5 Vital Differences Between "Clients" & "Customers"

Please Don''t Shoot The Messenger! is a business book of mine that has a subtitle too long to recite here. Part of it contains the words "Tough Customers" and this phrase generated an interesting prepublication discussion with my editor.

Please Don?t Shoot The Messenger! is a business book of mine that has a subtitle too long to recite here. Part of it contains the words ?Tough Customers? and this phrase generated an interesting prepublication discussion with my editor. ?What about ?Difficult Clients??" she asked. ?I?m using the terms interchangeably,? I retorted. ?You shouldn?t, because I think there?s a difference.? That set off a linguistic alarm for me. I?ve always felt that quibbling about the breadth of a term was a fine academic exercise, but little more.

For example, I?ve never much liked the presumed distinction between selling ?tangibles? versus ?intangibles.? Are there significantly different skills in selling insurance versus the cars insurance policies cover?

Now that I am the President of Clientrelations.com as well as Customersatisfaction.com, I have found the editor was right.

Clients differ from customers in at least five vital ways:

(1) Client relations are generally more personal, more intimate. Your relationship with your attorney will be much more open and detailed than with the person who is fitting you for a tuxedo. You?ll need to disclose more about yourself and your specific needs to your lawyer. Failing to disclose what is inside your head will hinder the attorney from taking all of your interests into account as he or she proceeds. The tailor is in a what-you-see-is-what-you-get situation. Everything he needs to know about you can be assessed externally, with a tape measure. In this sense, you?re just like the last and the next customer, not in the specific waistline or shoulder dimensions, but in the protocol the tailor must use to serve you sufficiently.

(2) Clients can be expected to stay with you longer than customers. For example, I?ve used the same accountant for decades. The continuity of dealing with someone who remembers your personal situation from year to year is more efficient and helpful.

(3) Speaking of my accountant, he has faltered a few times over the years, dispensing advice that was wrong for me and for my business. It was disappointing, and even costly at the time to me, but it wasn?t relationship-busting. As a mere customer, if a restaurant serves a bad piece of meat, I might simply resolve on the spot to never return. It?s harder to walk away as a client because there are ?idiosyncrasy credits? that we have exchanged in the form of positive outcomes, good feelings, and the tolerance for an occasional mistake.

(4) Clients are generally more valuable than customers. Costco can sell me a big-ticket baby grand piano for many thousands of dollars, but that?s a one-shot thing. Compare that to the six-figures my accountant has earned.

(5) Client work is highly non-delegable, because so much of it depends on the competence and style of the professional that is involved. My hair-cutter is very good, and I consistently get what I ask for, which changes from time to time. I?m not a customer because I expect to be using his services over the long haul, and he is head and shoulders above alternatives. The first few times I used him he encouraged me to try some of the other stylists in the shop if I couldn?t get a timely appointment with him, and I declined. By offering them as substitutes, he seemed to be demoting me to mere customer status, though I?m sure he has solid business reasons for developing his staff.

My gardener is in the same class as the stylist. He uses assistants, but they?re just as likely to pull up the infant plants along with the weeds; a mistake he?d never make.

To him, I?m a client and to them, I?m a customer.

Is it better to build a clientele or a customer base? I?ll explore this in another article, but for now let?s just say when you lose a customer, generally there are more where that one came from.

Losing a client, on the other hand, is more costly and jarring.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman is the best-selling author of 12 books and more than a thousand articles. A frequent expert commentator on radio and TV, he is quoted often in prominent publications such as The Wall Street Journal and Business Week. His seminars and training programs are sponsored internationally and he is a top-rated faculty member at more than 40 universities. Dynamic, experienced, and lots of fun, Gary brings more than two decades of solid management and consulting experience to the table, along with the best academic preparation and credentials in the speaking and training industry. Holder of a Ph.D. from the Annenberg School For Communication at USC, an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School of Management, and a law degree from Loyola, his clients include several Fortune 1000 companies along with successful family owned and operated firms. Much more than a ?talking head,?

Gary is a top mind that you''ll enjoy working with and putting to use. He can be reached at: [e-mail]