Ashwell Mercer Interiors / BG-Demo – QBR
Callcompleted
Ashwell Mercer Interiors · 4 Jul 2025 13:00
On the 4 Jul 2025 QBR, Craig Ashwell questioned value: six or seven daily users out of forty, and variations missing for a live job. He will not sign the renewal unchanged without proof from credit control use.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026On the 4 Jul 2025 QBR, Craig Ashwell questioned value: six or seven daily users out of forty, and variations missing for a live job. He will not sign the renewal unchanged without proof from credit control use.
What happened: Marcus Bell showed usage on Growth with forty licensed users, about six or seven active on an average day. Questions come mostly from a small group including Craig and Sunil Kapoor.
Customer view: Craig said he told the family the whole commercial and credit team would use it. Sunil found that one client sits under two names, so variations and valuations are split.
Commercial: Priya Raman restated the contracted £40k a year, with the term ending 22 Aug 2025. Craig said he would not sign the same thing without seeing something different, and she gave no price on the call.
Watch: Marcus gave no date for any engineering change. The test is credit control sessions, then a numbers conversation in the second half of the month.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Value proof before renewal
Importance
renewal
Sentiment
negative
Voice
decision-maker
Who was there
BG-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Marcus Bell to offer two or three one-hour slots to credit control, not on a Monday, and take the two-name examples to engineers.
- Priya Raman to send renewal paperwork with terms in writing and hold the numbers conversation in the second half of the month.
- Marcus Bell to pass the overdue invoice to BG-Demo finance and send usage numbers in writing, with who is asking.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Only six or seven of forty licensed users are active on a daily average, so the value case is thin.
- A client held under two names splits variations from valuations, so totals cannot be trusted for such clients.
- Questions come from a small group, so usage drops if Craig and Sunil are away.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Credit control sessions on live clients could spread use to a team with a clear need.
- Fixing client names at source would let Craig see variations on the live landlord job.
Transcript
Marcus BellAfternoon, everyone. Can you hear me alright? I'm just waiting for the recorder to say it's started.
Craig AshwellLoud and clear. Sunil's just coming in, he's had a slow lift.
Sunil KapoorHere, sorry. Afternoon all. The lift was slow, as predicted.
Priya RamanAfternoon, both. Good to see you. Marcus has the screen today, I'm really only here for the renewal bit at the end, so I'll stay quiet till then.- Craig AshwellQuiet. Right. I'll believe that when I see it. Hot enough for you? The site in Reading has been like an oven all week.
- Marcus BellHa, same up here in Manchester, and my office has no windows that open. Right, shall I get going? I'm sharing my screen now. Can you see the usage page?
- Sunil KapoorI can see it. It's a bit small. Could you zoom in?
- Marcus BellBetter? Good. So, three things I want to cover. First, how the brain's been used since the last review, I've pulled the numbers. Second, the one ticket from the last month. Third, where we are on the renewal, which Priya will pick up. Happy for you to cut in with anything that matters more to you.
- Craig AshwellWell, since you ask. What worries me most is the Thames Valley job, the landlord one. We've done a lot of extra work on it and I still can't see what the client has signed. Where's the variation? That's what I bought this for. But go on, usage first, I know the order of things.
- Marcus BellNo, that's exactly the right thing to bring up. Let me do usage and then come back to it, because I think the two are connected.
- Craig AshwellFine. Go.
- Marcus BellSo you're on Growth with forty licensed users. Over the last month, on an average day, about six or seven of them are active. That's up a little on the quarter before, so the direction is right. But it's a small share of forty, and I'd rather say that plainly than dress it up.
- Craig AshwellSix or seven. Out of forty.
- Marcus BellOn a daily average, yes. More people than that log in over a month, but I wouldn't want to pretend it's a lot more.
- Craig AshwellThat is not what I told the family it would be. I said the whole commercial and credit team would be living in there. Not a handful.
- Sunil KapoorCan I say something in fairness, Craig? When I set up the seats I gave them out widely. Project managers, quantity surveyors, credit control, a few of the directors. A lot of them still run off their own spreadsheets. Some of that is on me, I didn't push it after we went live.
- Craig AshwellI'm not blaming you. I'm saying it's not good enough, and I'm as guilty as anyone. I'm in there when I'm worried about a project and not otherwise.
- Marcus BellWhich is partly what I wanted to show you. Give me a second, I'll scroll down. Yes. So the questions people ask the brain, most of them come from a small group, and the two of you are in that group. It's a thing worth watching, because if you're both away for a fortnight the whole thing goes quiet.
- Craig AshwellMm. I take the point. I don't love it, but I take it.
- Priya RamanSorry, one thing, then I'll go back to being quiet. It's not unusual for the first year to look like this, Craig. The usage tends to follow one or two champions and then it spreads. The question is how we help it spread.
- Craig AshwellPriya, with respect, I've heard that from a few suppliers. What would make it spread? Concretely.
- Marcus BellCan I answer that one? I think it's the credit control team. You said it at the start, Craig. Where's the variation, what has the client signed. That's exactly the question credit control have when they're chasing a valuation, and the brain can put the calls, the emails, the variations and the invoices for a client on one page. If they don't know that, they won't ask.
- Craig AshwellThey don't know it. They've had one session, last year, and half of them were on site. Let's be honest about that.
