How to read buying signals

Most people cannot tell the difference between a buying signal and a stranger being polite. Someone says “oh, that is a great idea, I would definitely use it,” and they treat it as proof. It is not. People do not want to be rude, so they hand you false encouragement, and you walk away thinking you have validation when all you really have is good manners.

Real buying signals are not in what people say. They are in what the market, and the companies in it, already do about the problem. Here are three you can read before anyone ever says “I’ll pay.”

Real signals (what they do)

There is real competition in the market
People build their own workarounds
Someone is paid to do the job
They have already spent money on it

False signals (what they say)

"Great idea, I would use it"
"Let me know when it launches"
Enthusiastic nods and compliments
Encouragement from people with nothing at stake

1. There is competition

This one feels backwards. Founders get excited when they find an empty market: “nobody else is doing this!” Most of the time that is not an opportunity, it is a warning.

It is rare to enter a market with no competition at all. It can happen if you are a genuine innovator or tapping into something brand new, but in most cases, no competition means the pain is not big enough for anyone to pay to solve it.

So go and research the competition. If you find it, that is a good sign. It means people are already paying for solutions to this problem. Your job then is to work out how to do it better, and where you can differentiate.

2. People are building their own workarounds

Look at how people cope with the problem today. If they are building complex Excel files, wiring together Notion, or vibe-coding a scrappy tool to hold it all together, pay close attention.

That effort is the signal. Nobody builds a workaround for a problem that does not hurt. If the pain is big enough that people invest their own time to patch it, it is big enough that they would pay for something better.

And it goes further. A workaround is never free. They are spending time maintaining it, and often money keeping it alive. That is exactly the moment people will pay: to buy their time back and get a real solution instead of the duct-tape one they built themselves.

Nobody builds a workaround for a problem that doesn’t hurt.

3. Someone is employed to do the job

The strongest signal in B2B: there is a person, or a whole team, whose job is to do the thing you want to solve.

If a company is paying someone’s salary to handle a problem, the problem is real, and it already has a budget attached to it. A tool or a service that does that job faster, better, or cheaper is something a company will genuinely consider buying.

I know how this sounds. Nobody likes talking about replacing people. But businesses are always looking to cut costs, and if you can deliver the same outcome for less than the cost of the role, that is a real, sellable value proposition. You do not have to love it to recognise it as a buying signal.

Read the market, not the manners

Notice what none of these three require: a single person telling you they love your idea. That is the point. Compliments are easy to give and mean nothing. Competition, workarounds, and paid headcount are things people and companies have already spent real money and effort on, and spending is the only vote that counts.

Before you trust what anyone says, look at what the market is already doing. That is where the real signal is.