Strensall Merchants / BG-Demo – Check In
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Strensall Merchants · 15 Sep 2026 16:15
Neil Craven admitted Enterprise usage has dipped, blaming untrained branch staff. The call doubled as a reference visit for Fewston. Neil expects the finance director to ask what the money buys at renewal.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Neil Craven admitted Enterprise usage has dipped, blaming untrained branch staff. The call doubled as a reference visit for Fewston. Neil expects the finance director to ask what the money buys at renewal.
What happened: On the 15 Sep 2026 call Lewis Kerr hosted a reference visit for Fewston with Neil, Gillian Thewlis and Karen Oxley. Lewis then raised usage: active users are well under half of the 160 licences and down on the quarter before.
Customer view: Neil put it down to newer branch staff who never got training. Karen has lost two people who were good with it, while Gillian says the credit team is steady.
Commercial: Neil expects the finance director to ask what the renewal buys, early next year. Lewis said adding seats would be the wrong conversation and proposed short branch sessions run by Neil and Karen, with Daniel supporting.
Watch: There were no tickets or overdue invoices, so this is value risk, not money risk. Neil said that if the people using it are happy, the job is getting the rest of the branches there.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Usage dip before renewal
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- Lewis to ask Daniel Okafor to draft a short branch sessions plan and send it to Neil by the end of the following week.
- Neil to identify which branch staff have dropped off, and Karen to send her patch by Friday.
- Lewis to arrange an IT call for Lisa Dewhirst and send Gillian's credit benefit lines on to Fewston.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Active users are well under half of the 160 Enterprise licences and down on the previous quarter.
- The finance director will ask what the renewal buys, and Neil says he wants a better answer than half the branches.
- Departed trained staff and untrained newer branch staff mean the gap may widen without a plan.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Short branch sessions on customers' own accounts could restore usage and build the renewal value case.
- Gillian's few lines on the credit benefit and Karen's late-orderer example can support the value case.
- The reference visit may lead to a Fewston quote once their IT review is done.
Transcript
Lewis KerrHello, can you hear me all right? I've got you on screen but no sound yet.
Neil CravenAye, loud and clear, Lewis. Afternoon. We're all in the meeting room at head office, bit of a squash. Sorry, that's the speaker phone picking up the kettle.- Lewis KerrAfternoon, Neil. No problem at all. I can see a few faces, so I'll say hello properly. Michael, Lisa, welcome. Gillian, good to see you again.
Lisa DewhirstThanks, Lewis. We got in from the station about an hour ago. Neil's already had us looking at a counter story, which I'll tell you about in a minute.
Michael DinsdaleAfternoon. I'll say up front that I'm here to listen. Richard says it works for them, and I'd like to see why.- Neil CravenFair enough, Michael. And I'll be honest, Richard's not what you'd call a flatterer, so if he said it, he meant it. Anyway, let's sort it, not talk about it. Lewis, you've got Karen joining us from the North East, haven't you?
- Lewis KerrI have. Karen, are you on? I can see you've joined.
Karen OxleyI'm here. Sorry, I'm in the back office at the branch with the door shut, so if a forklift goes past you'll hear it. Afternoon, everyone.- Lewis KerrAfternoon, Karen. Right, so for the recording, this is our check-in with Strensall, and Neil has kindly turned it into a reference visit for Fewston. I'll keep my part short. Neil, what would you like to have covered by half past four?
- Neil CravenThree things. First, Michael and Lisa see how we actually read a trade account, start to finish. Second, Karen shows what a branch manager sees, because that's where it lives or dies. Third, Lewis, you and I need a word about usage, because I know the numbers have dipped and I'd rather say it out loud than have it sat there.
- Lewis KerrThat's helpful, thank you. I'll come back to usage at the end, if that's all right, so the visitors get the best of the time.
- Lisa DewhirstCan I do my counter story first? Two minutes. Last month an installer came to one of our counters wanting to put a big job on account. The counter could see his orders. Credit could see he was behind. Nobody could see both. He walked out with his materials on a card, and he was not happy.
- Neil CravenHa, that's every Monday morning in my old branch. Which branch, which account? Same story.
- Lisa DewhirstThat's why we're here. What does the installer see at the counter? That's my test for everything. And show me one account end to end, Neil, not a slide.
- Neil CravenRight. Gillian, you take it. You know this one better than me. I'll share the screen. Hang on, it's gone to the wrong window.
Gillian ThewlisThanks, Neil. Hello all. I'm Gillian, I run trade credit. I'll pick a housebuilder account, one of our bigger ones, so you can see it with some weight on it. Can everybody see the page?- Lewis KerrI can see it. It's showing a single account page, yes?
- Gillian ThewlisYes. So the top is the account itself, who owns it on the sales side, and who looks after the credit. Underneath you've got the orders, the deliveries, the calls our key account people have had, and the credit position. All on one page. Before this, I had four screens and a spreadsheet, and I'd ring the branch to ask what they thought.
- Michael DinsdaleWhere does it get the credit position from? Is that typed in by someone?
