October 10, 2008
I’ve always been confused about the proper usage of these two words. Though certain industries seem to have their own conventions, I’ve used both interchangeably and never truly settled on one particular term.
Today I was watching a video of marketing legend Jay Abraham on a private membership site. He strongly favored the term “client.” Here’s why.
It goes back to the definition of each word.
If you go to the Merriam Webster dictionary, “customer” is defined as:
- one that purchases a commodity or service.
Okay, accurate enough.
“Client” however, is defined as:
- one who is under the protection of another.
- a person who engages the professional advice or services of another <a lawyer’s clients>
So while both words are synonyms, that aspect of “protection” really caught Mr. Abraham’s attention. He asserts that as product or service providers, our goal should be not merely to sell someone a product or service.
Rather, our goal should be to protect - to take care of - the people who rely on us. It goes beyond making the sale.
It means becoming a trusted advisor, someone who can be counted on to educate, to inform, to tell other people which product or service is truly most appropriate and even being willing to forgo the sale if we honestly don’t have the right solution to someone’s problem.
Treating people like clients instead of like customers pays off in loyalty and trust - which translates into repeat business and referrals, not to mention the benefit of doing business with people who’ve become friends, not just names on an invoice.
So… goodbye, customers! Hello, clients!
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