Strensall Merchants / BG-Demo – Check In
Callcompleted
Strensall Merchants · 24 Sep 2025 13:30
Neil Craven is enthusiastic: active users are in the low forties against 160 licences and B-Viz is now the first place people look. He does not sign, so finance must be brought in before the renewal.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Neil Craven is enthusiastic: active users are in the low forties against 160 licences and B-Viz is now the first place people look. He does not sign, so finance must be brought in before the renewal.
What happened: Daniel Okafor held a one-to-one check-in with Neil on 24 Sep 2025. Trade credit and key account managers use B-Viz heavily, while branch managers vary.
Customer view: Neil sees no argument against keeping it and says people would knock on his door if it were removed. He said the nightly refresh is fine and nobody has reported wrong numbers.
Commercial: Neil said he is not the one who signs and wants finance colleagues present for commercials. He also flagged that something else may be brought in from his side, but he does not yet know what.
Watch: Neil asks many of the questions himself, so a wider spread of askers matters. Daniel promised a finance-readable value picture by the end of the month.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Adoption and renewal groundwork
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- Daniel Okafor to send timing options for a short branch manager session by the end of the following week.
- Daniel to bring a simple value picture for Neil and his finance colleagues by the end of the month, shaped with Lewis Kerr.
- Daniel to send Neil the detail on the two recent tickets.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Neil Craven does not sign and finance colleagues were not on the call, so renewal support rests on a value case they have yet to see.
- Questions come mostly from trade credit, key account managers and Neil himself, so use leans on a few people.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- A practical session for branch managers using real trade accounts could bring more users into the unused part of the 160 licences.
- A possible extra data source from the customer's side may use spare Enterprise connector capacity.
Transcript
Daniel OkaforAfternoon, Neil. Can you hear me alright?
Neil CravenAye, loud and clear. Afternoon, Daniel. Sorry, bit of wind, I'm out in the yard. Give me a second and I'll go inside.- Daniel OkaforNo rush.
- Neil CravenRight, that's better. Is it just us today?
- Daniel OkaforJust us, I think. Thanks ever so much for your time, I know this is a busy week. Lewis sends his best wishes, he's not on this one but he's across everything, so anything you say today he'll hear about.
- Neil CravenNo bother. Honestly, I've been on the phone since seven. One of our big housebuilder accounts rang first thing, wanted to know why a delivery showed one way at the branch and another on the credit side. Which branch, which account, what's the builder actually seeing, that's what I always ask. Anyway, I found it in about two minutes in B-Viz, so that's a good start to a call about B-Viz.
- Daniel OkaforThat's good to hear, and it's just the sort of thing we hoped it would do for you. How is the team finding it generally? Is that the kind of thing the branches are doing themselves now, or is it still coming through you?
- Neil CravenMixed, honestly. The trade credit team are all over it. Key account managers, same. Branches, it depends on the manager. Some of them ask it a question before they pick up the phone, which is what I wanted. Others still ring me, and I say, have you asked it? And they go, no.
- Daniel OkaforMm. That's very normal at this stage, and it's usually habit rather than anything wrong with the tool. Just to close the loop on usage, the numbers for the last quarter look really healthy. Active users are in the low forties on average, and that's up quite a bit on the quarter before.
- Neil CravenLow forties out of a hundred and sixty licences, so we're not exactly using the lot.
- Daniel OkaforRight, and I'd say that's a good position to be in rather than a worry. You've got plenty of headroom, and the growth is going the right way. The question is where the next lot of people come from. Do you have a view?
- Neil CravenI do. Branch managers, mainly. We rolled it out to the first wave of branches, and the ones using it are telling the others. Word of mouth in this business beats any email from head office, believe me. I was a branch manager for fifteen years. If another manager says it saves him a phone call, he'll try it. If I say it, he rolls his eyes.
- Daniel OkaforHa, fair enough. So would it help if we ran a short session for branch managers, something practical, using their own trade accounts rather than a generic demo?
- Neil CravenAye, that'd work. Keep it short. Half an hour, tops, and use real accounts. Nobody wants slides. Let's sort it, not talk about it.
- Daniel OkaforUnderstood. I'll come back to you by the end of next week with a couple of options for timing, and I'll ask Lewis whether he wants to be on it.
- Neil CravenGrand. And I'll tell you what else, the key account people want to see the call side more. Not just orders and deliveries, but what's been said to the builder on the phone, alongside it.
