Ashwell Mercer Interiors / BG-Demo – Check In
Callcompleted
Ashwell Mercer Interiors · 3 Sep 2025 13:30
On 3 Sep 2025 Marcus Bell showed Craig Ashwell about four active users out of forty, down roughly a third. Craig said the price is hard to defend and agreed a project manager session and a value case.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026On 3 Sep 2025 Marcus Bell showed Craig Ashwell about four active users out of forty, down roughly a third. Craig said the price is hard to defend and agreed a project manager session and a value case.
What happened: Marcus showed about four people active on a typical day against forty licences. Credit control and two commercial users carry the use, the project managers barely appear, and no tickets were raised in the last month.
Customer view: Craig called it busy people reverting to spreadsheets and said he did not push it hard enough after launch. Marcus read the problem as habit, not stale data.
Commercial: Craig said the contract runs to 22 Aug 2026 and that forty-four thousand a year for four people is hard to defend to his finance director. The evidence does not show a renewal outcome.
Watch: One person asks a fair share of the questions, which is a key-person risk. Marcus advised waiting until after the session before any decision on seats.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Usage drop, value case
Importance
renewal
Sentiment
mixed
Voice
champion
Who was there
BG-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Craig Ashwell to name two or three senior project managers and find early slots the following week.
- Craig Ashwell to send Marcus a few lines on the variation credit control caught.
- Marcus Bell to send the by-team page and book a check-in in about a month.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Active use is about four of forty seats, down roughly a third on the quarter before.
- The finance director will judge the subscription on cost per active user.
- A large share of questions comes from one person, so use could collapse if she leaves or is away.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- A session with two or three senior project managers on their own live jobs could widen use.
- Estimating teams could use the brain if past job costs sit in a connected source.
Transcript
Marcus BellHello Craig, can you hear me alright? I'm just getting the screen share sorted.
Craig AshwellYeah, got you. Afternoon, Marcus.- Marcus BellAfternoon. Right, that should be sharing now. Can you see the usage page, or is it still the home screen?
- Craig AshwellUsage page. Bit small, but I can read it. Go on.
- Marcus BellOkay, good. Thanks for making the time. What I wanted to cover is how the team's been using the brain over the last few months, and then anything that's on your mind. Does that work?
- Craig AshwellFine. But I'll tell you now, I know why you've called. The numbers have dropped. I've seen it from my side too.
- Marcus BellYeah. I've pulled the numbers, and I didn't want to just send them over in an email. So you've got forty licensed users on Growth, and on a typical day we're seeing about four people active.
- Craig AshwellAbout four. Out of forty.
- Marcus BellOut of forty, yeah. And against the quarter before it's down by roughly a third. So it's not that nobody ever used it, it's that it's tailed off.
- Craig AshwellRight. Well. That's not great, is it. I stood up in front of the others and said this was how we'd see every client in one place.
- Marcus BellI know. And that's why I'd rather look at it together than guess. Can I ask who those four people mostly are? I can see the names, but you'll know the roles better than I do.
- Craig AshwellGo on, read them out.
- Marcus BellSo there's you, there's someone in credit control who's in most days, and then two from the commercial side. Contracts, I think, from their questions.
- Craig AshwellYeah. That's what I'd have said. The people who were always going to use it.
- Marcus BellThat's about what I see. Credit control asks the brain something most days, and you're in there most weeks. What I'm not seeing much of is the project managers.
- Craig AshwellNo. You won't. And that's the whole point of it, Marcus. That's where the variations live. Where's the variation? What has the client signed? Nobody on the project side is asking, apparently.
- Marcus BellMm. Do you know why? Not blaming anyone. I'm just trying to understand what's getting in the way.
- Craig AshwellHonestly? Busy. We've got a lot of jobs on at once, the project managers live on site, and they do what they've always done. Spreadsheet, a phone call, a message to the site foreman. It's quicker for them in the moment.
- Marcus BellRight, yeah.
- Craig AshwellAnd I'll be straight with you, I don't think I pushed it hard enough after the first few weeks. We had the launch, people had a look, a couple of them were keen, and then I moved on to the next fire.
- Marcus BellThat's fair, and it's not unusual. The first month there's a lot of energy and then day-to-day takes over. Can I ask, when they did try it, was there anything that put them off? Anything they said to you?
- Craig AshwellNot really complaints. That's the thing. Nobody's said it's rubbish. It's more, what's in it for me? They don't see why they'd open another screen.
- Marcus BellOkay. That matches the tickets, actually. You've had none in the last month, no tickets at all. Which is nice in one way, but when I put it next to the usage it tells me people aren't really in there trying things.
- Craig AshwellSilence, you mean.
