How To Choose Your Target Market
Eben Pagan reveals the critical mistake entrepreneurs make when choosing target markets by planning who should buy their products instead of finding people who already want to buy something. He teaches the use case thinking exercise to shift from creator-centered to customer-centered market selection.
Key Moments
How to Practice Use Case Thinking for Target Market Selection -- A systematic exercise to train your mind to think from the customer's perspective when selecting target markets
True Market Validation — Find What Customers Want and Deliver It
True market validation means finding out something customers want and giving it to them, not trying to talk people into wanting what you've already created
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Start With Customer Perspective Before Choosing What to Sell
Creators must balance creation and discovery, but should start with the customer's perspective rather than trying to choose who will buy their products
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Emotional Estimation vs True Market Validation
Emotional estimation is sitting back and planning who should buy your product and trying to talk them into wanting it. True validation is finding out something customers already want and then giving it to them.
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Find Buyers First Then Build the Product for Them
Instead of planning who should buy your product, find groups of people who already want to buy something and create it for them. Start with the customer's perspective rather than trying to choose who will buy your stuff.
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All Human Motivation Is Irrational — It Doesn't Make Sense
Use case thinking is a framework that trains your mind to automatically think from the customer's perspective. Practice it by doing exercises on paper repeatedly until your mind starts doing it automatically - it's like training wheels for customer-centered thinking.
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Relevant Clips15
- How-To
How to Practice Use Case Thinking for Target Market Selection -- A systematic exercise to train your mind to think from the customer's perspective when selecting target markets
- Teaching▶ 1:07
All Human Motivation Is Irrational — It Doesn't Make Sense
Use case thinking is a framework that trains your mind to automatically think from the customer's perspective. Practice it by doing exercises on paper repeatedly until your mind starts doing it automatically - it's like training wheels for customer-centered thinking.
- Teaching
Golf Club Buyers Decide Emotionally Then Rationalize With Math
Golf club buyers don't calculate the rational value (17 cents per drive improvement). Instead, they imagine friends seeing the club in their golf bag and being impressed, make the emotional decision, then rationalize it with math afterward.
- Teaching▶ 0:41
Find Buyers First Then Build the Product for Them
Instead of planning who should buy your product, find groups of people who already want to buy something and create it for them. Start with the customer's perspective rather than trying to choose who will buy your stuff.
- Teaching▶ 0:23
Emotional Estimation vs True Market Validation
Emotional estimation is sitting back and planning who should buy your product and trying to talk them into wanting it. True validation is finding out something customers already want and then giving it to them.
- Teaching
Emotion Decides, Logic Rationalizes
All customer motivation is driven by irrational fears, desires, thoughts and fantasies. People make emotional decisions first, then use logic to rationalize them afterward, not the other way around.
- Teaching
Target Groups Who Already Want to Buy
Entrepreneurs universally make the mistake of choosing target markets by planning who should buy their products instead of finding groups of people who already want to buy something
- Teaching▶ 0:32
True Market Validation — Find What Customers Want and Deliver It
True market validation means finding out something customers want and giving it to them, not trying to talk people into wanting what you've already created
- Teaching▶ 0:41
Start With Customer Perspective Before Choosing What to Sell
Creators must balance creation and discovery, but should start with the customer's perspective rather than trying to choose who will buy their products
- Teaching▶ 0:58
Use Case Thinking Requires Repeated Practice on Paper
Use case thinking requires regular practice with exercises done on paper repeatedly until the mind automatically thinks from the customer's perspective
- Teaching
Customer Motivation Driven by Irrational Fears and Desires
Customer motivation is driven entirely by irrational fears, desires, thoughts and fantasies rather than logical cost-benefit analysis
- Teaching
People Decide Emotionally Then Rationalize With Logic
People make emotional decisions first and then rationalize them with logic afterward, not the other way around
Show 3 more
- Quotable▶ 1:56
Use Case Thinking Trains the Mind to Default to Customer Perspective
all of the stuff all that motivates us is irrational it doesn't make any sense
- Quotable▶ 1:02
Stop Choosing Who Will Buy — Let Them Self-Select
stop trying to choose who's going to buy your stuff and let them
- Quotable▶ 3:16
You've Got to Connect With the Irrational
you've got to connect with the irrational
Entities Touched
Concepts
Questions
Canonical Teachings
Summary
The Universal Target Market Selection Mistake
Eben reveals that entrepreneurs universally make the mistake of planning who should buy their products instead of finding people who already want to buy something. This creator-centered approach leads to trying to convince people rather than serving existing needs.
Use Case Thinking Exercise Framework
Eben introduces use case thinking as a systematic approach to shift from creator-centered to customer-centered thinking. The framework requires regular practice with written exercises until the mind automatically thinks from the customer's perspective.
Understanding Irrational Customer Motivations
Using golf club purchases as an example, Eben demonstrates how all customer motivation is irrational and driven by emotions. People make decisions based on fantasies and social validation, then rationalize them with logic afterward.
Counterpoint
Claim: “Business people should plan and choose their target markets by deciding who should buy their products”
Reframe: Find groups of people who already want to buy something and create it for them instead of trying to choose who will buy what you've already made
Eben identifies this as a 'universal' mistake where entrepreneurs plan their target rather than discovering existing needs in the market
Claim: “Customers make purchasing decisions based on rational cost-benefit analysis”
Reframe: All customer motivation is irrational - driven by fears, desires, thoughts and fantasies, with logic used only to rationalize emotional decisions afterward
Golf club buyers don't calculate 17 cents per drive value but imagine friends seeing the club and feeling impressed, then rationalize the purchase mathematically
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Topics
Coaching Strategies
Business Frameworks
Common Mistakes