Who Is Your Customer? And Who Is Your Client?

You might be asking after reading the title, “Is there a difference?” Most business owners and marketers use these two words interchangeably that they lose track of who can provide them with long term profits for the business.

According to an expert marketer, there is a huge distinction between the two, and that knowing it would make a big difference in how you nurture your target market.

According to Wikipedia, a customer is someone who buys a product or service; while a client is someone who engages in professional advice or guidance with the company. In short, the first one buys because you happen to have the product or service they need; and the latter does it because he or she relies on your professional advice and guidance to help them with their issues and concerns.

Furthermore, a customer makes a purchase based on convenience, price and accessibility, or even some other factor that would persuade him or her to buy the product or avail of the service. And the customer may not even be a one-time buyer. He or she may buy repeatedly. But the decision to do so is not based on trust or a strong relationship that the customer has with the business. It is more about the product being what they need at the time they read it in your booklet printing or print brochures and catalogs.

The expert marketer makes this advice: if you want your business to grow, go for the client. It goes beyond having someone to buy from you because he or she knows that you give them good professional advice. But it is more of the relationship that you built with your clients that spells the difference.

The client simply trusts you because he or she knows that you will provide them with their needs and wants at all times. Hence, it proves that the business owner knows the client personally and intimately that there is open communication between the two. Always.

So take a close look at your database. Do you have more customers than clients? If you don’t know the difference, here’s how you can distinguish one from the other:

Do you know clients that need additional products or services from you? Do you know them well enough that you actually know what product or service they need, including those that will help them solve their problems and concerns?

Are you comfortable asking for referrals from them? Which of them would you not hesitate to call and ask for referrals or a testimonial in your print booklets, or even a recommendation for a sales call to one of the officers of another company?

Are you comfortable using them as reference even when you didn’t ask them about it? You don’t hesitate to use them as reference when doing sales calls without even asking their permission because you know for a fact that they wouldn’t mind.

Can you point out a client that trusts or respects you?

If you can give positive answers to these questions, you can say that these truly are your clients. And be glad. Because they would definitely be there in the long haul. Their decision to buy from you is not based on the price. But more importantly, they continue to buy from you because they trust you and your company to provide them with valuable advice that makes it worth their hard earned money.

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