- Marcus BellQuiet, yeah. Quiet rather than angry. And I'd rather have angry, to be honest, because angry I can do something with.
- Craig AshwellHa. Fair enough.
- Marcus BellCan I just check one thing on the data side? From what I can see, the sources are still feeding in, so the brain isn't stale. If a project manager asked it about a variation this afternoon, it would have something to say.
- Craig AshwellSo it's not a data problem.
- Marcus BellFrom where I'm sitting, no. I'd call it a habit problem. Which is the better one to have, really, because that's something we can work on.
- Craig AshwellGo on then. What do you suggest? I don't want another round of training slides. They'll switch off.
- Marcus BellNo slides. What I'd suggest is small and practical. Happy to jump on a call with the project managers, thirty minutes, on their own live jobs. Not a demo, just their projects, their variations, and we ask it the questions they'd normally chase someone for.
- Craig AshwellOn their own jobs.
- Marcus BellYes. Because that's the bit that lands. If they ask it which variations are still unsigned on a job they're running and it answers in a few seconds, that's the moment they get it.
- Craig AshwellHm. I like that. Because that is the question. Which variations are unsigned. Work's been done, nobody's recorded it, and then we're arguing about it three months later.
- Marcus BellExactly. And if the project managers can see those next to what's been invoiced, then your credit control people aren't chasing blind.
- Craig AshwellRight. Yes. That's what I told everyone it would do.
- Marcus BellIt can. So who would you want in that first session? I wouldn't want forty people. A handful is better.
- Craig AshwellLet me think. Not all of them. The ones who'd actually tell the others. I've got a couple of senior project managers who run the big London jobs, and people listen to them. If they say it's useful, the rest follow. If they say it's a waste of time, we're done.
- Marcus BellThat's a good way to do it. Two or three senior people, then the others in a second wave if it goes well.
- Craig AshwellYeah. And I'd sit in. I should have sat in the first time.
- Marcus BellThat would help a lot, honestly. When the commercial director is in the room it tells them it matters.
- Craig AshwellMm. Okay. Let me ask you something else, because I'm going to get asked. Is it just us? Is this what you see everywhere?
- Marcus BellI'd be careful about generalising. Some customers settle into a few heavy users and that's fine for them. But you bought Growth for several teams to see the same picture, so four people isn't what you set out to have. I'm not going to pretend it is.
- Craig AshwellNo. Good. I'd rather you didn't.
- Marcus BellWhile I've got the screen up, can I show you the split by team? It's quite telling.
- Craig AshwellShow me.
- Marcus BellSo this is the last three months, by team. Credit control is the steady line. That's the most consistent thing on here. Commercial is lower but there. And project is basically flat along the bottom.
- Craig AshwellFlat along the bottom. Wonderful.
- Marcus BellIt was a bit higher in the first weeks after you went live, and then it fell away. That's the pattern I'd expect from what you've described, people had a look and went back to what they know.
- Craig AshwellAnd what about the questions? The actual questions people ask it. Is there anything in there I should worry about?
- Marcus BellNot worry, no. The questions are sensible. Mostly where is a client on payment, what's been agreed on a job, what did we say on the last call. A lot of it is about clients, not about the project detail. So the credit control and commercial people are getting value. It's just a narrow group.
- Craig AshwellNarrow group. That's the problem in one line.
- Marcus BellYeah. And one other thing, since you asked. A fair share of the questions come from one person. Which is fine, but if they're on holiday or they move on, the usage drops off a cliff. So spreading it wider helps with that as well.
- Craig AshwellYes. I know who you mean. She's brilliant, and she's the one who'd tell you that if she goes under a bus we've got nothing.
- Marcus BellHa, well, let's not plan for the bus. But yes.
- Craig AshwellRight. Let me be direct about something. I'm going to be asked what we're getting for this. We signed in August last year. The contract runs to 22 Aug 2026. And forty-four thousand a year for four people using it, that's a hard thing to defend.
- Marcus BellI hear that, and I'm not going to talk you out of it. I'd say the number of people using it isn't the only way to look at it, but it's a fair thing to be asked.
- Craig AshwellIt is the way my finance director will look at it.
- Marcus BellUnderstood. I'll say this, the commercial terms are Priya's side, and I don't want to get into price on a call like this. But what I can do is make sure that when the renewal conversation comes, you've got a proper picture of what the brain is worth to you. Not just a count of logins.
- Craig AshwellA value case.
- Marcus BellA value case, yeah. Examples. A variation caught before the work was done, a client chased at the right moment. If you or the team can point me at one or two of those, I'll write them up.
- Craig AshwellI've got one already. Good one. Fit-out for a landlord, extra work asked for on site, nobody wrote it down, and credit control spotted it was missing when they were looking at the client. Saved us a fight.
