Strensall Merchants / BG-Demo – Check In
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Strensall Merchants · 22 Oct 2025 13:00
Neil Craven, the customer's trade director, was positive: B-Viz gives one picture of each trade customer. Usage is rising with headroom, branches are patchy, and he will not discuss money without his finance lead.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Neil Craven, the customer's trade director, was positive: B-Viz gives one picture of each trade customer. Usage is rising with headroom, branches are patchy, and he will not discuss money without his finance lead.
What happened: Daniel Okafor held a check-in with Neil Craven alone on 22 Oct 2025. Credit colleagues did not join because of month end prep.
Customer view: Neil said B-Viz settled a housebuilder delivery query in about ten minutes. He described a trade customer as one customer now, and said the one recent ticket was handled fast.
Commercial: The contract runs to 27 Feb 2026, with renewal on 28 Feb 2026. Neil will not discuss money without the finance lead, so Daniel proposed a joint conversation in the new year, with Lewis Kerr.
Watch: Branch use is patchy and only two admins exist. Neil said IT plans system changes in the new year, which could stall a connector. The evidence does not show how the renewal ended.
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 to send the branch session shape by the end of the following week and draft the one page counter questions.
- Neil to choose the branches, consider a third admin from trade credit and have his IT lead contact Daniel before system changes.
- Daniel and Lewis to set up a renewal conversation with Neil and the finance lead in the new year.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Branch adoption is patchy, so the Enterprise seats stay largely unused on a typical day.
- Planned IT system changes in the new year could quietly stop a connector loading.
- Only two admins exist, so one departure would leave a single admin.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Short branch manager sessions and a one page counter guide could widen use across the unused seats.
- Regional summary pages on the dashboards builder, and customer service calls as a later data source.
Transcript
Daniel OkaforHello Neil, good afternoon. Can you hear me alright?
Neil CravenAye, loud and clear. Afternoon, Daniel. Give me a second, I've got the camera pointing at the ceiling.- Daniel OkaforHa, no rush. Thank you for making the time, I know it's a busy week. It's just the two of us today, is that right? I wasn't sure if anyone from the credit side was joining.
- Neil CravenJust me. Credit are tied up with month end prep, they said to say hello. Sorry, I'm a bit scattered. One of our big housebuilder accounts rang me first thing, wanting to know why a delivery showed one thing on their portal and another at the branch.
- Daniel OkaforOh, that's never a nice way to start the morning. Did you get to the bottom of it?
- Neil CravenAye, in the end. Which branch, which account, that's always my first question. Took me about ten minutes with B-Viz. Orders, the delivery notes and the last call with the site manager, all in one place. Before, that'd have been three phone calls and a favour from someone in the depot.
- Daniel OkaforThat's lovely to hear, and it's rather the point of the whole thing, isn't it. Just to close the loop on that one, was it a data problem or a how-people-had-entered-it problem?
- Neil CravenThe second. Somebody keyed the drop in against the wrong site. Not B-Viz's fault, it just showed it up quicker than we'd have spotted it. What's the builder actually seeing, that's what I care about, and we sorted it before lunch.
- Daniel OkaforGood. Well, that's a nice way into what I wanted to cover. I thought we'd do a general check in: how the team is finding it, what the usage looks like, the one ticket you raised recently, and then a quick word about the term coming up so nothing sneaks up on either of us. Does that work for you?
- Neil CravenSounds right. Go on.
- Daniel OkaforLet me share my screen. Can you see the usage page?
- Neil CravenNot yet. There. Yeah, I can see it now.
- Daniel OkaforRight. So you've got 160 licensed users on the Enterprise plan, and over the last thirty days the average number of people active on any given day has been nearly fifty. And that's up quite a lot on the previous quarter, by a good chunk, more than a third. Honestly, that's one of the stronger movements I've seen across the accounts I look after.
- Neil CravenFifty. Out of a hundred and sixty. Is that good or is that you being polite?
- Daniel OkaforHa, no, I'm not being polite. It's good because of the direction, not just the level. A few months ago you were nowhere near that. What I'd say is that it also tells us there's plenty of room. Over a hundred seats are licensed that aren't being used on a typical day, so the question is where the next wave should come from.
- Neil CravenMm. Well, I can tell you where it's come from so far. The key account team took to it first, because they live in that customer detail all day. Then trade credit. Branches are the slow ones.
- Daniel OkaforThat matches what I see. The questions asked by the key account group are by far the most consistent. Trade credit has a smaller number of people but they ask very pointed questions, which I like. The branches are patchier. Some are in every day, some have barely logged in.
- Neil CravenAye. And I'm not going to run a branch down, because it's not about the people. It's about the managers. Some branch managers have been doing it their way for twenty years and they don't see why they should ask a computer.
- Daniel OkaforI remember you telling me you were a branch manager yourself for a long time, so you'll know better than I do how to get that across.
- Neil CravenFifteen years. And what got me was never a training day. It was somebody showing me, on my own customers, how it saved me a phone call. So that's how I'd do it.
