Tag Archives: customers

Sales: Do You Have Customers or Clients?

Whether you have customers or clients is more than a matter of semantics. Some businesses use the term “clients” in an attempt to class up their image. Attorneys usually have clients. Kentucky Fried Chicken doesn’t, regardless of what they might say. Nordstrom? … Continue reading

Posted in Marketing and Sales | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

2 Responses to Sales: Do You Have Customers or Clients?

  1. Clint Moar says:

    Ha! Love the Shaw comment…
    Thanks John.
    This is one that I’ve always wondered about as well…I never liked the word “client”, felt like those using it were trying to sound important…I’ll never be a lawyer so they’ll always be customers (buying something)…
    Clint.

  2. John, thanks for your article. I agree with your distinction between the two. Perhaps, though, it does not go far enough.

    It seems to me that “customers” purchase goods and services which have been commoditized; that is, items for which little value derives from an ongoing relationship with the supplier or intermediary providing the commoditized goods or services.

    “Clients,” on the other hand, purchase some goods, and more often services from people or businesses whose approach, advice and supplementary services they trust and value. Therefore, the elements of “trust” and “value” figure into the distinction between the two.

    Finally, those of us who have clients need to recall that the meaning of “trust” and “value” must be based on the buyer’s personal perception … not our own. Too often, we focus on what we believe is valuable rather than focusing on “value” as defined by the client/buyer.

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