Customer

Group 1: Etymology and Terminology

  • Early societies operated on a gift economy based on favors
  • Commerce led to more transient relationships based on immediate needs
  • Customers purchase goods and services
  • Clients receive personalized advice and solutions
  • Different industries prefer the terms ‘client’ or ‘customer’
  • Derived from Latin meaning to incline or bend
  • Winning a client is a significant event
  • Specialists attract long-term clients based on trust
  • Clients buy based on experience
  • Clients are motivated by greed and fear to change habits
  • Returning clients develop customs for sustained commerce
  • End customer is the final purchaser in a supply chain
  • Customers purchase goods; consumers use them
  • Industrial customers may also be consumers
  • Customers are categorized as active, not, or non-customers

Group 2: Employer and Customer Segmentation

  • A client paying for construction work is often referred to as an employer
  • Customers are categorized as entrepreneurs or end users
  • Customers may or may not be consumers
  • Industrial customers are entities using the goods they buy
  • Six Sigma doctrine categorizes customers, not-customers, and non-customers
  • Customers can be external or internal to an organization

Group 3: Arguments against Use of the Term Internal Customers

  • Leading authors in management and marketing do not use the term internal customer
  • Customers have equal positions with suppliers, unlike internal relationships in companies
  • Internal customer relationships are based on subordination
  • Some methodologies define internal customers as parts of a company using outputs as inputs
  • Internal relationships in companies are more about teamwork than supplier/customer relationships

Group 4: References and Further Reading

  • References to various authors and publications providing insights on customer/client relationships and management strategies

Group 5: Notable Works by Management Experts

  • Works by renowned management experts such as Peter F. Drucker, Jim Collins, Philip Kotler, and others discussing organizational questions, management challenges, and service strategies.
Customer (Wikipedia)
For other uses, see Customer (disambiguation).
"Clientele" redirects here. For the British rock band, see The Clientele.

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 an exchange for money or some other valuable consideration.

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