Ashwell Mercer Interiors / BG-Demo – QBR
Callcompleted
Ashwell Mercer Interiors · 2 Apr 2026 13:00
Ashwell Mercer's QBR showed healthy data but thin use: six or seven active of forty seats. Craig Ashwell wants credit control using it and a variations list before he will take renewal to the board.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Ashwell Mercer's QBR showed healthy data but thin use: six or seven active of forty seats. Craig Ashwell wants credit control using it and a variations list before he will take renewal to the board.
What happened: Marcus Bell showed usage on Growth with forty licensed users. Craig Ashwell, Valerie Okon and Sunil Kapoor pressed on adoption, an overdue invoice and the unconfirmed variations list.
Customer view: Craig said the usage case needs to be better than six or seven people. Valerie said she cannot sign anything new without the board and wants any price change in writing with the order form.
Commercial: the contract runs to 22 Aug 2026 and renewal falls on 23 Aug 2026. Priya, the account owner, will send terms. Marcus did not quote a figure for the price-list change and said it applies to renewals from the summer.
Watch: Sunil asks most of the questions, which is a key-person risk. Credit control uses the brain hardly at all. The overdue invoice detail sits with BG-Demo accounts and is not in the call.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Adoption and renewal case
Importance
renewal
Sentiment
mixed
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 check the overdue invoice with accounts and write to Valerie Okon.
- Marcus Bell to send times for a credit control session, avoiding the last week of the month.
- Priya to send renewal terms in writing with the order form.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Only six or seven of forty Growth seats are active, so the board may not back renewal.
- Sunil Kapoor asks most of the questions, a key-person risk.
- A price change under the earlier price list applies at renewal and Valerie Okon wants it in writing.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- A credit control session built on their own questions could bring a third team into the brain.
- The unconfirmed variations list gives Craig Ashwell the proof point he asked for.
Transcript
Marcus BellHello, afternoon all. Can you hear me alright? I've got a bit of an echo on my side.
Craig AshwellLoud and clear. Afternoon, Marcus.
Sunil KapoorAfternoon. Yes, fine here.- Marcus BellLovely. Valerie, are you with us? I can see you in the list but no video.
Valerie OkonI'm here. Camera is being difficult, I'll leave it off. Before we start, can I ask about invoices? Your system is showing one as overdue and I want to understand it.- Marcus BellYes, I saw that when I pulled the numbers this morning. One invoice flagged as overdue on our side. I don't have the detail in front of me, to be honest, that sits with our accounts team. Happy to ask them today and come back to you in writing.
- Valerie OkonPlease do. What's outstanding, and against which date. I'll check our ledger at the same time. I won't give you a payment date until I've seen it.
- Marcus BellThat's completely fair. I'll make a note. Right, so what I'd like to cover today: how usage has gone since the last review, what's working, what's not, and then a bit on the renewal timetable so there are no surprises. Shall I share my screen?
- Craig AshwellGo on. Actually, can I start with something first? It's the landlord job we've been fighting over. We've got variations sitting in the brain that nobody has agreed with the client, and I want to know if it flags them.
- Marcus BellSure. Let me get the usage up and then we can come to that, because I think it's the same conversation. Can you see my screen? It should say the Ashwell Mercer workspace at the top.
- Sunil KapoorYes, I can see it.
- Marcus BellGood. So, headline. You're on Growth, forty licensed users, contracted at £44k a year, and that matches what's been invoiced, so no difference there. Day to day you've got somewhere around six or seven people active on average. That's up by about a third on the quarter before.
- Craig AshwellSix or seven out of forty. That's not many, Marcus.
- Marcus BellNo, you're right, and I'll be straight about that. It's moving the right way, but it's a small group of people asking most of the questions. I'd rather show you that than hide it.
- Valerie OkonSo we are paying for forty and using a handful.
- Marcus BellMm. I'd put it as, there's a lot of headroom. The seats are there, the connectors are running, it's about who's been brought in. And that's partly what I wanted to talk through today, rather than just show a chart.
- Craig AshwellFine. Who's asking the questions, then?
- Marcus BellLet me scroll. So the biggest share is Sunil, which won't surprise anyone. Then a couple of people in the commercial team, and two or three from the project side who dip in. Credit control, hardly at all.
- Sunil KapoorThat's right. I've been the one testing things. A lot of my questions are checks, really. Does the brain's client list tie to the ledger, does a project code roll up to the right client. I don't think I'm a typical user.
- Marcus BellThat's useful, thanks. And did the client list come out clean in the end? Last time you had a discrepancy.
- Sunil KapoorMostly. There were a few clients that existed twice, once in the project system and once in the commercial one, with slightly different names. I reconciled most of them by hand. Three or four are still open. I can send you the list.
- Marcus BellPlease do. If they're the same company I'd rather we sort the matching than have you doing it by hand every month.
- Sunil KapoorThat would help. I don't like fixing the same thing twice.
- Craig AshwellRight, so, the variations. What has the client signed? That's all I care about. If the brain can show me instruction, quote, and whether there's a signed variation behind it, then I'm interested. If it can't, then why are we paying.
- Marcus BellOkay. So what it can do is pull together what's in the project records, the emails and the call notes about a given job, and show you the thread. Who asked for the change, what was said, and whether there's a document that says it was agreed. I'm not going to claim it replaces your commercial process.
- Craig AshwellI don't want it to replace it. I want it to catch what we miss. Where's the variation? Nobody writes it down until it's three weeks too late.
- Marcus BellRight. Do you want me to try one live? Give me a job.
- Craig AshwellThe big landlord one. The one with the floor we're doing twice.
