This is one of the most difficult questions a business owner can ask; it takes a great deal of self-awareness and customer insight, but it can potentially save you from heartbreak.
So much of the “hustle-porn” you see online is focused on ignoring what other people think, believing in yourself, persevering when all seems hopeless and betting big on your own ideas.
In some cases this leads to major success, but it also covers over the number one killer of new businesses – solving an irrelevant customer problem.

What makes this killer so dangerous is that it is silent, a lack of interest doesn’t make much noise.
Even more dangerous, it’s often masked by a series of compliments, vague praise and pleasant meetings, in which people say nice things to you out of courtesy.
These feel good, but they’re masking the faint sound of the killer creeping up on you.

When you first design a new business, you operate out of instincts, suspicions and guesses – and that’s ok.
What’s not ok is when you let those guesses go unchecked, taking your own thoughts as gospel.
Every entrepreneur, founder or manager is responsible for understanding if anyone actually wants what they’re creating, and ducking the question is an act of negligence.

The best way to start this process is to talk to potential customers, and find out about their lives.
The best book on this topic is The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick, full of simple instructions for how you can conduct these conversations without hassle or biased data.
For example, Rob suggests that all your conversations should be about the other person – their responsibilities, aspirations, frustrations, preferences and budget.
This is not the time to pitch your business idea, you’re there to understand if a customer base actually exists, and check if they have a problem that annoys them enough that they’ll pay for a solution.
We all claim to have problems, but not all of them are pressing enough that we’d buy a product or service to solve it – since it costs money, time and mental energy to make any sort of change to our routines.

How To Tell If Nobody Wants What You Sell
Before we go in to the finer points about measuring customer interest, keep this in mind:
People are not “bad at texting” or “bad at email” or “not sure if they’re ready for a relationship” – they’re just not that motivated but want to remain polite.
You probably do this too, avoiding commitment or hassle when you aren’t overly interested in something, but you can suddenly move mountains and re-arrange your schedule if something incredible came up.
Sometimes you wake up early to secure an expensive ticket to an event you’d love, and other times you can barely remember to RSVP to a free event that might be ok.
Sometimes you make a special trip across town to go to your favourite shop, meanwhile there are 15 companies who sent you an email that you can’t be bothered to open.
This is totally normal, and a reminder of what true enthusiasm looks like.
Rob Fitzpatrick uses the example of a customer asking to buy his prototype from him on the spot – that’s a great sign that you’re solving a real problem.

The way to tell if people want what you sell is to push for a decision, something that shows interest on their part.
This might be a registration form, a pre-order purchase through Kickstarter, booking in their first session, introducing you to someone they know, or giving you their credit card details.
These are all visible actions in which the customer is “buying in” at their own expense.
Complimenting your idea is free, claiming that they’ll call you is free, acting interested is free.
When you can see customers offering something in return, that’s the sign that you’re addressing a genuinely valuable problem.

By contrast, when I was at university we had a guest speaker come in from a local restaurant, to talk about entrepreneurship.
For this guy’s sake I won’t say where he was from, but it’s a Mexican chain from California that he franchised out to Melbourne.
At the start of the lecture, he sold takeaway burritos to some students, first for $7, then $5, then $2.
After a few were sold, an uncomfortable silence filled the room.
Nobody wanted these burritos, even when he offered them for free.
University students turned down free food from this guy.
Then we were supposed to take his “lessons” on creating a brand.
When 20-year-olds won’t eat your free burrito, it’s a sign from the universe that something isn’t right with your business.

Considerations In Conversations
Not all opinions are equal, and everyone’s circumstances affect our data.
Perhaps we were a room full of vegetarians, or we’d just had a free barbeque outside the lecture hall.
Maybe we’re not this guy’s customers.
Our disinterest is discounted if we’re not his target audience, in the same way that our enthusiasm for free food doesn’t prove anything about his menu prices.
Your conversations will be the same – if someone’s not your customer, then their responses can skew your data in unhelpful ways.
That’s why we don’t want to go into pitch mode, but rather ask more and more detailed questions about what a person wants, why they want it, and what they’re willing to do to get it.

It’s also worth separating out needs and wants.
You’ll identify plenty of customer needs that never materialise, because that person doesn’t particularly want the solution.
This is a huge issue in the realms of health, education and international development.
For example, people know they need to quit smoking, but don’t take up the support services and products that would help them drop the habit.
People buy books they know would help them out of a challenging situation, but then never want to actually read them.
Aid organisations design solutions for what people in developing markets need, but since they’re so far away from what people want they are completely ignored.
Just because you know that a customer needs a solution, or should want your solution, doesn’t mean that they are actually motivated to go and get a solution.

What To Do If People Don’t Want What You Sell
The first thing to do it counter-intuitive – you should acknowledge the win.
You won’t feel great, but this is a valuable lesson that can save you thousands of dollars and years of your life.
It takes great humility and wisdom to recognise the ugly truth and commit to changing course.

The second thing is to explore potential pivots – moderate changes to your idea.
These include solving a different problem for the same customer, solving a similar problem for a different customer, partnering with another organisation, or going upstream to address the broader issue in it’s earliest forms (e.g. selling prevention rather than a cure).

The third thing to do is start a new round of conversations, this time with the intent of listening closely without trying to sell your ideas.
Your customers will have a high-value problem somewhere, and it’s your job/privilege to work on something that makes their lives easier.
If you structure these conversations the right way, you’ll create products and services that genuinely excite people, rather than needing to twist their arms.
I can tell you as someone who has sold both relevant and irrelevant products/services in the past, getting this right makes for a more sustainable business and a better day at work.

The job of an entrepreneur is to identify and creatively solve problems – and we have no shortage of problems.
It’s worth taking the time to listen carefully for the high-value problems you see in the world today, then dig for the truth about your customers and how they think.
It’s better to sell something people want, rather than push something you feel they should want – and it makes for a more enjoyable career.