- Daniel OkaforThat's exactly the right instinct. Could I suggest something? We pick a handful of branches, you choose them, ones you think would respond, and I run a short session with each manager on their own top trade accounts. Twenty minutes, not a lecture. Just here's the account, here's what you'd normally chase, here's the question you ask instead.
- Neil CravenLet's sort it, not talk about it. I like that. I'd want to pick the right ones though. Give me a couple of weeks to think about which.
- Daniel OkaforOf course. I'll come back to you by the end of next week with a rough shape for the session, so you've got something to react to, and you can tell me the branches when you're ready. I won't guess at dates for you.
- Neil CravenRight. Fair enough.
- Daniel OkaforNow, on the questions side. Do you want to know who's asking the most?
- Neil CravenGo on, I'm nosy. Is it me?
- Daniel OkaforYou are in the top handful, yes, but you're not the top. And that's actually healthy. It's spread across several people rather than one person doing most of the asking, which is the thing I'd worry about. If you left tomorrow, which I hope you won't, the habit would carry on.
- Neil CravenHa. I'm not going anywhere. Bit too stubborn.
- Daniel OkaforGood. I did want to say, though, that the best use I'm seeing is when credit and sales are looking at the same trade account. How is that going on your side? Are they actually agreeing on a customer more often, or are they still arguing?
- Neil CravenLess arguing. There was one the other week, a mid-sized contractor, sales wanted to push a big order through and credit wanted a hold. Before, it'd have gone round in emails for two days. This time they both pulled the same history, saw the late payments and the recent calls, and agreed a limit in one conversation.
- Daniel OkaforThat's a proper outcome. Would you mind if I used that, not the customer's name, just the story, when I talk to other teams about what good looks like?
- Neil CravenFine by me, as long as you keep the customer out of it.
- Daniel OkaforAbsolutely, nothing identifying. Thank you. Right, let me move on to the support side. You raised one ticket in the last month, and I wanted to make sure it left you in a good place.
- Neil CravenThe one about the figures not matching on the morning view? Yes, that was fine. Got a reply fast, sorted the same day I think.
- Daniel OkaforThat's the one. From what I can see, it was a question about when the overnight refresh lands. On Enterprise the nightly refresh should be complete by seven in the morning on business days, and that's what it was doing. It was one branch looking before the refresh had finished. Does that sound right to you?
- Neil CravenThat's about it. One of the lads was in at half six and looking at yesterday's numbers. We've told him to wait till after seven.
- Daniel OkaforRight, good. Just so you know, one ticket from your side with nothing urgent in the last month, nothing high priority, I read that as a healthy sign, particularly with usage going up. If people are using it more and asking for less help, they're getting on with it.
- Neil CravenOr they've given up on you and gone back to spreadsheets.
- Daniel OkaforHa, well, the usage numbers say otherwise, so I'll take the first reading. But it's a fair challenge, and I'd rather you tell me if you ever hear that from the branches.
- Neil CravenI will. I'd tell you straight, you know that.
- Daniel OkaforI do, and I value it. Now, how are you finding the data itself? Are the connected systems still behaving, or are there sources people grumble about?
- Neil CravenMostly fine. The one that gets moaned about is delivery data, because the depot system is a bit old and sometimes things turn up late. But that's the depot system, not you.
- Daniel OkaforUnderstood. If it ever looks as though the records stopped moving, flat for a few days, tell me and I'll have a look from our side before it becomes a bigger thing. Occasionally when a customer changes something at the source, the connection quietly stops loading, and nobody notices for weeks.
- Neil CravenAye. We are changing a couple of things in the new year, I think. IT haven't told me the detail. I'll make sure they speak to you before they flick any switches.
- Daniel OkaforThat would be really helpful, thank you. Even just a heads up that something is moving. I'd rather hear about it early and do nothing than find out afterwards.
- Neil CravenRight. I'll put it in writing to our IT lead so it doesn't get lost.
- Daniel OkaforLovely. While we're on people, who's looking after the admin side at your end these days? Last time we spoke you had a couple of people who could manage things in B-Viz.
- Neil CravenStill two. One in my team and one in IT. Why, is that not enough?
- Daniel OkaforIt's fine for now, I only ask because if either of them moved on, you'd be down to one, and that's a bit thin. It might be worth thinking about a third, perhaps from trade credit, so there's cover. Not urgent, just something to keep in mind.
- Neil CravenFair point. I'll have a think. Credit might put someone forward if I ask nicely.
- Daniel OkaforGood. And since you're on the Enterprise plan there's the single sign-on and the user provisioning side too, which I believe your IT team set up at the start. Has that been behaving? No complaints about people being locked out or accounts lingering after someone leaves?
- Neil CravenNot that I've heard. I'd hear, believe me.
- Daniel OkaforHa, I'm sure you would. Okay. Let me stop sharing for a moment. I wanted to ask something a bit different. If you had to say what B-Viz has changed for you, in your own words, what would you say? The reason I'm asking is I like to have it in your voice, not mine, when I talk to our own team.
- Neil CravenHm. That's a big question for a Wednesday afternoon.
- Daniel OkaforTake your time.