- Marcus BellThat's exactly what I'm after. Can you send me a couple of lines on it afterwards? No names, just what happened and what it would have cost you otherwise, if you know.
- Craig AshwellI'll do you a few lines. I won't put the cash side in, that's for finance to say. But I'll tell you what happened.
- Marcus BellThat's fine. The story's enough.
- Craig AshwellOkay. So what do you need from me, practically?
- Marcus BellThree things, I think. One, the two or three senior project managers you'd want in the first session. Two, a time that works for them, ideally when they're not on site, and I can fit around that. Three, those few lines on the variation.
- Craig AshwellTimes are the hard bit. They're never in the office. Early morning, before they set off, that's when I can catch them.
- Marcus BellEarly is fine for me. I'm in Manchester, so I'm up with the lark anyway. Or end of day when they're back in the van.
- Craig AshwellHa. Early. First thing next week, I'll see what I can get.
- Marcus BellPerfect. And for what it's worth, I'll send you the by-team breakdown after this, so you've got it in front of you if you're asked. Plain, one page.
- Craig AshwellYes please. Send it to me, not round everyone.
- Marcus BellJust to you. Your call who sees it.
- Craig AshwellGood. Because I don't want the project managers feeling like they're being told off. That'll kill it stone dead.
- Marcus BellAgreed. The session should feel like it's useful to them, not a register. I'll keep it about their jobs and not about how often they've logged in.
- Craig AshwellRight. What about the rest of the forty? There are people on the licence who've never touched it, I'd bet.
- Marcus BellThere will be. I can list who's never logged in. What you might want to do is decide who really needs a seat and who doesn't. It's your call, and I'd rather you had the right people on it than a full licence nobody's using.
- Craig AshwellHm. Honest of you.
- Marcus BellIt's more useful to you than me being cheerful about it. Though for what it's worth I'd wait until after the project managers' session before we think about seats. See whether it catches on.
- Craig AshwellYes. Good. Let's see if it catches on first.
- Craig AshwellCan I ask about something else? The estimating people. Could they use it? Someone said to me the other week they'd like to see what we charged on the last similar job.
- Marcus BellPossibly. It depends what's in the sources we're connected to. If the old job costs sit in a system the brain can see, then yes, it could answer that. If they're in someone's spreadsheet on a drive, then no, not without more work. I'd want to look before I said yes.
- Craig AshwellFair. Leave that. One thing at a time. Fix the project managers first.
- Marcus BellAgreed. Don't spread yourself thin. If the project side picks it up, other teams will start asking for it themselves.
- Craig AshwellThat's how it was meant to work. Someone sees the variation list, someone else says, can I see that. Pull, not push.
- Marcus BellRight. And I'll be honest, I should have flagged the drop to you earlier. It's been sliding for a while and I'd rather have picked up the phone sooner.
- Craig AshwellI should have noticed myself. I'm the champion, supposedly.
- Marcus BellHa. Well, we're both here now. I'd like to book a proper check-in in about a month, once the session's happened, so we can see whether anything has moved. Shall we book thirty minutes?
- Craig AshwellYes. Do that. Put it in the diary and I'll move things if I have to.
- Marcus BellI'll send an invite today. And I'll copy Priya on the follow-up note so she knows where we are, if that's all right? Nothing about price, just that we've had this conversation and what we're doing about it.
- Craig AshwellThat's fine. Better she hears it from us than finds it on a report.
- Marcus BellGood. Anything else on your side? Anything you wanted to raise that we haven't touched?
- Craig AshwellLet me think. No, I don't think so. It's the project managers. Everything else is secondary. Get that right and the rest takes care of itself.
- Marcus BellI think that's right. So just to say it back. You'll pick two or three senior project managers and get me some early slots next week. I'll send you the by-team page and the invite for the check-in. And you'll send me those few lines on the variation that credit control caught.
- Craig AshwellYes. And I sit in on the session.
- Marcus BellAnd you sit in. Brilliant.
- Craig AshwellMarcus, one thing. If this doesn't take, I want you to tell me straight. Don't dress it up.
- Marcus BellI will. That's the deal. You'll get the numbers as they are.
- Craig AshwellGood. Then we understand each other.
- Marcus BellWe do. Thanks for being so open about it, Craig. It's easier to work with than people saying everything's fine.
- Craig AshwellEverything's not fine. But it's fixable. Let's get paid for what we've built, as I keep saying.
- Marcus BellHa. Quite. Right, I'll stop sharing. I'll get the note out to you this afternoon.
- Craig AshwellPerfect. Speak soon, Marcus.
- Marcus BellSpeak soon. Thanks, Craig. Bye.
- Craig AshwellBye.
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