“Clients” or “Customers” - What Do You Call the People You Serve?

I often get asked by small business owners the question, “what should you call the people you serve”? This is a question that should be answered by every business owner, manager or employee. Experts agree that if we are serious about creating lifetime business relationships with the people we serve, we should refer to them as our “clients”.

Customer
The word “customer” can infer a one or two- time sale to a faceless or generic person. The implied interest in this person is merely for the transaction. They purchase your product or service and they are gone. Any comments or complaints from these individuals are viewed with a limited impact. The mind set is “there’s plenty more where he came from”.

Client
The word “client” implies a different perspective. It communicates that this person is an investment and there is a commitment to meet this person’s needs and wants over an extended period of time. When problems or concerns come up with him or her, the solutions that are used, take into consideration the lifetime value of this client. Remember, the length of this lifetime business relationship could be anywhere between one to forty years or more.

Long Term Relationship
When you look at the person you are serving as a client, you will take the time to get to know them better. You will want to learn and call them by his or her name. You will want to keep a record of their purchase history and future purchase preferences. You will want to gather some personal information about them like where are they from, where do they live now, how many children are in their family. Remember what the late Cavett Robert said, “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”. When you take this approach you will build a business relationship that will last a lifetime.



If you are interested in a better career in customer service visit www.customerservicejobs.com

Tom Borg is president of Tom Borg Consulting, LLC. He is a business consultant, speaker, coach and author. He helps companies and organization become more profitable by increasing their value and lowering their costs through the professional development of their managers and employees.