{"id":1659,"date":"2008-07-14T12:30:54","date_gmt":"2008-07-14T17:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/07\/client-or-customer\/"},"modified":"2008-07-14T12:27:18","modified_gmt":"2008-07-14T17:27:18","slug":"client-or-customer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/07\/client-or-customer\/","title":{"rendered":"Client Or Customer?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This has been a topic of discussion here at Select Metrix several times.\u00a0 So how do you refer to the companies with whom you do business?\u00a0 Kendra Lee, guest author for <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thejfblogit.co.uk\/2008\/07\/02\/client-or-customer\/\">Jonathan Farrington<\/a> has this to say.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>From my perspective <strong>a client is<\/strong> a person whose business you have a vested interest in, and for whom you perform as a partner within their business. Not everything you provide is billable. And not every opportunity you are awarded was shopped with the competition for the best price.<\/p>\n<p>In contrast, <strong>customers are<\/strong> people who you help meet a need. They have a problem. You address the problem. You may invest long hours in determining the right solution. They may invest a great deal in purchasing the solution, but they don\u2019t recognize the value of your recommendations. You don\u2019t take time to present new ideas, perform quarterly review meetings, or call them spontaneously.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>An interesting thought.\u00a0\u00a0Whether you agree or not, I think we would all agree that having more clients according to the description above would make our businesses more profitable.\u00a0 So how do we get to this point where we are viewed as partners?<\/p>\n<p>I think Kendra is right on the money with her thoughts on the subject &#8211;\u00a0we need to start treating them as our partners.\u00a0 We can do that by forging new ideas,\u00a0identifying\u00a0strategic business objectives, holding review meetings and taking\u00a0responsibility for our errors are just a few.\u00a0 Realistically, I don&#8217;t think that everyone we do business with will see us as a partner which is is ok.\u00a0\u00a0However, we need to do our part to make sure that we don&#8217;t give them an easy\u00a0reason to do so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This has been a topic of discussion here at Select Metrix several times.\u00a0 So how do you refer to the companies with whom you do business?\u00a0 Kendra Lee, guest author for Jonathan Farrington has this to say. From my perspective a client is a person whose business you have a vested interest in, and for whom you perform as a partner within their business. Not everything you provide is billable. And not every opportunity you are awarded was shopped with the competition for the best price. In contrast, customers are people who you help meet a need. They have a problem. You address the problem. You may invest long hours&hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/07\/client-or-customer\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14,4,9],"tags":[864,866,865],"class_list":["post-1659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-communication","category-sales-management","category-sales-techniques","tag-customer-approach","tag-defining-clients","tag-defining-customers"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-qL","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1775,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/11\/quoting-is-not-qualifying\/","url_meta":{"origin":1659,"position":0},"title":"Quoting Is Not Qualifying","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"November 3, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I run into this topic often and it is one worth defining.\u00a0 Many companies value quotes as strong sales activity.\u00a0 Now don't get me wrong, quotes are a step in the sales process and typically one that occurs before a close.\u00a0 However, companies that have under-defined sales processes often choose\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sales Management&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sales Management","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1879,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2009\/02\/levers\/","url_meta":{"origin":1659,"position":1},"title":"Levers","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"February 3, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"A lever is \u201can inducing or compelling force.\u201d\u00a0 Selling in a down economy is best handled through the use of levers.\u00a0 I recently discovered a lever with a material that has certain properties and uses that are not offered by the market leader in this space.\u00a0 The market leader has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sales Management&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sales Management","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":813,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/04\/how-to-get-your-sales-copy-read\/","url_meta":{"origin":1659,"position":2},"title":"How To Get Your Sales Copy Read","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"April 10, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Writing effective sales copy is difficult, time-consuming and financially rewarding once you master it.\u00a0 We have not mastered it at Select Metrix.\u00a0 Earlier I posted on the effectiveness of using \"P.S.\" in your voicemails and written correspondence.\u00a0 Now MarketingProfs.com offers Want Better Sales Copy? Take a Tip From Zig Ziglar.\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Communication&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Communication","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1684,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/07\/the-evil-known-as-reverse-auctions\/","url_meta":{"origin":1659,"position":3},"title":"The Evil Known As Reverse Auctions","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"July 31, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Those two words should make every salesperson shudder.\u00a0 I remember when we first encountered the phrase about 5-6 years ago at one of our customers.\u00a0 Their top salesperson's top account is a local company that shall remain anonymous (retail giant with a bullseye for a logo).\u00a0 When this salesperson first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sales Techniques&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sales Techniques","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-techniques\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":436,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/11\/when-sales-job-postings-go-bad\/","url_meta":{"origin":1659,"position":4},"title":"When Sales Job Postings Go Bad","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"November 11, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"We keep an eye on the sales employment ads so we are informed of trends in the market. I came across an ad that was innocuous enough in its title. Then I read the opening sentence: This is a job in our Customer Service Department that can lead to an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1753,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/10\/6-tips-for-sales-managers\/","url_meta":{"origin":1659,"position":5},"title":"6 Tips For Sales Managers","author":"Lee Fratzke","date":"October 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes these quick tip articles provide little usable information.\u00a0 This article at Eyes on Sales is not one of those articles - there are excellent suggestions within the 6 tips (pay special attention to number 1): Lack of Process - The cure for this problem is to take your time\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sales Management&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sales Management","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1659\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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