Your Ideal Customer is one who Values Your Product the Most
"$30 for a game is pricey" they said, while holding a $20 hot dog...
A friend texted me yesterday, frustrated after a weekend at a pickleball convention where he was selling his new board game.
"We had mismatched expectations of how folks would value things: '$30 for a game is pricey' while holding a $20 hot dog...."
I've seen this exact scenario play out before. You've built something great, but the people you're talking to keep saying it's "too expensive" or "not worth it."
The issue wasn’t the fact that the game cost $30.
They were talking to the wrong person.
The Pickleball Revelation
Here's what I told my friend:
"Whenever I see that price objection, I hone in on the likelihood that they weren't your ideal customer. The pickleball players might not value the game as much as those who are pickleball adjacent - the moms, dads, grandparents, husbands, wives of pickleball players."
Think about it.
The players would rather play actual pickleball than a board game version of it.
But the family members who love someone who’s obsessed with pickleball?
They're desperate for ways to connect. (It is a cult, right?)
"$30 to connect with someone I love is nothing," I explained. "The value isn't there for the pickleball players, it's much higher for those who love pickleball players."
I bought two copies of the game for myself.
One for my family (who don't play as much as I do) and one to give to friends who do play.
In both cases, the purchase was for connection, not for the game itself - a higher level value.
Why This Matters for You
This same principle applies to every product or service I've analyzed. The person experiencing the problem isn't always the person who values the solution most.
Here are three real examples from companies I've worked with:
Case 1: The Time-Tracking Tool
Who they targeted: Freelancers and consultants
Who actually bought: Agency owners managing multiple freelancers
Why: Individual freelancers saw time tracking as overhead. Agency owners saw it as essential for profitability and client transparency.
Case 2: The Code Review Platform
Who they targeted: Senior developers
Who actually bought: Engineering managers and CTOs
Why: Senior devs were confident in their code. Managers needed to ensure quality across their entire team.
The Framework: Finding Your True Buyer
When you're getting price objections or lukewarm responses, work through this three-step process:
Step 1: Map the Problem Chain
Ask yourself:
Who experiences this problem directly?
Who feels the consequences of this problem?
Who has budget authority to solve this problem?
Who gets promoted/fired based on this problem being solved?
These could be four different people.
Step 2: Identify the Value Multiplier
The person who values your solution most isn't necessarily the end user. Look for:
The Connector: Someone who wants to bond with or help the end user (like the pickleball families)
The Amplifier: Someone who benefits when the end user succeeds (like the agency owner whose freelancers track time)
The Protector: Someone who prevents negative outcomes (like the CTO preventing bad code from shipping)
The Optimizer: Someone who improves efficiency across multiple people (like a customer success director who needs data to prevent churn and improve satisfaction scores)
Step 3: Reframe Your Value Proposition
Once you identify the true buyer, reframe your messaging:
Instead of: "Save 2 hours per week on time tracking" Try: "Increase project profitability by 23% with accurate time data"
Instead of: "Catch bugs before they ship" Try: "Reduce post-launch incidents by 67% and protect your reputation"
Instead of: "Respond to customers faster" Try: "Prevent 34% of potential churn with proactive support insights"
The Validation Process
Before you pivot your entire marketing strategy, validate this with real data:
Survey your existing customers: Ask who initiated the purchase and why
Interview lost prospects: Find out who the real decision-maker was
Test new messaging: Create landing pages for different buyer personas
Track conversion rates: See which persona converts better
Here are some common mismatches, as examples:
Security Tools: Users are developers, buyers are CISOs.
Productivity Apps: Users are employees, buyers are team leads.
Analytics Platforms: Users are analysts, buyers are department heads.
Development Tools: Users are junior devs, buyers are senior directors.
Marketing Automation: Users are marketing coordinators, buyers are marketing directors.
That all said, don't spend months on this. Here's a quick way to validate your true buyer:
Interview 10-20 existing customers (or customers of alternatives or workarounds) about their buying process, jobs-to-be-done style, as a documentary of the facts, not their feelings.
Create new personas based on your interviews, with hypotheses around who’s buying and for what purpose. Create messaging around these personas.
Launch targeted ads or other campaigns using the messaging to each persona and measure engagement
Analyze results and commit to the highest-converting persona
Voila! You now know more about your actual IDEAL customer profile than you did before.
What you may not have realized before doing this activity is you actually already had a persona and messaging, you just didn’t conceive of other alternatives as to why people might value your product or service that weren’t what you started with in your head when you built the thing.
Red Flags You're Targeting the Wrong Person
Watch for these warning signs:
Consistent price objections from your target audience
Long sales cycles with multiple stakeholders
High engagement but low conversion rates
Customers who buy but don't use the product (this could also be a promise-problem; you’re not fulfilling on the promise you made in your copywriting)
The Bottom Line
My friend's board game wasn't too expensive. He was just selling it to people who didn't value what it actually provided.
The pickleball players wanted to play pickleball.
The families wanted to connect with their pickleball-obsessed loved ones.
Same product.
Different value.
Different buyer.
Your SaaS works the same way.
Stop trying to convince people who don't value your solution.
Start finding the people who desperately need what you've built.
The right customer will never say your product is too expensive. They'll say it's exactly what they've been looking for.
Now stop trying to convert the wrong people and go find your actual buyers.
SIDE NOTE: If you want to connect with your pickleball-obsessed family or friends over a nice board game, HotShot Pickleball is the best! Enjoy!
If you’re a founder who wants to get unstuck, reduce churn, get through that revenue plateau, generate more leads, and more… Get in touch today