- Gillian ThewlisNo, it comes from the accounting system overnight. Nobody types it. It's refreshed each morning, so when I'm looking at it at eight o'clock it's yesterday's close.
- Michael DinsdaleAnd you trust it?
- Gillian ThewlisI do now. At the start I checked it against the ledger every day for a couple of weeks. It matched, so I stopped. If it ever looked off I'd say so, I'm not shy.
- Lisa DewhirstThat's the bit I like. Credit and sales looking at the same thing. Can you ask it a question? In words, I mean, not click through.
- Neil CravenGo on, Gillian. Ask it what's changed on that account. What's the builder actually seeing?
- Gillian ThewlisOkay. I'll type, which of this account's deliveries were late and did credit hold anything back. Give it a moment. There. It's listed the late deliveries, and it's shown that credit had a hold on one order, with the date, and a note from the call with their site manager.
- Michael DinsdaleHm. So the hold and the late delivery are connected, or are they just next to each other?
- Gillian ThewlisGood question. It just puts them side by side with the dates. It doesn't claim to know why. I read the call note and that tells me the story. It saves me an hour of finding things, but I still do the thinking.
- Michael DinsdaleGood. I'd be wary if it pretended otherwise.
- Lewis KerrIf I can add one thing from our side, that's by design. Everything it shows has a source you can click back to, so you can see where it came from. And it all runs inside your own Snowflake account, so the data doesn't leave Strensall.
- Lisa DewhirstThat's a thing I'd have to run past our IT. I never skip the IT review. Who would they talk to?
- Lewis KerrI can set up a call between your IT lead and ours, and Strensall's IT team might be willing to say how theirs went. Neil, I'm not volunteering you, that's your call.
- Neil CravenOur IT lads will talk. They'll tell you what was fiddly and what wasn't. Honest, that's all I ask of them.
- Lisa DewhirstBrilliant. Thanks, Neil. Let me show you what I'm after. Gillian, could you go to a smaller account? One of our kind, an installer with a handful of jobs a month.
- Gillian ThewlisSure. Let me pull up a small plumbing firm. Same page, just shorter. Orders, a couple of deliveries, no calls logged, credit fine. That's what a quiet account looks like, nothing flagged.
- Michael DinsdaleWhich is most of ours. We're not Strensall, we're smaller. Lots of small accounts, not many giants. Does it still earn its keep when most accounts are quiet?
- Neil CravenThat's fair, and I won't dress it up. Where we get the value is the awkward accounts. The big ones, and the ones going sideways. For the quiet ones it's just there if the phone rings.
- Gillian ThewlisI'd say the same. The quiet ones I never look at. It's the one in ten where something's off that it pays for itself.
- Michael DinsdaleRight. So the question I'll want answered later is what it will cost us all in. I'm not asking Lewis to say it now.
- Lewis KerrGood, because I wouldn't quote from memory. When you're ready, I'll build a proper quote for Fewston, with the implementation and the subscription shown separately and the VAT position clear, and I'll send that over. I can't speak to what any other customer pays, I'm afraid, and I'm sure Neil wouldn't want me to.
- Neil CravenI'd not discuss price without Fiona in the room anyway, so we're square on that, Michael.
- Michael DinsdaleFair. Understood. Carry on.
- Lisa DewhirstKaren, you're on. Show us the branch manager's view. I want to know if it's something you'd open on a busy Tuesday.
- Karen OxleyHa, I'll be honest, I do open it on busy Tuesdays, but not every branch manager does. Let me share. Can you see my screen? It's my branch page.
- Lewis KerrI can see it, Karen. It's a lot cleaner than I expected for a working branch.
- Karen OxleyThat's because Neil's team cut it down to what a manager needs. At the top, my accounts that have ordered this week. Then the ones that usually order and haven't. Then anything credit has flagged for my branch. That's it. I don't need the rest.
- Lisa DewhirstWhat does the installer see at the counter, though? Does your counter staff use it?
- Karen OxleySome of them. My two senior counter lads do. They'll check an account before they say yes to a big order on account. The newer ones still ring me, which I don't mind, but it's not the idea, is it?
- Neil CravenThat's the honest picture, Lewis. It's in the hands of some of the branch teams and not all. It's what I wanted to talk to you about.
- Michael DinsdaleSo how many of your people use it, Karen? Roughly.
- Karen OxleyIn my area, I'd say about half of the managers look at it most weeks. The rest dip in. I couldn't give you a better figure than that.
- Michael DinsdaleThank you. That's useful to know. I'd rather hear that than a glossy answer.
- Karen OxleyCan I show you one more thing? The late-orderer list. This is the one that earned its place for me. A builder who normally orders every Monday didn't, and it flagged him. I rang, and it turned out he'd switched to a competitor for one job, so I got in before he drifted.
- Lisa DewhirstThat's the one. That's the one I'd take to Michael. Spotting it before it's gone.
- Michael DinsdaleI'll make my own mind up, Lisa, but yes, I take the point.
- Lisa DewhirstOf course. I'll take it to you properly, with notes.
- Gillian ThewlisCan I add, from the credit side? Since branches started checking before they approve, I've had fewer of those calls where I find out about a big order after it has gone out. That's the saving for me, though I haven't put a number on it.
