When I left school I worked with a bank for ten years – the last year was spent as a financial planner. My next job was with a small Adelaide-based financial planning business where I learnt a lot about financial planning and client service.
One of my early lessons was when I referred to someone I’d seen as a ‘customer’. Quick as a flash one of the directors corrected me. “We call them ‘clients’. Banks have customers, but we have clients.”
Needless to say it didn’t take long for me to stop using one term and start using the other.
I’ve thought about that day ever since.

Does the language we use affect the perception we have of people? I think it does.

In the bank, we had customers. Whilst they were real people, ultimately we had a very superficial relationship with them. We didn’t know much about them as people, we just helped them with their banking needs and transactions.
Even working as a bank planner, the expectation never seemed to be to develop long term relationships but was more about selling a product and moving on.
Working in the new business changed my perception. I was now in an environment where we cared deeply about the people who came to see us. The relationships seemed different. They were more about the client and their needs and less about having to sell a product.
There was also a greater awareness of where our revenue came from – the clients! In a bank it gets a bit blurry – you do a job but you’ve got the security of a regular salary. In a small business you’re more aware that if the clients go away so does your revenue.
I like calling them ‘clients’. It’s respectful and also implies that they’re special to us – more than just a name on a list.
How do you refer to the people you deal with?