What is the difference between Customer and Client?
After reading about "What is the difference between Customer and Client" I saw many opinions on this, what's the right answer?
Expert Answers
Sort by Date
Sort by Votes
Oct 7, 2016
Regular customer is called client, mostly you sell the product to customer and but guide to client how choose the right product,...
Oct 5, 2016
The answe is in what you provide /sell. If you provide a service ( healthcare, construction, protection,cleaning services.. etc) ,the service receivers are considered clients. If you sell them products ( medical equipment, construction materials, protection equipment such as gloves/uniforms, cleaning materials such as electrical sweepers ) then these buyers are called customers.
Sep 22, 2016
Client: Persons who using your services considered as client.
and
Customer: Persons who buy your products are considered as customers.
Sep 20, 2016
I had at a lawyer once who said only attorney have clients lol
Any who client someone you represent or customers someone who purchases a good.
Sep 12, 2016
The difference between client and customer can be said according to there context. A customer is who have bought your product or service and the client is one who we approach for the service. There is a difference of phase. A client can be a customer.
Sep 11, 2016
i would differentiate as customer is who purchases your products (product in kind or service).
whereas client buy your expertise only; expertise specially customized for you only.
Sep 8, 2016
Hi Asmaa,
The one response I have not read was that a client is someone the business owes liability. There is no liability with a customer other than the business transaction and contract. Everyone thinks of client as long term. How many lawyers only represent a client once? They can be sued by the client even if they properly did their jobs. A customer can only sue if the product/service does not measure up to what the contractual terms are. A client has liability attached to the product/service.
Sep 8, 2016
In one point of view, a customer is someone you sell things to; a client is someone for whom you perform professional services.
Sep 8, 2016
I don't think that the length of the relationship or the number of times someone transacts with a business is a defining factor. For example, many people are loyal to a particular department store, or clothing store, or florist, or restaurant or any manner of businesses. I always go to the same butcher, the same bread shop, the same deli and the same greengrocer and many other places. My greengrocer sees me every few days, as does my butcher and some of the cafes I go to. But, I am a customer of these businesses because the transactions are usually relatively short in duration and normally fairly straightforward exchange of goods and services for money.
I think the defining factor is the depth and intimacy of the relationship. Professional services firms - accounting, law, consulting, advertising, IT, architectural, engineering and so on - have clients. Builders also have clients. The have to get to know me at various levels to properly provide their services, their services are generally fairly complex and are usually not simple transactions.
Sep 7, 2016
A Customer is someone over whom you have little or no formal control and who visits you whenever they choose to do so e.g. retail store - but a Client is someone with whom you are more formally engaged for the delivery a specific purpose or service e.g a lawyer or a business consultant..
Sep 7, 2016
A customer buys your product and may purchase from someone else next time. A client has bought into you and your firm. They are repeat clients that prefer to do business with you for other reasons.
The objective is to create a client expierence that make them prefer to do business with you over your competitors.
Sep 7, 2016
Customers are transient. They come to you, or perhaps buy only occasionally from you. There is no close relationship, just transactions.
Clients use you as a trusted advisor — They consider you to be an expert in your field, and a partner in achieving their goals. They want to know you, understand you, and are willing to share their needs and circumstances with you, in the hope that you will tailor your solution to their needs in the best and fairest manner possible.
Clients are nearly always the result of a consultative sales approach. They are developed over time, perhaps via several sale-less visits, fact-finding missions, and tailored presentations that result in a smaller order, and progressively larger orders or projects.
Sep 7, 2016
Recently I have read in Linkedin a difference between Businessman and Entrepreneur. Same thing goes with Customer and Client. Businessman add its value and sell the product what he has purchased, but the Entrepreneur adds its creativity / innovation and sell the conceptual products.
Businessman serve its Customer, whereas Entrepreneur serves its Clients.
Sep 7, 2016
As a HR Consultant my clients or customers are the small businesses I work for. From a project management perspective and this is just hypothetical but shall hopefully help you understand. You could be a Project Manager working with a client to develop a product or service for a particular customer. Therefore we carry out work for clients that will provide a service to customers. As a HR Consultant I carry out work for the client that will provide a service to or benefit employees. Customers can be internal and external.
Sep 6, 2016
Customers In sales, commerce and economics, a customer (sometimes known as a client, buyer, or purchaser) is the recipient of a good, service, product or an idea - obtained from a seller, vendor, or supplier via a financial transaction or exchange for money or some other valuable consideration. An ultimate etymology of "client" may imply someone merely inclined to do business, whereas a purchaser procures goods or services on occasion but a customer customarily or habitually engages in transactions (historically: the collection of tolls or taxes - see the Wiktionary etymology of customer). Such distinctions have no contemporary semantic weight.
Clients
See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com
noun
1. a person or group that uses the professional advice or services of a lawyer, accountant, advertising agency, architect, etc.
2. a person who is receiving the benefits, services, etc., of a social welfare agency, a government bureau, etc.
3. a customer.
4. anyone under the patronage of another; a dependent.
5. Computers. a computer or an application on a computer that communicates with a remote server:
Exit the program before installing the patch to update the client.
6. client state.
7. (in ancient Rome) a plebeian who lived under the patronage of a patrician.
Sep 6, 2016
I think client is the party who keeps on buying or getting the services on reguler basis while a customer who get the product once or one time without returing back again . thats why so many organisation keeps a list of clients mentioning data a bout them from time to time even mentioning total no .I hope this answer satisfies you .
Sep 6, 2016
In my history customers purchased products that you could touch and feel and use like paint...clients purchased professional services
Sep 6, 2016
Nothing. Client is a word invented by the management consulting industry in the early 90s. It was meant to connote that a client has a higher level relationship with the vendor than a mere "customer". Also, clients are long term whereas customers may be transactional.
Sep 6, 2016
Customers buy products. Clients by services.
The problem now is in hospitals where they are starting to refer to patients and customers.
Sep 7, 2016
Right, The problem is in hospitals =D
I think we can't use Customers or Clients , we should use " Patients "
Sep 12, 2016
A slight nit, George. There are many times that "services" are really products. To the woman who cleans my house I am a customer, not a client. To the waiter in the restaurant I am a customer. Both of those are services. I think that it is the level of relationship, not the type of thing being bought. A client has a higher form of relationship with the vendor/provider than the customer.
Sep 6, 2016
haha... interesting perspective. You've highlighted an important point. If we don't give value, we end up with 'one-off' customers. But when we give value we'll have 'repeat' customers i.e. clients.
Sep 7, 2016
Who Cares !! ,,
what is the difference between ( UI and UX Designer ) , ( Web Developer and Web Designer ) it's little words but mean More, Mr. Berry
Maybe the term could be business person since people from either gender can be in business or own a business, yes?