- Lewis KerrThat's a good example of what we'd call a value case, Gillian. Is it something you'd be happy to write up a couple of lines on, for Fewston's benefit? Only if it's easy.
- Gillian ThewlisI can do a few lines. I'm not writing an essay.
- Lewis KerrPerfect, a few lines is exactly right. Now, Neil, shall I pick up the usage point? The others are very welcome to stay, or I can speak to you separately.
- Neil CravenStay, all of you. I've nothing to hide, and Michael may as well see the whole thing. Go on, Lewis.
- Lewis KerrRight. So, to put a number on it, you're licensed for one hundred and sixty users on Enterprise, and the active users over the last month are well under half of that, and a good bit down on the quarter before. No tickets, no overdue invoices, nothing from support. So it isn't broken, it's just quieter. I'd rather understand it than guess.
- Neil CravenI know. I saw the dashboard and it bothered me. My guess is it's the newer branch staff, like Karen said. They never got the training, and the people who did have moved on, or moved branch.
- Karen OxleyThat's right, in my patch anyway. I've lost two of the people who were good with it. Nobody took it over.
- Gillian ThewlisAnd the credit team is steady. I'd not say we've dropped. It's the branches.
- Lewis KerrThat fits what we see, as far as I can tell, though I'd want Daniel to look at the detail by team before I say it for certain. The point being, I'm not here to push you into more of anything. If the seats aren't being used, adding things would be the wrong conversation.
- Neil CravenAppreciate that. Because the renewal's not far off and Fiona will ask me what we're getting for the money, and I'd like a better answer than half the branches.
- Lewis KerrUnderstood, and the renewal is on the twenty-eighth of February next year, so there's time. Our CSM, Daniel Okafor, would normally run branch training. What if we plan a round of short sessions for new branch managers, run by you and Karen, with Daniel supporting?
- Neil CravenI'd take that. Short, though. Branch managers won't sit for a day.
- Karen OxleyThirty minutes, with their own accounts on screen. That's what works. Not a slide deck.
- Lewis KerrAgreed, their own accounts. I'll ask Daniel to draft a plan and get it to Neil by the end of next week.
- Michael DinsdaleCan I ask something, since I'm sat here? If half your people don't use it, and you're still happy enough to have us in the room, what's keeping you with it?
- Neil CravenThat's a fair challenge, Michael. Straight answer: the people who use it wouldn't give it up. Gillian wouldn't, Karen wouldn't, and the big housebuilder accounts are better looked after. The job now is getting the rest of the branches there. That's on me, not on the product.
- Michael DinsdaleThank you. I think that's the most useful thing I've heard today.
- Lisa DewhirstFor us it would be the same. We'd have to plan the counter training from day one, not after. Lewis, is that something you'd include?
- Lewis KerrYes. I'd want the adoption plan written into any proposal for Fewston, so it isn't an afterthought. And I'd size it to what you'd really use, Michael. I won't suggest more than the usage supports.
- Michael DinsdaleGood. I never pay for more than I need, and I don't sign without Lisa's view. So nothing is happening this week.
- Lisa DewhirstUnderstood. I'll take it to Michael with my notes, and I'd like a call with your IT, Lewis, before then.
- Lewis KerrI'll set that up. Is there anything else you'd like to see before you head off? We've got a little time.
- Lisa DewhirstNeil, could we see the call notes on an account? How do you get a call into the page?
- Neil CravenIt comes in from the call recorder, once the call is done. Gillian, show them the housebuilder's last call.
- Gillian ThewlisHere. There's a short summary and a transcript, and you can ask it to pull out any promises that were made. That's the bit I use. Who promised what, and by when.
- Lisa DewhirstOh, that's good. That's us all over. A promise made at a counter and nobody remembers.
- Michael DinsdaleI'll say one more thing and then I'll be quiet. Richard was right that it isn't flashy. It's practical. I like practical.
- Neil CravenCheers, Michael. I'll tell him you said so. He'll go red.
- Lewis KerrRight, let me recap what I've got, then I'll leave you to your afternoon. One, I'll arrange the IT conversation for Lisa. Two, I'll ask Daniel to draft the short branch sessions plan and get it to Neil by the end of next week. Three, Gillian sends a few lines on the credit benefit. Four, when Fewston is ready, I'll send a quote with everything shown separately. Have I missed anything?
- Neil CravenThat's the lot. And I'll look at who in the branches has dropped off, so Daniel has names, not just a feeling.
- Karen OxleyI can give you my patch by Friday if that helps.
- Lewis KerrThat would help a lot, Karen. Thank you. And thank you all for the time, especially Michael and Lisa for coming up.
- Lisa DewhirstThanks, Lewis. Thanks, Neil, Gillian, Karen. Brilliant afternoon. Thanks, Lisa.
- Michael DinsdaleThank you, all. I'll be in touch through Lisa. Michael Dinsdale.
- Neil CravenCheers, everyone. Safe trip back. Speak soon, Lewis.
- Lewis KerrKind regards, Lewis. Speak soon.
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