Revenue Builders · 2 Jul 2026 · From the week of 29 June
The Hidden Cost of False Velocity with Randy Riemersma
These are notes on the conversation, checked against its transcript. The episode itself has the full discussion.
In brief
Randy Riemersma, founder of Sell with Precision, joins hosts John McMahon and John Kaplan to discuss why deals stall and collapse late. The episode covers false velocity and shallow discovery, connecting operational pain to executive business outcomes, buyer emotions and belief, and preparing for executive meetings. Randy's central argument is that late-stage losses usually reflect buyer confidence rather than product capability, so sellers must slow down early to build real pain, a sponsor and economic buyer validation.
For founders
- Kaplan says companies need a defined ICP, a persona value proposition, an engagement model and a success profile, and that sellers cannot supply these pillars on their own; Randy agrees.
- Randy says a deal without an identified business pain and a champion able to mobilize will lack the momentum the deal needs.
- Randy says the economic buyer must validate that the project is a top priority, because a champion's enthusiasm does not mean it will be funded.
- Randy says buyers move through fear, curiosity, hope, desire, confidence and urgency, and sellers should build these emotions in that order.
- Randy says educating buyers too early eliminates the seller's value, so curiosity should come first.
For revenue leaders
- Randy says deals lost inside the 10-yard line usually reflect buyer confidence, so late-stage execution with referrals, executive alignment and daily champion contact matters most.
- Randy says false velocity at the front of a deal screws it later, so sellers should slow down to uncover real pain before advancing.
- Randy says to frame operational problems in terms of executive outcomes such as EBITDA and earnings per share, not technology features.
- Randy says to treat any number an executive cites as a cue to stop and ask which direction it should move and what that would mean; Kaplan adds that sellers should follow it through to what it means for the end customer.
- Kaplan says the best sellers get buyers to stand in their moment of pain, and that discovery is an elite skill that takes repetitions.
What was said 21, most useful first
Late-stage deals lost inside the 10-yard line usually come down to buyer confidence rather than product capability. Listen
Randy says that when selling software worth around $3 million, the buyer's job is at risk if the purchase goes wrong, so nerves rise late in the cycle even after the buyer has agreed to the business case. He says the seller's job in that final zone is to make sure the buyer does not lose their job for the decision. He describes the confidence built there as what creates the urgency that carries the deal to close.
“I think all deals lost inside the 10 yard line had nothing to do with your capabilities. It has everything to do with their lack of confidence.”
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Big strategic decisions are not started in a buyer's everyday state, so sellers must first create fear and pain that something is wrong. Listen
Randy uses personal examples: he would need to win the lottery to buy a Ferrari, and would need a bad doctor's report to change his health benefits. He says the seller should show the current state, its true negative consequences and the cost of inaction, creating both an emotional and a rational reason to move. He says deals that do not start this way will lack momentum and emotion over time.
“Nobody makes big strategic decisions or starts the process in this zone of, you know, small decisions.”
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A project that matters to the champion does not necessarily matter to the economic buyer, so the seller must validate it with the economic buyer. Listen
Randy says many salespeople think that if the project matters to the champion it must matter to the economic buyer, and he says that is not true. He says the seller has to validate the work with the economic buyer and confirm that it is a top priority for them. He notes that a project that is not a priority for the economic buyer does not get funded.
“So many salespeople think it must matter to the economic buyer. Not true.”
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Executives do not care about operational benefits for below-the-line staff unless those benefits tie to a corporate initiative. Listen
Randy says reps get stuck when they sell operational benefits below the line, such as avoiding thirteen spreadsheets or writing code, and forget to tie them back to the economic buyer's priorities. He says economic buyers care about earnings per share, EBITDA and the three or four corporate initiatives they are tied to. He says reps who do not talk that language get booted out of the room.
“The C-suite doesn't care about operational benefits making other people's lives easier below the line”
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Value is the gap between the current state's negative consequences and the future state's positive business outcomes, with the seller's differentiation as the path between them. Listen
Randy says he defines value this way, and that a seller needs clear value articulation covering measurable current-state negative consequences and future-state positive business outcomes. He says the seller's unique differentiation should be presented as the best path to the future state. He says few people can articulate value in a way that aligns with the strategic impact an economic buyer cares about.
