Everyone trying to sell nutrients is looking to get money for it. At least unless there's someone out there bartering nutes for chickens or something.
I'm okay with the idea that when I buy something with my money that the person selling it is interested in my money. That's the nature of the game. Each of us wants what the other has, I want nutes, they want money. So long as no one has any delusions, everyone gets what they want.
Skepticism is cool, nothing wrong with that. Whether you want to believe or disbelieve makes no difference so long as you're open to the idea that you might be wrong. If the mind is open, knowledge may enter.
Explain that. Are you complaining because they want to be successful? That's just nothing but good business sense. You look at the market, try to predict what the customers want, then provide that product or service. That's just basic common business sense.
I'll admit I like the idea of an altruistic business as much as the next guy, but that's just fiction. And honestly I prefer a business that wants to succeed. If it ignores all the common sense moves to stay solvent in exchange for the "good of the community" or something they'll go out of business and stop providing the goods I've come to enjoy using.
No sweat man, it happens from time to time because I don't spend enough time hating businessmen. Apparently I'm Charles Shultz sometimes (or however his name is spelled) because I don't leap onto the "Starbucks is Satan" bandwagon.
Walmart though... there could be some demonic force behind that, I'm not sure.
But yeah, I could care less who buys AN, it doesn't make me a penny more or less either way. I just like their stuff, same as I like my Starbucks. I'm self-employed and too small time for any of those guys to notice or care about.
I'm not complaining because they want to be successful, but I don't believe in selling people things they don't need. I'm all for easier ways to do things, but confusing people by constantly adding things and not telling people what they do is bad business. I don't believe that calling attention to your company as a marijuana cultivation specific product is good for the customer base. It is one thing to create a product specific to cultivation, but it's another thing entirely to celebrate that's what it's for. Most of the companies in this business rely on word of mouth because everyone knows what the nutrients are for, but by shouting what it's for, you create risks for me if I decide to try them. I'll be the first one to recommend a product if it works for me, but I'm not inclined to recommend a product that costs a lot of money, provides questionable benefit, etc.
You may not believe in the altruistic business, and that's fine. The fact is, there is a difference between altruism and integrity. If I have the opportunity to recommend a solution to a customer that costs 2-3 times as much as another solution which is less likely to be problematic for them, which do you think a good businessman would recommend? If you are looking for a one time sale, recommend the one with the high margin. If you are looking to build a lasting customer relationship, recommend the right solution for them - the cheaper one that may give slightly diminished results but which is easier to use. Recommending an expensive, complicated solution might give you more money in the short term, but when the customer realizes what you've done, they are not going to be happy with you and they may go elsewhere. You made some money, but you lost the opportunity to make a lot more money later. Some people are in business because they actually want to enjoy their work and feel good about it. If miracle grow actually worked well for MJ, do you think any GOOD hydro store owner would avoid it because they wouldn't make enough money from it? Absolutely not!
I have had half a dozen nutrient companies give me enough of their at least their base nutrients for a full run because they believe in their product and they believe the claims that they are making. Know what? Advanced was the only vendor that I talked to that didn't give me a run. They gave me an additive which I turned out not to like, and which I have encouraged people not to use as a result. It's possible that I could have gotten better results with it if something else in my grow was different, but the fact that it changed the smell of my buds was enough for me to stop using it and hope it didn't hurt anything. If your product is so good, why not let me try some? How much is a quart going to hurt your bottom line? That's not consistent with the philosophy of winning at all costs. Not every business feels the need to make the most money they can at the expense of everything else. Hell, I had a nutrient company's founder/chief scientist tell me that he was flattered to have his products compare to Canna because they had such great products but his were half the price. You know what? I've recommended his products to everyone that will listen because I respect that kind of honesty and integrity. I've also recommended Canna, but that's because they gave me a sample, I've been running it, and have had great success with it with minimal fussing. They are extremely anal about truthful labeling, which I think every company should be. Don't tell me I'm supposed to use 10 ml of something if I can get the same results with 5 ml, or worse yet tell me 20 ml because in certain cases it's okay to use a concentration that high.
As far as making more money if AN sells more or less, well, no rep makes more money that way unless they are working on commission. Do you have any nutrient products that you use that aren't AN? Would you recommend them? Have you tried other things? I'm not badmouthing AN because I don't believe that they have the right to market products irresponsibly, but if they wanted to get my respect (and my business), they'd figure out a way to make me buy fewer products and have better success with them, rather than more products. If I could buy sensi bloom, a couple of boosters and whatever else and get the same results as
kushie kush if I mixed them in the proper concentrations, why not tell me how to do that instead of selling me another product on top of the 20 I already bought?