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Missed the last issue?
Casey had been listening to Professor Brett Duarte describe how AI can handle traceability and sustainability documentation, the timestamping, the tracking, the measurement, and she said the quiet part out loud. That work has been sitting on somebody’s Excel file for decades. And the industry keeps aiming its attention at customer experience while it sits there.
My First VIP Connect.
Casey’s review of the VIP Connect venue, sight unseen: “What a horrible venue.”
She was kidding, of course. It was a lawn overlooking the Pacific in Huntington Beach, which beats every hotel ballroom I’ve sat in this year. She missed the session, so she got the recap from me on camera, along with our guests for this episode of The Retail Razor Show, the two people who ran it.
VIP Connect is Vendors in Partnership’s event, held the half-day before RetailClub AI Festival kicked off. Three hours. Retailers and solution providers at the same table. Nobody pitching. The whole point is to teach each other how your organization makes decisions.
It was my first one. I walked out with a page of notes and one line I can’t stop repeating to everyone who’ll listen.
Casey and I recorded the episode live with Vicki Cantrell, CEO and co-founder of Vendors in Partnership (yes, the Fairy Godmother of Retail), and Dave Finnegan, Operating Partner and Chief Connection Officer at BlackFinn Partners, who has sat in the CIO and other c-suite chairs himself.
Everybody does AI. Congratulations.
Dave opened with the day’s thesis, and it stung a little. At least it did if you’re a retail tech solution provider. Which for me, represents over two decades of delivering tech to retailers.
Every vendor in retail is saying “we do AI.” When everybody says it, a retailer can’t use it to choose anyone.
His words: the current go-to-market motion is clearly broken.
The example from the room made me laugh, then wince. A retailer took a meeting, clicked through the vendor’s website to prep, and found AI on every page. What did the company do? No clue. They left the meeting still not knowing.
The lesson for vendors?
Assume the retailer already thinks AI is in there somewhere.
Casey’s line: it’s assumed now. Lead with the problem you solve.
Dave’s version fits on a sticky note:
Great marketers market the problem.
The budget question has a backstory.
Retailers, this section’s for you. The rep asking “do you have budget?” in meeting one has a sales manager asking the same thing about you, every week, in a pipeline review. If the rep can’t answer, the manager says move on to the next account.
I know how that sounds.
It’s still worth knowing, because the retailers in the room did something smart with it. Once they understood who was asking, they offered better questions to answer.
“Ask me what ROI I need to show.“
“Ask me what’s on my roadmap that I’m struggling with.”
Vicki said the way the retailers reframed it was one of the most helpful moments of the day.
Nobody has champion in their title.
Someone in the room said it and I wrote it down twice. Vendors chase titles: CIO, CMO, anyone with a C in front. Dave’s point is that champions show up as directors, VPs, CIOs, and CMOs.
The title won’t tell you which one.
So ask.
Dave said that as a CIO he’d have answered “who’s the champion?” without blinking.
Hardly anyone asks.
Vicki’s add-on might be the most useful tip of the day:
you find the champion, find the person who’ll explain how the company works. Who decides. Who gets cranky if you go around them. One conversation, and you’ve saved yourself months of beating your head against the wall.
Where I landed.
Both sides walk into these meetings thinking they know how the other operates. Mostly, they’re guessing. What fixed it at VIP Connect was boring in the best way: more questions, better questions, and people willing to explain their own org chart out loud.
My take for vendors: quit being so polite in discovery. You were trained to ask questions. Ask the ones that feel a little nosy.
My take for retailers: when a rep asks about budget, answer with the ROI you need and the roadmap problem you’re stuck on. You’ll find out fast whether they can help.
I’m holding a couple of things back.
Dave shared one question he learned from his brother, an investor, that he says changes a first meeting completely. Jump to 17:12 for that one. Then stay for his closing point on why comparing notes matters so much right now.
Watch or listen to the complete recap.
🎙️The full conversation is The Retail Razor Show, Season 6, Episode 13, on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Goodpods.
It’s the first of eight episodes we recorded live at RetailClub, and they’re landing across all four Retail Razor shows over the coming weeks. If you’re not subscribed here yet, now’s a good time.
Your turn.
Next time you’re across the table from a retail tech seller, or a retail buyer… ask questions of each other. Don’t be shy.
The more you know, the more comfortable you’ll feel about making decisions. And that’s really the point, isn’t it?
If this landed, forward it to the people in your org that are buying or selling and hit subscribe on this newsletter and on the Retail Razor Show podcast. A five-star rating on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Goodpods would be most appreciated!
Comment on this newsletter or join the conversation on LinkedIn!
Your insights may help shape the topics we explore next.
Until next time… Stay sharp. Stay human. Stay ahead!
Sincerely,
Ricardo Belmar
The Retail Razor Show
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