“That gap is my definition of value.”
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Randy describes buyer emotions moving from fear and curiosity through hope, desire, confidence and urgency across the sales process. Listen
Randy says buyers are emotional beings first and rational beings second, so sellers should work through the emotions in order. Early on, the buyer should feel fear or pain that something is not okay, which creates curiosity about the seller as a person who knows something they do not. Hope, desire and confidence follow as the seller uses use cases, references and proof, and urgency arrives when the buyer sees that delay is a failure strategy.
“they must feel some level of fear or pain and awareness that something is not the way it should be.”
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Educating buyers too early eliminates the seller's value, so sellers should create curiosity and make themselves a person of interest first. Listen
Randy says he firmly holds the belief that educating too early eliminates your value, because the buyer finishes with you and moves on. A host adds that buyers who have been over-educated no longer need the seller, who then struggles to drive price and value back up. A host also ties this to the human preference for talking with someone interested in what they say rather than someone trying to be interesting.
“If you educate too early, you eliminate your value.”
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A buyer may open a meeting by asking the seller what they know about the buyer and their company, so sellers should be prepared to answer. Listen
Kaplan describes a telecom champion who started a handoff meeting this way with a sales team, and said the previous rep was doing most of the talking and it became a downer. He says the team never had that happen again, and that preparation is the difference between stress and pressure. He asks sellers to consider how they would answer if a C-level executive asked this, and says there is no excuse for leaving it out of a provocative point of view.
“He says, before we get started, why don't you guys start by telling me what you know about me and my company?”
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Reframing a contact-center cost problem around EBITDA and earnings per share, without discussing technology, led to a six-year contract in Randy's example. Listen
Randy says the customer had 14% revenue growth but 17% operating expense growth from consolidations. He says his message to the executive was three slides showing how to bring operating expense growth down to 11% and then to 8%, discussing EBITDA and earnings per share, and never talking about the technology. He says the approach led to a six-year contract with forecasted committed base utilization in minutes and a 20% premium on flex minutes over baseline.
“Revenue growth was 14%. Their operational expense growth was 17%.”
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Sellers cannot supply the go-to-market foundations themselves, so companies need a defined ICP, persona value proposition, engagement model and success profile. Listen
Kaplan says great companies need a very clear, well-defined ICP, a clear target persona and value proposition for that persona, an engagement model that says who does what and when, and a success profile. He warns that a seller who joins a company without these pillars will end up making them up in front of customers, and that the company will not scale even if the seller succeeds. Randy agrees these are not the seller's responsibility to build.
“Great companies need to provide an ICP, very clear, well-defined ICP.”
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Late-stage deals need strong customer referrals, executive alignment and daily contact with the champion to hold the buyer's hand. Listen
Randy says that in the final zone the champion is going to be getting nervous, so the seller has to be texting them daily and hold their hand. He lists customer referrals, executive alignment and execution excellence on the seller's side as the things that must go very well. He says the buyer has already decided about the product and agreed to the business case by this point, so the work is about the buyer's confidence.
“We have to be texting with our champion on a daily basis at this zone because they are going to be getting nervous.”
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False velocity at the front of a deal, pushing to advance before the real pain is found, damages the deal later on. Listen
Randy says false velocity is one of the things that screws deals most, because a seller who does not slow down early cannot keep the deal out of danger later. He says reps should discover the customer's pain or problem that they can then solve, rather than throwing product features at the buyer. He sums this up as slowing down to speed up.
“I think one of the things that screws deals immensely is false velocity at the front end.”
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A deal without an identified business pain, a mobilizing champion and access to an economic buyer is likely to lose momentum. Listen
Randy describes a deal inspection process he calls MEDDIC, and says he asks reps early on to explain the identified business pain, the champion and the economic buyer. He says the pain should matter and ideally tie back to a corporate objective, and the economic buyer should have discretionary use of funds. He says if the problem sponsor is weak, the rest of the deal slows down.
