What are the reasons not to buy?

In a recent episode of GaryVee’s podcast (I think it was in this one), he expressed a desire to often try to talk people out of buying his services, for a few reasons.

First, he wants to make sure people are serious. I’ve noticed a few times over the years that the people that jump to say “yes” on the first call tend to be troublesome clients, or often never end up becoming clients at all. Those that take the time to consider their options are a better fit in the long run.

The second is really to help make sure people understand all of their options. His company might indeed be the best solution, but maybe not. Gary will walk people through their other options to see if one of those might be better. This generates two more possible advantages:

• They indeed realize that Gary’s team is the best fit, which is a win for everyone.
• They realize that they’re not the best bit, but appreciate the value that Gary provided and the trust he earned. There is a good chance that will come back to benefit him in the future.

It kind of points back to being able to say “no” to lead to a more solid “yes” down the road.

I’m finding that I tend to do this quite a bit as well. We build fantastic websites that perform well, but they’re not a good fit for everyone. For example, if building a website with us will eat up your entire budget for the year, that’s not good — you should find a simpler, less expensive option, and then be able to devote effort into maintaining your off-site efforts (social media, etc).

Or perhaps the type of site you need isn’t a great fit for us, like if it needs to be on a platform like Drupal or Shopify. There’s nothing wrong with that, and we’ll find you another company that can serve you well.

At the end of the day, that’s one of the best parts of this. If we aren’t the best fit for someone, I’ll almost always know of a another company that fits those specific needs. It’s a win for the client, a win for the other company, and we come out looking like a helpful partner to both of them. I’ll take it.