- Sunil KapoorRight. So I'd suggest we don't do a general session again. I'd rather take two or three real clients, ones they're chasing now, and show them the answer on those. If it's their own clients they'll pay attention.
- Marcus BellI like that a lot. Happy to jump on a call with them, and I can use their live clients if you tell me which ones are sensitive. Shall we book half an hour for the first one, and see if it needs more?
- Craig AshwellHalf an hour won't do it. Credit control have a lot of questions once they start. Book an hour. But not on a Monday, Mondays are valuations.
- Marcus BellAn hour, not a Monday. Noted. I'll put a couple of options to you after this.
- Craig AshwellNow the Thames Valley job. Why can't I see the variation?
- Sunil KapoorCan I take that, because it's actually what I wanted to raise anyway. It's the discrepancy I found. The client list. The project system has the client under one name, the commercial side has it under a slightly different one, so the brain treats them as two clients. The variations hang off one and the valuations off the other.
- Craig AshwellSo I'm looking at half the picture.
- Sunil KapoorYes, for that client, and I suspect for a few others. I don't want to overstate it. I've only checked the largest accounts so far. But it doesn't tie to the ledger, and until it does I wouldn't trust a total for any client with two names.
- Marcus BellThat sounds like the ticket, Sunil. There was one in the last month and it was marked high priority. Was that you?
- Sunil KapoorThat was me. Same thing, a report that didn't match. I think it looks better from my side now, but I'll reconcile it again before I say it's done.
- Marcus BellOkay. I'll be straight with you, because I don't want to promise something I can't deliver. I can't give you a date for a change on our side, that's the engineers and I'd be guessing. What I can do is take your examples to them this week and come back with what they say, and in the meantime you tidy the names at source, which will fix it fastest.
- Sunil KapoorThat's fair. I'd rather have honest than optimistic. I'll make a list of the clients with two names and send it over. Which project code do they use for the landlord job, Craig?
- Craig AshwellI'll find it. I never remember codes. I'll get it to you after the call.
- Sunil KapoorThanks. Then I'll check that one first, so at least you can see the variation on the job that's keeping you up.
- Craig AshwellKeeping me up. Yes. Look, I'll say it. If we can't see variations on a live job, what am I paying for? I'm not being aggressive, I'm just saying that's how the family will see it.
- Marcus BellNo, understood. And I'd say that's the right test. Not how many people log in, but whether you can see what a client has signed before the work is done. Let's use the next few weeks to prove that on real jobs.
- Craig AshwellRight. Weeks. We haven't got many weeks.
- Priya RamanWhich is a good moment to say where we are on dates, if that's alright, Marcus.
- Marcus BellBefore that, one housekeeping thing, if I may. I can see an invoice showing as overdue on our side. I'm not here to chase it, and I'd rather not get into cash on a review call, but I'll flag it to our finance team and they'll email yours.
- Craig AshwellThat's one for our finance team, I don't talk cash without them. I'll mention it today. It's probably sitting in a queue.
- Marcus BellGreat, thanks. Priya, over to you.
- Priya RamanThanks, Marcus. So, a quick recap of where we stand. The Growth subscription is contracted at £39,600 a year, for forty users, and the term runs to 22 Aug 2025. It renews the day after, 23 Aug 2025. You came on board on 23 Aug 2024, so that's a full year nearly done.
- Craig AshwellI know the date. It's in my diary in red.
- Priya RamanGood. So, to keep momentum, what I'd like to do is send you the renewal paperwork in the next week or so, so there's no scramble in August. Happy to make this easy for you.
- Craig AshwellSend it, fine. But I'm not signing the same thing without seeing something different. I need to be able to say to the family that credit control are using it and that we've recovered something we'd otherwise have missed. Show me that.
- Priya RamanThat's completely fair, and I'd rather you told me now than in August. Can I suggest that we treat the credit control sessions as the evidence? Marcus runs them, you see what comes out, and we have a proper conversation about the numbers in the second half of July.
- Craig AshwellThe second half of July. Okay. And the numbers are not a surprise, I assume. Same as now.
- Priya RamanWhat's contracted today is the figure I've just given you, and I'll come back with the renewal terms in writing with the paperwork. I don't want to improvise a price on a call.
- Craig AshwellHm. You're not going to say it, are you. Fine. In writing.
- Marcus BellCan I just close the loop on what I'm taking away, so we've all got the same list? One, I'll send two or three times for an hour with credit control, not a Monday. Two, Sunil sends me the clients with two names, and I take the examples to the engineers and tell you what they say, without a date I can't stand behind. Three, I'll flag the invoice to our finance team. Four, I'll send you the usage numbers in writing, with who's asking the questions, so you have it for the family.
- Sunil KapoorAnd from my side, I'll reconcile the landlord job first and tell you what ties and what doesn't. I'll be careful to say only what I've actually checked.
- Craig AshwellAnd I'll find the project code, and I'll speak to our finance team about the invoice, and I'll make sure someone from credit control actually turns up. I'll tell them it's not optional.
- Priya RamanAnd I'll send the renewal paperwork next week. Thanks, all. That's a useful call, even if it wasn't an easy one.
- Craig AshwellIt wasn't meant to be. Cheers, Marcus. Priya.
- Marcus BellThanks, Craig, thanks, Sunil. Speak soon.
- Sunil KapoorThanks all. Bye.
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