- Daniel OkaforThat's interesting. Are they finding the call summaries when they ask, or is it more that they didn't know it was there?
- Neil CravenDidn't know, I think. One of them said she thought it was just orders and credit. I said no, love, it's all in there. She went quiet and then spent an hour on it.
- Daniel OkaforLovely. That's a good sign, actually. People who find something themselves tend to stick with it. I'll make sure the session covers calls and emails as well as the order side, so nobody misses it.
- Daniel OkaforCan I ask who's doing most of the asking? Just so I understand where the questions are coming from.
- Neil CravenMostly trade credit and the key account managers. I ask a fair few myself, I'll admit, usually when a builder rings me direct. I'd like it spread wider, so it's not just the same few faces every time.
- Daniel OkaforThat's a sensible thing to want, and it fits with the session for branch managers. The more people asking, the less it depends on any one person, including you.
- Neil CravenRight. What about the tickets? I saw a couple go through. Anything I should know?
- Daniel OkaforNothing to worry about. Two tickets in the last month, neither of them high priority. I can send you the detail if you'd like, but there was nothing in them that I'd call a concern.
- Neil CravenFine. Two's nothing.
- Daniel OkaforNow, the other thing I wanted to touch on is the contract, just so nobody is surprised. You joined us on 28 Feb 2025, and the term runs to 27 Feb 2026, so we're a little over halfway through the first year. Nothing to decide today. I just like to say it early so it's on the radar.
- Neil CravenAye, I know it's coming. I'll be honest, I'm not the one who signs, and I'd want our finance people in the room for anything about the commercials. But from where I sit, there's no argument. I'd have a lot of people knocking on my door if I took it away.
- Daniel OkaforThat's completely understood, and I wouldn't want to get into the commercials without them either. What I'd suggest is that, nearer the time, Lewis and I set up a conversation with you and your finance colleagues, and we bring a simple picture of what the team has been getting from it. Would that be useful?
- Neil CravenIt would. And make it a picture a finance person can read. Not a lot of charts. What's it done for credit, what's it done for key accounts. Same thing I'd say to a builder: show me, don't tell me.
- Daniel OkaforFair. I'll have that in mind. I'd be looking at the questions people ask, who's asking them, and where it's shortened a job. I'll come back to you by the end of the month with a rough shape of it.
- Neil CravenDo that. One more thing. There's talk of bringing something else into it from our side, but I don't know what yet, so I'm flagging it rather than asking.
- Daniel OkaforThat's helpful to know. Enterprise gives you a good number of connectors, so there's room, and when you know what it is, tell me early and we'll look at what's involved before anybody says anything to a branch.
- Neil CravenAye, I'll not promise anything till I've checked. Last thing I want is a manager telling a builder it's coming when it isn't.
- Daniel OkaforExactly. How's the freshness been, by the way? The overnight refresh, ready by 07:00, are people seeing the right numbers when they log in first thing?
- Neil CravenYes. Nobody's said otherwise, and they'd tell me, believe me. The branch lads are in by seven, and if the numbers weren't right I'd hear about it before I'd had my first brew.
- Daniel OkaforGood. That matters a lot, so I'm glad to hear it. And on the admin side, is there anything you need? Any changes in who's looking after it your end?
- Neil CravenNo changes. Same team. Which is a relief, I've had enough of people moving about.
- Daniel OkaforI'll take that. Just to close the loop on today, then. Three things from me. A short practical session for branch managers using real trade accounts, with options on timing by the end of next week. A simple value picture for you and your finance colleagues before we get close to the renewal, which I'll shape with Lewis and bring to you by the end of the month. And I'll send you the detail on those two tickets.
- Neil CravenThat's the lot. And I'll have a word with the key account lot about the calls side, so they know it's there.
- Daniel OkaforLovely. Is there anything we haven't covered?
- Neil CravenOnly that I'm glad we did it. When I pushed for this, a few people said it was just another system. Now it's the first place they look. That's what I wanted: credit, sales and branches all seeing the same account. Proper job.
- Daniel OkaforThat's really good to hear, Neil, and I'll pass it on to the team. Thanks again for your time. I'll be in touch next week.
- Neil CravenCheers, Daniel. Speak soon.
- Daniel OkaforBest wishes. Bye for now.
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