Words seem to have less and less meaning these days. They seem to morph into different meanings faster than ever before. The words we use and the language we adopt, as a company and in our profession, take on different meanings over time. At any given snapshot in time they become part of our culture, the way we do things. Over the last few months as I was starting my new company, it struck me how many organizations have tried to call their customers something other than a customer. Seem I hear the word “client” used a lot. Also seems like a lot of organizations call their organization a “firm”. I got to thinking, how does that make my customers feel when I call him a client? How do they feel when I call my company a firm? So I asked them.

The responses I got were surprising. My customers don’t like to be called clients. It makes them feel like they are in a doctor’s office, or in a CPA firm’s office, or in a lawyer’s office, most of those relate to negative experiences. They indicated to me a negative reaction to the word “firm” as well. They said that firm means, rigid, unmovable. So I right clicked on firm and got these synonyms: hard, unyielding, stiff. I suppose one could see how accounting firms, psychiatric practices and law firms, want to come across that way. They tend to be a bit elitist in my opinion. A top-down approach to working with customers – like “we are better than you and know more than you” feeling when sitting at their firm.

So I asked them what do they want to be called. They said what’s wrong with just calling us a customer? Since I have spent a long time serving customers, I thought I should listen to them. So I have changed my language according to the needs of my customers. I have also changed what I call my organization. It’s a “company.” Much more inviting, social and interactive. When I or my people visit a customer, we are treated like company and treat them like company.

I ran across a section of an eBook by Ronald J Baker which shed some more light on this for me. Ronald writes for the accounting firm professional services audience and he is speaking my language. http://www.verasage.com/downloads/customerlist.pdf

Ronald discovered Karl Albrecht’s book “The Only Thing That Matters.” Here is what Albrecht had to say with respect to the words we use:
In an organization, the language that people use when referring to customers, or when describing service-quality programs, signals very clearly how they view their customers and how they see themselves as relating to them. Many organizations have evolved a special terminology that enables them to avoid referring to people as customers. (Albrecht, 1992: 9)

The word client, when you look at its etymology, is an inappropriate word to describe the relationship between a professional and the person he or she serves in today’s marketplace. Client is derived from the Latin word cliens, which is a follower, retainer, one who follows his patron. In other words, a person dependent on another, as for protection or patronage. Customers are people; consumers are statistics. Stanley Marcus (1905 - 2002)

According to my dictionary, among the ancient Romans a client was a citizen who placed himself under the protection of a patrician, who was called his patron; a master who had freed his slave, and retained some rights over him after his emancipation; a dependent; one under the protection or patronage of another. Are these the types of image you want to project?

THE PROBLEM WITH THE CONTEMPORARY MEANING
I realize words change in meaning, and they adopt contemporary usage and generally accepted definitions, and client is no exception. The dictionary also describes client as “a person or company for whom a lawyer, accountant, advertising agency, etc. is acting; loosely, a customer; a person served by a social agency.” But visit any governmental agency that dispenses aid to individuals, and you will soon discover they too use the word client. A social worker may have clients but I do not believe this describes the relationship we have (or want) with our customers.

What has happened to the word customer, and why do so many businesses attempt to describe the people they serve as something else? After all, customer is derived from the word custom, which is something done regularly. Therefore, a customer is a person who buys, especially one who buys regularly. Why is it when you go see the doctor, you’re a “patient” when you board an airplane, a “passenger;” when you get into a taxi, a “fare;” to your utility company, a “ratepayer;” to your insurance company, a “policyholder;” and to a newsletter, a “subscriber.”

What’s going on here? Why not call customers what they are? Why do businesses develop a special terminology to describe what is, in essence, a commercial transaction? It is as if professionals believe we are not subject to the laws of supply and demand along with everyone else. Partially, it’s arrogance, a way for us to feel superior about ourselves relative to our customers. After all, one doesn’t ‘sell’ to a client; one doesn’t pander in the marketplace with non-professional advertising to attract clients; rather they seek us out for our expertise, experience, guidance, etc. Does this sound like the current environment in which we operate?

The customer is sovereign, period. We may not like it, we may wax nostalgic for the old days, when customers paid regardless of the service they received, but those days are gone, forever. Professionals can no longer place themselves above the “crass marketplace.” We must participate in it, and we must differentiate ourselves from the competition if we are to succeed. I’m not suggesting that if you change your vernacular, you will automatically instill a culture committed to the customer. Far from it. But the words you use to describe the people you serve say an enormous amount about the attitude of your company and it is the attitude and actions of your people that ultimately determine your firm’s culture. I don’t expect many professional services companies to adopt the word customer. And that’s a good thing, for you. After all, you’re reading this book for the purpose of differentiating yourself from the competition, because competition really is conformity. Start referring to your clients as customers, and you will discover it has a salutary effect on your attitude, firm culture, customer loyalty and respect, and, ultimately, your bottom line.