Customers, Clients, or Guests: Which Do You Serve?
Posted By Amanda Collins on May 21, 2010
As a successful business owner, you should have a clear understanding of the differences between the terms customers, clients, and guests. In fact, your view of these words should define your business model.
Customers
A customer is simply someone who buys something from another person or organization. This is the base of sales interactions. Customers don’t typically develop a relationship with the company. You may consider yourself a customer of your local grocery store, for example. You won’t differentiate your business or yourself by relating to people as customers.
Clients
A client has a relationship with an organization with whom s/he is doing business. You will cultivate clients and remain in touch with them through drip-marketing campaigns that may include phone, email, and direct mail interactions. Clients are those people who come back to you again and again – and refer their friends and family because they trust your services. Most small business owners refer to those they serve as clients.
Guests
A guest is a person who is invited to do business with you. S/he feels valued and welcomed to your office (whether brick-and-mortar or virtual), and is engaged in the process. This is what you should aspire to have in your business. Think of each interaction as building a long-term relationship. You may notice that many larger businesses are transitioning to this term in their quest to provide the highest level of customer service. Walt Disney mastered this approach, and it is what turned the Disney name into an empire.
I encourage you to consider how you’re relating to those with whom you do business. Are they customers who just give you money in exchange for a service? Are they clients with whom you are developing a relationship? Or are they guests who feel warmly greeted and cared for throughout the process? The answer to those questions will define your interactions – and have a profound effect on how you do business.
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