- Sunil KapoorWhich project code? I'd rather we used the code than the description, otherwise it might pick up the wrong one.
- Craig AshwellSunil, you'll know it. Put it in for him.
- Sunil KapoorTyping it into chat now. It's the code ending in the landlord's initials, you'll see it.
- Marcus BellRight, so, I've asked it which instructions on that job have no signed variation against them. Give it a moment. It's reading across the project records and the emails.
- Marcus BellOkay. It's come back with a few. There are changes mentioned in site emails and in a couple of recorded calls, and for some of them it can't find an agreed variation document. It's flagging those as unconfirmed.
- Craig AshwellThat's it. That's the list I'm after. How many is it saying?
- Marcus BellA handful. I'd be careful with how I describe it, though. It's saying it couldn't find a signed one, which isn't quite the same as there isn't one. Sunil, would you check them against the commercial system?
- Sunil KapoorI will. I wouldn't want to overstate it. A couple may be signed and filed under a different reference. I'll reconcile it and tell you.
- Craig AshwellFine. But get me that list by the end of the week. Let's get paid for what we've built.
- Valerie OkonCraig, can I add something? If we're going to rely on that list, I want the credit control team looking at it too. They are the ones chasing valuations, and they don't have access to what you've just done.
- Craig AshwellAgreed. That's what we bought it for, so the three teams see the same client. Credit control have not got on with it.
- Marcus BellThat's the gap I was seeing in the usage. Can I ask why, do you think? Is it access, or training, or they just don't see the point yet?
- Valerie OkonI think they don't know what to ask it. They have their own spreadsheet and they trust it. They've had one session and it was a general one.
- Marcus BellOkay, that's helpful. So that's something I can actually do. What I'd suggest is a short session aimed only at credit control, built around their questions. What's outstanding by client, which valuations are late, what's been said to the client about payment. Maybe an hour, with real examples from your data.
- Valerie OkonWhat's outstanding by client. Yes. That is exactly the question.
- Marcus BellThen let's make that the demo. Shall we book thirty minutes now to find a date, or would you rather I send times?
- Valerie OkonSend times. I need to see who is free. Not the last week of the month, we close the books.
- Marcus BellNoted, not the last week of the month.
- Marcus BellLet me move on a bit. Records indexed. This is the one I watch for staleness. Is the brain getting fresh data every night? And it is. The line's climbing steadily, no flat patches that I can see in the last few months.
- Sunil KapoorThat matches what I see. The refresh has been there each morning. I haven't had a connector stop loading since the autumn.
- Marcus BellGood. And on tickets, you raised one in the last month, nothing urgent, and nothing marked high priority. Does that feel right to you?
- Sunil KapoorYes. It was a small thing and it was dealt with. I'd have been in touch otherwise.
- Craig AshwellSo it works and nobody uses it. Is that fair?
- Marcus BellHa. Not quite how I'd put it, but I won't dodge it. The plumbing is healthy, the adoption is the thing. Which is why I'd rather talk about getting the other teams in than pretend the chart's better than it is.
- Craig AshwellFair enough. Okay, what else have you got?
- Marcus BellThe last piece is the renewal, because the date's coming round faster than people think. Your contract runs to 22 Aug 2026 and the renewal falls on 23 Aug 2026. Our process is that I give you proper notice, ninety days, and I'd like to start the conversation well before that, not on the day.
- Valerie OkonWho will be giving us the terms? Is that you?
- Marcus BellNo, that's Priya, she's your account owner and she handles commercial terms. I'll be in the room for the usage and value side, but I'd rather she talked about price properly than me guessing at it. She'll be in touch with the renewal terms and I'll make sure you've got them in good time.
- Valerie OkonWill the price change? I'd prefer to know now.
- Marcus BellI know you had the letter from us at the start of the year about pricing for customers who joined on the earlier price list. It does apply to renewals from the summer, so I'd expect it to be part of what Priya sends. I don't want to quote you a figure from memory and get it wrong. That would be unfair.
- Valerie OkonI remember the letter. I would like it in writing with the order form, not in a conversation. And I should say, I cannot sign anything new without the board.
- Marcus BellUnderstood. Then the sooner you've got it the better, so it can go to the board with the usage case behind it. That's what I can help with.
- Craig AshwellAnd the usage case needs to be better than six or seven people. I'll tell you that now. If I'm going to the board saying keep it, I need credit control using it and the variations list working.
- Marcus BellI think that's exactly right, and it's realistic. You've got about four months. If we get the credit control session done soon and Sunil's list is signed off, then by the summer you've got real examples of money chased or variations caught.
- Sunil KapoorCan I suggest one more thing? I'd like a short report of questions asked by team, month on month, so we can show the board who's using it. I don't want to build that by hand if the brain can answer it.
- Marcus BellI can do that. I've pulled the numbers already, I'll just put them into something readable. I'll send you the first one after this call and we can update it monthly.
- Sunil KapoorThank you. That saves me a job.
- Craig AshwellAnything else, Marcus? Because I've got a site meeting at half two.
- Marcus BellNearly. Let me read it back so we agree. One, I check the overdue invoice with our accounts team and write to Valerie. Two, I send times for a credit control session, avoiding the last week of the month. Three, Sunil reconciles the unconfirmed variations and the duplicate clients, and sends me the list. Four, I send Sunil the usage by team. And Priya will be in touch about renewal terms. Have I missed anything?
- Valerie OkonNo. That is everything.
- Craig AshwellGood. Get it done. Cheers, Marcus.
- Sunil KapoorThanks, Marcus. Speak soon.
- Marcus BellThanks all. I'll get the notes out this afternoon. Bye for now.
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