No longer a customer?

When is a customer not a customer? What an excellent question!! I honestly had not thought about until I read the blog post “Sometimes it’s good to be a customer” by Scott Hanson on the HMA Public Relations blog site.

So I tried to think of a time when a customer was just a customer and guess what?! It’s kind of difficult!  I can’t think of a time I have been anywhere where I was called a “customer”… even at Target you’re a guest, and you were a guest prior to the information leaking of 2013.  It’s not a new term to make you fell warm and fuzzy so you will forget about the recent information breach.

As I thought more and more about this, I started wondering are we no longer given the title customer because it doesn’t make us feel special?  The blogger himself even stated, “it made him feel good” that the teller at his credit union referred to him as a member and not a customer.  Knowing that I am considered a “diner” at a fancy restaurant makes me feel like my meal is being specially prepared for me, rather than an item on a menu that several others in the restaurant may or may not also be eating.

As the blogger states, offices such as HMA Public Relations, most law and accounting firms customers are not referred to a “customers” but as “clients”.  It has a more professional appeal to it.  Heck, even my insurance agent considers me a client.  As a “client” we tend to feel as if we have more value to the company and are respected more.  I guess it’s a psychological way of being “okay” with parting with out money – I’m valued by XYZ company so I will conduct business with them.  I think this is especially true of the financial institution we use.  I definitely want to feel valued and special there.

photo credit: HMA Public Relations