7.3 A note on terminology
Service provider is a general term that might sound somewhat unexciting however it covers just about anyone who sells or provides a product and/or service. You will encounter various terminologies in your readings such as salesperson, service provider, vendor and the like.
Customers , consumers or clients ? Customers or clients do not come from two different races. "Client" tends to be a more upmarket way of saying "customer". Semantics sometimes confuses more than clarifies. For example, one often hears "client" in legal practices of marketing firms and other professional services; it is a term creeping into education also.
Servicescape , quite simply for our purposes, will be the place (electronic or actual) where the service takes places.
What is a customer?
A customer is a human being.
He or she comes in all sizes and in all colours. A customer is a child asking for help in reaching a toy on a tall shelf. A customer is an elderly man who has lost his way in a maze of hospital halls. A customer is a woman who does not speak English very well and who is trying to make her needs known in the only way she can. A customer is a co-worker asking for your assistance so he or she can serve the paying public. Tax-payer, patient, client, member, ratepayer, guest ... all are synonyms for the customer who comes to you and pays money for your service or product.
Albrecht and Bradford, 1990
What is a customer?
- Customers are the most important people in any business.
- Customers are not dependent on us. We are dependent on them.
- Customers are not an interruption of our work. They are the purpose of it.
- Customers do us a favour when they come in. We aren't doing them a favour by serving them.
- Customers are an essential part of our business - not outsiders.
- Customers are not just money in the till. They are human beings with feelings and deserve to be treated with respect.
- Customers deserve the most courteous attention we can give them. They are the lifeblood of this and every business. They pay your salary.
- Without the customers we would have to close our doors.
- Don't ever forget it.
Author unknown. Source: Albrecht and Bradford, 1990
Activity 7.2
Before you continue reading, stop and make a list of all your customers.
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