Ulleskelf Garden Centres / BG-Demo – Discovery
Callcompleted
Ulleskelf Garden Centres · 1 Dec 2025 16:45
Discovery with Ulleskelf's Head of Customer Experience and Finance Director. Seven centres reconcile tills, accounts and stock by hand. The £56k is the opportunity total, not an annual price. Decision targeted for end of January.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Discovery with Ulleskelf's Head of Customer Experience and Finance Director. Seven centres reconcile tills, accounts and stock by hand. The £56k is the opportunity total, not an annual price. Decision targeted for end of January.
What happened: Sophie Ling ran discovery with Jackie Seed and Terence Bradley, who joined late. They described seven centres each running their own numbers, with group figures taking days.
Customer view: Reconciliation is the pain. Terence said "I just want to stop being the bottleneck." Success means month-end closing in a day and stock visible across all seven sites.
Commercial: Terence asked about cost and wants it split line by line before he signs off. Sophie said the £56k is the opportunity total and a working number only, not a yearly price.
Watch: Jackie wants a pilot with the group office and one centre. Terence called the January decision tight but workable. A demo on their own data, including finance, is to be set up.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Group reconciliation and reporting
Importance
upsell
Sentiment
positive
Voice
decision-maker
Who was there
BG-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Sophie Ling to set up a demo on Ulleskelf's own data with the solutions engineer, including Terence.
- Sophie to check timelines with the solutions team and send a note of what was covered.
- Sophie to present any proposal split line by line once scoped.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Terence Bradley called the end of January decision tight, and cost and payment terms are unresolved.
- The £56,000 is only a working total for the opportunity, so price expectations could shift once scoped.
- The stock discussion was cut short when Terence dropped off, so that need is not fully explored.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- A pilot with the group office and one centre could expand across all seven centres.
- A demo on Ulleskelf's own data with finance included addresses both reporting and reconciliation.
Transcript
Sophie LingGood afternoon both. Can you hear me okay? I'm on a slightly dodgy connection today.
Jackie SeedHi Sophie, you're fine. Terence is still in his other meeting, he said to start without him.- Sophie LingRight. Shall we give him a minute? I'd rather he hears the start.
- Jackie SeedHe'll be a couple of minutes. How's your week been?
- Sophie LingBusy, mostly in meetings. We had a bit of rain on the way over, nothing dramatic.
Terence BradleySorry, sorry, I'm here. Go on, don't let me hold you up.- Sophie LingNot at all. What I'd like from today is to understand how the business runs across the centres, what you're trying to fix, and when you'd want something in place. Then we can decide whether it's worth a proper look.
- Jackie SeedGood. So we've got seven garden centres, each with a café and a farm shop, and every one of them runs its own numbers. It takes us days to get a group view.
- Terence BradleyDays is generous. It's the end of the month before anyone can tell me what the cafés did.
- Sophie LingThat's the piece I want to understand. When the figures come in, who pulls them together?
- Terence BradleyMostly me and two people in finance, and a lot of copying between spreadsheets. The till figures don't match the accounting figures until someone's spent an afternoon on them.
- Jackie SeedAnd the stock side is a different conversation. The farm shops don't always see what's been moved from the garden centre.
- Sophie LingSo there's a reconciliation problem between the tills, the accounts and the stock. Is that the main issue, or is it the reporting people want?
- Jackie SeedBoth, if I'm honest. Reporting is what the directors ask for. Reconciliation is what keeps me up at night.
- Terence BradleyI'd like to say reporting, but I'll take reconciliation. Honestly, I just want to stop being the bottleneck.
- Sophie LingThat's really helpful. What do you use for each side at the moment? Just the names of the systems, nothing fancy.
- Jackie SeedTill system, accounting system, and a stock spreadsheet one of the managers keeps. There's a CRM for the café bookings, though that's separate.
- Sophie LingOkay. So the brief is to ask questions across those sources without pulling them into one place by hand. Does that sound right?
- Terence BradleyYes, but I need to know the cost and how it's paid before I go any further. Is the figure around fifty-six thousand?
- Sophie LingThe figure on the opportunity at the moment is £56,000. I'd treat that as a working number for now.
- Terence BradleyIs that annual, or is it all in?
- Sophie LingIt's the total for the opportunity, not an annual figure. I'd rather you didn't take it as the yearly price until we've got a proper proposal in front of you.
- Terence BradleyRight. That's clear enough. I'd want it split out line by line before I sign off anything.
- Sophie LingUnderstood. We'll show it that way once we've scoped it. What does a good outcome look like for you in six months?
- Jackie SeedThe café managers stop phoning head office for the week's takings. And I can see the stock across all seven sites on one screen without ringing anyone.
- Terence BradleyMonth-end closes in a day, not a week. That's what I'd measure.
- Sophie LingThose are good measures. I'll write them down so we can check against them later. Who else would need to be involved if we went ahead?
- Jackie SeedProbably the store managers, but not on day one. I'd want to pilot it with the group office and one centre first.
- Sophie LingThat sounds sensible. A pilot first means we see what works before anything rolls out.
- Terence BradleySorry, can you go back to the timing? I was on mute.
- Sophie LingOf course. The aim would be to have the decision made by the end of January, so the pilot can start soon after.
- Jackie SeedJanuary would suit. Our busy period is the spring, and I want it running before the garden season starts.
- Terence BradleyJanuary's tight for the decision, but workable, if we're not waiting on anyone else.
- Sophie LingLet's see what the scoping says. I'll check the timelines with our solutions people and come back to you.
- Jackie SeedGood. Is there a demo we can do?
- Sophie LingYes, and I'd want it on your own data rather than a generic one. I'll set one up with our solutions engineer.
- Terence BradleyCan we include the finance side in that? Otherwise I'll be asking the same questions again.
- Sophie LingYes, I'll make sure you're in it. I think we've covered a lot. Anything I've missed?
- Jackie SeedSorry, Sophie, Terence has dropped off to take a call. Can we pick up the stock point another time?
- Sophie LingOf course. I'll put it in the note and we can come back to it in the demo.
- Terence BradleyI'm back, sorry. Agreed on all of that, Sophie. Speak soon.
- Sophie LingThanks both. I'll send a note today with what we've covered and the dates. Cheers.
- Jackie SeedThanks Sophie, that was helpful. Bye.
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