High Growth ≠ High Impact: Why Fast Brands Still Miss the Mark in Buyer Meetings
This week I had a realization, or maybe just a reminder, that needs to be said louder:
If you’re a fast-growth brand, you’re probably comparing yourself to nothing.
Your numbers look explosive.
Your velocity is up.
Your social posts are viral.
Your year-over-year sales are astronomical because last year, you barely existed.
You’re making noise.
But noise isn’t the metric.
Here’s what I’ve learned:
Buyers don’t care how loud you are right now.
Sure, being loud might force them to pay attention.
You might make enough noise that they can’t ignore you.
But don’t confuse attention for conviction.
Just because a buyer is listening doesn’t mean they believe.
They don’t want to hear how fast you’re growing.
They want to know why it matters, to them, to the category, and to the shelf a year from now.
They care how what you’re doing right now shows up 12 months from now.
Challenger brands show up to reviews with hype and heat.
But not with answers to the questions that actually move line reviews:
Are you bringing incremental growth to the category?
Is your buyer repeating, or just riding the launch wave?
Are you driving new occasions, or just stealing share from someone else?
Are you attracting a new shopper, or a more expensive version of the same one?
And this is where there’s a translation gap.
It’s not that brands don’t have data.
There is no barrier to data access anymore. One could argue that there is too much accessible data.
What’s missing is the ability to translate the data it into the language buyers speak.
Retailers have been burned.
Now, they’re looking for:
Proof of pull-through
Consistency across regions
Repeat rates, not just sell-in wins
Evidence you can scale, not just spike
You’re looking at your social engagement.
They’re looking at $/TDP.
You’re highlighting velocity spikes.
They’re asking what happens when promo support disappears.
You’re excited about growth.
They want to know: growth of what and at whose expense?
That’s why category management matters.
That’s why storytelling matters.
Buyers don’t want loud.
Buyers want lasting.
If you can’t prove your impact,
they’ll find someone else who can.