- Neil CravenI think, honestly, it's that a trade customer is one customer now. Used to be that branch had their version, credit had theirs, key accounts had theirs. Three versions, and the builder would get three different answers depending on who he rang. Now it's one picture. That's it really. A builder rings, anyone can see the same thing.
- Daniel OkaforThat's very clear. Thank you. That's exactly what I'll pass on.
- Neil CravenAnd I'd add, it's not finished. The branches are the bit I want to get right. If the branch counter staff can see the same thing the director can see, then we're properly there.
- Daniel OkaforAgreed. That's the gap, and it's where those headroom seats could do some good. Let me suggest a couple of things for the rollout, and you tell me what makes sense. First, the short sessions with the branch managers we talked about. Second, maybe a simple set of starter questions for counter staff, the five things a person on the counter would ask about a trade account. Would that be useful?
- Neil CravenVery. Keep it plain though. No jargon. If it takes more than a page, nobody reads it.
- Daniel OkaforOne page, plain words. I'll draft it and send it over for you to pull apart. You'll know better than me whether the language sounds like a merchant's counter.
- Neil CravenSend it to me and I'll mark it up with a red pen. Metaphorically.
- Daniel OkaforHa, I'll look forward to it. Right. Now, I should mention the term. Your current contract runs to 27 Feb 2026, and the renewal date is the day after, 28 Feb 2026. I'm not here to talk about commercial detail today, I know that sits with your finance side, but I wanted you to hear from me that it's coming, and that I'll be reaching out properly in good time.
- Neil CravenAye. I'd not discuss anything on money without our finance lead in the room anyway. That's the way we do it.
- Daniel OkaforCompletely understood, and that's how I'd want it. What I'd suggest is that in the new year we set up a proper conversation with you and your finance lead together, and I'll send a short note beforehand on what you've used and what it's done for you. So the conversation starts from the value, not from a number.
- Neil CravenThat's sensible. Who's going to be on your side? Is it still you and Lewis?
- Daniel OkaforYes. Lewis Kerr is still your account owner for the commercial side, and I'll be there for adoption and the practical bits. I'll make sure he knows what we've discussed today.
- Neil CravenGood. I'd rather not explain it all again.
- Daniel OkaforYou won't have to. I'll write it up this afternoon and share the notes with him.
- Neil CravenRight. Anything else on the list?
- Daniel OkaforTwo small things. One, the executive sponsor side of the Enterprise plan. I'd like to know whether you feel you're getting enough from that, or whether there's something you'd want more of, perhaps a conversation with our leadership about where you want to take this next year.
- Neil CravenHm. I'd say it's fine for now. If we went further with the branches I might want to talk to someone senior about how others do it. Other merchants, other groups with lots of sites.
- Daniel OkaforI'll note that down and see who's best placed. I can't promise names today, but I'll come back to you on it.
- Neil CravenFair.
- Daniel OkaforAnd the second thing is the last time we spoke you mentioned you were thinking about bringing more of the customer service calls into it. Is that still on your mind?
- Neil CravenIt is. The calls from the big accounts are gold, really, you hear what the builder's actually worried about before it hits an order. But we'd have to sort the recording side with our phone people first. That's a job for the new year.
- Daniel OkaforSensible. Do let me know when your phone team are ready and we can look at what's needed. I'd rather you were ready on your side than we rush it.
- Neil CravenWill do.
- Daniel OkaforOkay. Let me just recap so we've both got the same list. I'll send the rollout shape for the branch sessions by the end of next week. I'll draft the one page of counter questions for you to mark up. You'll pick the branches and think about a third admin from credit. You'll make sure your IT lead talks to me before any system changes. And in the new year we get you, your finance lead, Lewis and me round a table for the term. Did I miss anything?
- Neil CravenThat's the lot. Nice and tidy, that.
- Daniel OkaforLovely. Is there anything on your mind that I haven't asked about? Something that's been bothering you or somebody's been grumbling about?
- Neil CravenNot really. Well. One thing. Our regional managers keep asking if they can have their own view, a little summary page each, so they're not clicking around. Is that a thing you do?
- Daniel OkaforIt is, yes. On your plan you have the dashboards builder, so your own people can put together a page for each region. I can show one of your admins how to do it, or I can walk a regional manager through it directly. Which would you prefer?
- Neil CravenShow my admin first. Then they can do the rest. I don't want to be the bottleneck.
- Daniel OkaforPerfect. I'll offer a short slot to your admin from your team, and I'll send some times in the next week or so. Would the afternoons suit?
- Neil CravenAfternoons are better. Mornings are daft, everybody's on the phone to a site.
- Daniel OkaforAfternoons it is. Thank you again, Neil. I really do appreciate you taking the time, and the honesty. It's been a good conversation.
- Neil CravenAye, you too. Appreciate the work from your lot. Better than I expected when we started, to be honest.
- Daniel OkaforThat's kind of you to say, I'll pass it on to the team. Speak soon, and enjoy the rest of your week. Best wishes, Daniel.
- Neil CravenCheers, Daniel. Cheers, Neil. Ha, I mean, cheers. Bye now.
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