“If we don't have a strong problem sponsor, then the rest of the deal is also going to get slowed down or, you know, lacks the momentum, the energy behind that we want.”
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Strong sellers must be as comfortable below the operational line as above the strategic line, and must return from operational detail to executive value. Listen
A host calls this being a technical athlete, with one foot below the line and one foot above it, and says no technology deals he sees are done by working in just one of those areas. Randy agrees and adds that sellers who have a round-trip ticket taking operational detail back up to clear, measurable value can get the second meeting with the economic buyer.
“You have to be just as comfortable Below the line as you are above the line”
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Belief is transferable, so enthusiasm and conviction from the seller can pass to the buyer. Listen
Randy says belief and enthusiasm are transferable, and that when a buyer asks whether the seller believes, an elite seller can echo that belief back. He says a seller who lacks belief shows it, and the buyer picks it up and may go home unsure about spending $3 million. He describes this as a reason to know the use cases and the company's capabilities cold.
“Belief is transferable. Yes. Enthusiasm is transferable.”
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The best sellers get a buyer to stand in their moment of pain, but only after they have earned the right to ask. Listen
Kaplan says his mother, a therapist, taught him that the best way to get someone to move is to make them stand in their moment of pain. He says the greatest sellers do this comfortably, respectfully and empathetically, and that a seller cannot ask blunt questions about a past failure without first earning the right. He calls discovery an elite skill that takes reps and says many people skip the preparation for it.
“the best way to get somebody to move is to make them stand in their moment of pain.”
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When an executive cites a number, sellers should ask which direction it needs to move and what it means for the end customer. Listen
Randy says elite reps stop when they hear a number because every number has a direction it should move and an impact. He gives examples: revenue growth should go up, operational expense should go down, time on a website should go up, and call-center handle time should go down. Kaplan adds that the next step is to follow the chain to the end customer, asking what happens when the number moves, who gives feedback and how it has been fixed before.
“So if someone says 14%, I know that number needs to go up or down, but what's the context?”
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Echoing back what a buyer said and asking them to correct it makes them feel heard, seen and understood. Listen
Randy says that after open-ended and clarifying questions, the seller should echo back what they heard and ask whether they got it right. He says this often produces a moment where the buyer confirms the seller understands, and he says the buyer will then like the seller more than at any other point. He describes this as a tool available without any technology.
“And we echo it back. Did I get it? Help me correct it.”
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Buyers gain trust when they see the seller's intent to know them, not an intent to make them know the seller, and when the seller listens. Listen
McMahon says the data is clear that trust comes from the buyer knowing the seller is interested in them rather than interesting, and from the seller actually listening. He tells a story about joining a sales call early on at BladeLogic for a new use case he did not know, asking questions and listening, and the sales rep later reported the VP loved him and wanted to meet again.
“The way you win trust with somebody is that they know that you have an intent to know them, not an intent to make you know me.”
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Sellers who do not know the persona's use case, pains and proof points cold end up reading questions off a sheet. Listen
Randy calls this knowledge situational fluency and says the company should provide the materials, but the seller must own knowing them. A host adds that without it he feels uncomfortable, does not know where to take the conversation and cannot tell whether he discovered everything, while knowing it cold lets him listen, use intuition and ask questions based on what the buyer says. Randy says that if you don't know your stuff cold, it feels like you're reading questions off a sheet.
“But if you don't know your stuff cold, it feels like you're reading questions off a sheet.”
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After a buyer verbally commits, especially on a large deal, they can feel buyer's remorse and need help past a new fear. Listen
The speaker says in the best deals the urgency is there, the champion is built and the economic buyer is reached, so the deal almost closes itself. In some very large deals, the buyer goes home after agreeing to a multimillion-dollar purchase and begins to worry about the risk of committing. He says the seller has to help the buyer get past that new fear at that moment.
“they go home and they say I'm gonna buy from you and buy this multi-million dollar deal”
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