Customers Vs. Clients

I'd like to ask business owners out there a question. Do you have customers or clients?

You may wonder what's the difference. And if you are wondering what the difference is, I think you should continue to read.

A customer is usually someone who buys goods or services from a company or a store. A client is someone who uses the services of a professional company or organization.

Why does it matter? Well, I remember working at Olive Garden a few years ago and my manager correcting us whenever we called a patron a customer. He said "They are guests, not customers."

Now, while making $2.36/hour for an industry where people think leaving $3 is a good tip, I wasn't particularly happy to hear him make this correction. But once I started to use it, I realized how much better it sounded and took notice of the pleased expression on people's faces when I used it when engaging in conversation with them.

As a business owner, you may slip and say customer every now and then, but this post isn't about what you call them when talking to friends during happy hour. It's how you "view" them, which ultimately determines how you will handle business with them.

There are several ways to differentiate whether you have a customer or a client. Want to discover what they are and how to turn a customer into a client?

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Happy Building,
Mya

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