Customers, Not Clients

I have read that “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 customer and how they see themselves as relating to them.”

Doctors see customers as patients.

Airlines see customers as passengers.

Insurance companies see customers as policy holders.

What do we mean when we refer to our customers as clients? Doesn’t “clients” seem to imply we are superior and they are following us? Isn’t the current environment very competitive, requiring us to differentiate ourselves to our customers? If we are referring to our customers as clients, are we treating them as dependent on us? Are we and all of our employees really treating our customers/clients as individual people with special requirements and building strong relationships?

Why not call our clients what they really are – customers – and treat them as Job #1? That’s the reason we got into accounting and consulting in the first place: to help people and customers.