Great cue-makers understand the significance difference between customers and clients.
McDonald's has customers......Cabella's has customers.........Dell Computers has customers. Ever notice that physicians, lawyers, accountants, advertising or marketing companies, engineering firms, etc........never have customers. What they have are clients. I understand there are technical differences, i.e., contracts, terms & conditions, etc., between the two terms/categories. But the real difference is that customers can be one stop shoppers and the next time they buy it's from BurgerKing or Jack in the Box, or Eddie Bauer, or HP Computers.
Customers are not necessarily repeat customers, however, clients, well, they always come back, i.e, patronage. Now one might argue that's because there's an on-going relationship and so the services or goods being provided require follow-up, replacement, renewal, or update etc. Like with medical conditions, you see the physician even on a check-up or preventative basis. So obviously, you're not bringing your cue back to the cue-maker for a periodic check-up.
But I submit that the real difference is in how a client gets treated. You see with a client relationship, the provider knows that your future business is more important than the business being done at the moment. The provider wants you to be pleased and satisfied and works very hard to make sure your needs are professionally and courteously handled. That's what helps ensure you keep coming back. They are relying upon your return business and of course, referral business.
With customers, it's different because there isn't any commitment or relationship between the two parties, aside from the order before them at the moment.....and there may never be another one. So business providers should always treat everyone as clients and not customers. It's the best way to grow your business and build a great reputation as a cue-maker. That's probably something Tony Zinzola has never learned based upon the bashing he's been getting recently.
And today, I experienced firsthand I am a client of the cue-maker building my new cue. He is going out of his way to keep me abreast of the cue build which is still a ways off. I feel like a client with him and not just another cue order. Even if this was not the case but he makes me feel as if my cue was his highest priority. That's a great feeling to have and I hope everyone gets to enjoy that if they ever have a custom cue built. I'm sure there are lots of cue-makers like that but I wanted to put forth a thread about customers versus clients because my business experience has taught me that clients are what you should always strive for as a provider of any form of goods or services.
McDonald's has customers......Cabella's has customers.........Dell Computers has customers. Ever notice that physicians, lawyers, accountants, advertising or marketing companies, engineering firms, etc........never have customers. What they have are clients. I understand there are technical differences, i.e., contracts, terms & conditions, etc., between the two terms/categories. But the real difference is that customers can be one stop shoppers and the next time they buy it's from BurgerKing or Jack in the Box, or Eddie Bauer, or HP Computers.
Customers are not necessarily repeat customers, however, clients, well, they always come back, i.e, patronage. Now one might argue that's because there's an on-going relationship and so the services or goods being provided require follow-up, replacement, renewal, or update etc. Like with medical conditions, you see the physician even on a check-up or preventative basis. So obviously, you're not bringing your cue back to the cue-maker for a periodic check-up.
But I submit that the real difference is in how a client gets treated. You see with a client relationship, the provider knows that your future business is more important than the business being done at the moment. The provider wants you to be pleased and satisfied and works very hard to make sure your needs are professionally and courteously handled. That's what helps ensure you keep coming back. They are relying upon your return business and of course, referral business.
With customers, it's different because there isn't any commitment or relationship between the two parties, aside from the order before them at the moment.....and there may never be another one. So business providers should always treat everyone as clients and not customers. It's the best way to grow your business and build a great reputation as a cue-maker. That's probably something Tony Zinzola has never learned based upon the bashing he's been getting recently.
And today, I experienced firsthand I am a client of the cue-maker building my new cue. He is going out of his way to keep me abreast of the cue build which is still a ways off. I feel like a client with him and not just another cue order. Even if this was not the case but he makes me feel as if my cue was his highest priority. That's a great feeling to have and I hope everyone gets to enjoy that if they ever have a custom cue built. I'm sure there are lots of cue-makers like that but I wanted to put forth a thread about customers versus clients because my business experience has taught me that clients are what you should always strive for as a provider of any form of goods or services.
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