Comments on: What Would You Rather Have, Clients or Customers?

By: Louis Pierard

Louis Pierard — Sun, 01 May 2011 05:12:14 +0000

The freedom with which the term “customer” is substituted for client has always irritated me. The word “client” comes from the Roman system of patronage. A patron had a client to whom he was like a godfather and on whom the latter depended. Therein is the key. A trouser vendor who calls his customers “clients” is simply being pompous. To qualify as a client, one has to be dependent on the person or organisation. That is why lawyers have clients and burger flippers do not.

By: Would You Rather

Would You Rather — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 03:35:10 +0000

It all depends on your industry, and the services you are offering. There is no right answer, sometimes you cater to clients, other times you cater to customers. Regardless, what allows you to create the most value for the client/customer and yourself is ideal.

By: Dawud Miracle

Dawud Miracle — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:42:52 +0000

Barbara,
I still haven’t found a term I like. I use target audience, clients, customers, patrons, etc – but really only for the sake of communication.

By: Barbara Saunders

Barbara Saunders — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 17:48:07 +0000

I like the word “customer” for its suggestion of a person who uses my services for his or her own reasons, which may not even by my business!

By: Dawud Miracle

Dawud Miracle — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 19:29:01 +0000

Barbara,
Perhaps irrelevant? Yet, do you think that how you label the people you serve tells something about how you hold them?

By: Barbara Saunders

Barbara Saunders — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 18:06:23 +0000

I hear the terms differently, having learned the Jay Haley perspective in psychology graduate school. Haley urged psychotherapists to think of the people they see as “customers” and not as “clients” or “patients.” Your post made a distinction between “active users” and “purchasers.” The purchaser of my service is free to be as active or inactive as he/she wants. At one level, wanting him/her to “actively” use my service reflects an altruistic desire to help. At another level, it is narcissistic — and also irrelevant to my success in business.

GOOD health clubs have this balance down. If a customer wants great trainers, good equipment, and excellent classes, they are there. If all the customer wants to purchase is the image of belonging to a gym, that’s his/her business!

By: Customers, Clients, or Patrons? » monkatwork.com

Customers, Clients, or Patrons? » monkatwork.com — Wed, 23 May 2007 16:21:35 +0000

[...] A conversation got started at Dawud Miracle’s site not too long ago, about “What Would You Rather Have, Clients or Customers?” [...]

By: Why Seth Feels That “May I Help You?” Is Useless - Dawud Miracle @ dmiracle.com - (formerly Healthy WebDesign)

Thu, 10 May 2007 15:14:37 +0000

[...] I couldn’t agree more. You see, your clients/customers/patrons don’t often know what they need. They only know something isn’t working – which is why they’re searching for you in the first place. [...]

By: Adam Kayce : Monk At Work

Adam Kayce : Monk At Work — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 20:04:39 +0000

Exactly!

By: Dawud Miracle

Dawud Miracle — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 15:03:53 +0000

Adam,

That rocks! I agree fully with you. I think regardless of the terms we use, what’s important is how we define those terms ourselves.

Being fully client-focused is what makes all the difference.