with the product team on the phone question and come back to you.
- Craig AshwellThat's about it. You've got more on your list than I have. I'm happy with that.
- Marcus BellHa, that's the idea. You've got a job to run.
- Craig AshwellOne more. Priya. When do I hear from her? Not that I'm chasing, I just don't want it to be a surprise in August.
- Marcus BellShe'll get in touch nearer the time, and I'll make sure she's got today's notes, so she knows how well it's gone. I'm not going to put a date in her diary for her, but it will be well before the end of the term.
- Craig AshwellFine. Not a problem.
- Marcus BellAnything else on your side? Anything you wanted to raise that I haven't asked?
- Craig AshwellNo. Well, one thing. Tell whoever looks after the product that the credit control team love the thing where it shows the last call and the last invoice side by side. Say that.
- Marcus BellI will. Genuinely, that kind of thing gets passed on. Can I ask how the credit control team actually use the client view? I'd like to understand it better, and you don't have to name anyone.
- Craig AshwellSure. So they open a client. Top of the page, projects, what's live, what's finished. Under that, the variations, agreed or not agreed. Then the invoices and valuations, what's been issued, what's been paid. And on the side, the last few calls and emails with that client. They read down it like a story.
- Marcus BellLike a story. I like that.
- Craig AshwellIt's a story with a payment date at the end, so, yes.
- Marcus BellAnd do they trust it? That's what I'd want to know. Do they check it against the accounting system or take it as it is?
- Craig AshwellAt first they checked everything. Every line. They were looking for it to be wrong. Now, mostly, they trust it. If it's different, they ask why, and usually the answer is somebody posted something late.
- Marcus BellThat's the right habit. And on our side, I've got nothing overdue on your account, so no loose ends there.
- Craig AshwellGood. That's one for finance, but good to hear.
- Marcus BellHa, fair.
- Craig AshwellRight, so, the quarter. What do I tell the board, in a sentence? Because I'll be asked.
- Marcus BellI'd say: more people use it, a wider mix of teams use it, and it's caught money that would otherwise have been left on the table. That's the sentence. And the page will back it up.
- Craig AshwellGood. That I can say.
- Marcus BellIs it okay if I send the summary to you and copy Priya Raman? So she's got the picture when she picks up the renewal.
- Craig AshwellYes, copy her. No problem.
- Marcus BellBrilliant. And for the training session, is it better in the Reading office with them in a room, or each from where they are?
- Craig AshwellOffice. Get them in a room. Bring a biscuit. They'll turn up for a biscuit.
- Marcus BellI'll tell them there's biscuits.
- Craig AshwellHa. Tell them that, yes.
- Marcus BellHang on, I'm just writing that down so I don't lose it. Biscuits, Reading office, five or six people, one job one page.
- Craig AshwellYour typing's loud, by the way.
- Marcus BellIt's a very old keyboard. Done. Right, that's me.
- Craig AshwellAnything on this weekend?
- Marcus BellNot much. Might finally get out on the bike if it stays dry. You?
- Craig AshwellSite visit tomorrow, a Saturday, before anyone says I don't work weekends. The fit-out doesn't care what day it is.
- Marcus BellSooner you than me. Well, I hope the door's in the right place by then.
- Craig AshwellSo do I. So do I.
- Marcus BellRight, I'll let you go. I'll send the summary this afternoon, and get the review and the session booked. Thanks Craig, really good to hear it's working for you.
- Craig AshwellCheers Marcus. Speak soon.
- Marcus BellSpeak soon. Bye.
- Craig AshwellBye.
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