ElizabethPW

Spot on Elizabeth! I have clients and potential clients. ;) I think these resonate for me because there is a more connected energy of established relationship or potential relationship of service.

I also connect to your three part tribe concept. Although my tribe components look slightly different.

OK this is a real tough questions here. I am engaged into three types of duties

1) on my ranch business I call them all customers because no matter if people come and buy horses, have their horses trained or simpley jsut want to breed it all comes out to the same they pay me (or better my staff) for my service adn as for the cattle well I sell them to the beef market.

2) in my companies it is just the same - I buy and repair broke down businesses or invest in real estate and sell and rent so they all are my customers becasue with the majority I do not build a close relationship - I devide strongly between the me life and the business life. People becoming close Friends I consider jsut that.

3) my political lobbying I call those people compatriots. Now I am very carefull with the term friends. And though i consider you a friend (and would be honored to be one) until you do so in reverse I can not say we are friends.

I consider myself a follower of your teachings - why is pretty simple - I have seen and consulted many trainers and have a trainer certification myself (not doing it casue I would be a lausy teacher LOL) but you are simpley the best I have ever seen and I have learned so much from you. So I dont know if you consider me a client, i know I ma not a customer, but I see myself as a faithfull follower of Elizabeth Potts Weinstein living the truth. And one day soon I am going to hire you persoanlly one on one for some teachings or maybe on one of the gatherings we can have a nice glass of chardonet and talk some of your teachings through. But still I hope you consider me than as a faithfull follower and client.

Until then take good care of that little angel and God Bless

and that's really the idea, is to be thoughtful of what language you
use. and you've obviously done that with your 3 businesses.

and thank you Tom, I'm so glad you get so much out of my stuff ... I
hope we get to connect soon! :)

I've heard coaches gush when they talk about their "clients" and then actually use the phrase "just a customer" when talking about someone who purchased a product, Such a turn off. I wonder if they're just not thinking about how negatively this comes across, or if they're intentionally using it as a "big ticket" appeal tactic. I don't think there's anything wrong with saying customer, but I think it's important to feel/express similar enthusiasm/gratitude for that person's attention. I tend to think of people in my workshops, etc. as students... but then again, that's probably because I also teach college students. Not sure if I'll ever break away from that mentality.

yes, it is the differential that's the problem, the intent/feelings
involved in what language we choose

I think we get hung up on the word "clients" because it sounds so "corporate", which is what many of us purposeful entrepreneurs are breaking away from and forming a new way of doing business - which is based on relationship building and being of service to others. No matter what the label is, it's the intention behind the use of the word that counts and Elizabeth has it bang on.

Susan

Interesting! I've had this same debate (in my head, of course) about what to call the people who buy things from me.

"Clients" it is. :)

Let's ignore how brilliant this is for a second - do you have a daughter named Gracie???

Awesome choice!

Cheers,

Dave

yes, yes she is named Gracie. ;)

I love the concept, Elizabeth. Because it truly is all about relationships. Yet, somehow I don't think "client" gets it either.

And when I first read Sarah's comment, I thought, "Yes, I'm building a tribe," but upon reflection, it's so much more than that.

With the stuff we offer, we have the opportunity to profoundly impact people's lives. And one never knows how a kind comment offered will impact someone.

I got a facebook message the other day from a guy thanking me for something I said to him a decade ago when we were facilitating a workshop at IBM. I don't recall the interaction, but he remembered it 10 years later.

So I'm thinking that I have to find or make up a new word. And I don't know what it is.

I made up a new word last weekend for part of what I do, I'm a woman's success strategist and "passionista" . Perhaps I need to make up a new word for this.

Thanks for being so thought provoking.

I work in the non profit sector. We have clients - people with ALS who we help to support. We have donors - people who donate funds. We have volunteers - people who give their time and/or expertise. I call them all supporters.

Tricky title, for a while I thought you're nuts :)

This is a very complex subject and hard to explain.
Lets see, if they sign up in a form or call and asked for questions they start as a leads and prospects, probably move to clients. A really low percentage will be seen just as a costumers and I think is because some people are not looking for more than that. Looking to your video I can see you know the difference between clients and costumers.

Most of the people I'm following and the people that follows me are "Internet friends", even if they buy something from me or if I buy something from them after a while. I'll always call them internet friend, because everything started with a chat and engaging before we do any business transaction.

I can create a whole blog post with this and is getting confusing, I hope you understand.

By the way, this Internet friends are the awesome people than when we meet in real life we feel like we know each other for years and we smile and laugh a lot in tweetups and conferences.

Here's the big picture --> I actually have a community, that has 3 different parts: clients, mastermind, and evangelists.

Clients are people where I'm leading them or helping them or supporting them or teaching them. So that includes people who read my blog, take classes with me, or work with me one-on-one, for example.

Mastermind includes my peers, people in formal mastermind groups with me, people who I just informally speak with IRL/phone/chat/DM about my business, and people who become real friends. These people are my support structure (and I support them).

Evangelists are people who love & promote me & my stuff. Includes affiliates, joint venture partners, and people who RT me on twitter, for example.

Obviously, all of these groups overlap. :)

I read about something like that three years ago, (I wish I could remember the author) I had the same question about costumers vs clients vs friends.
Your three part explanations is pretty good because includes everyone and yes after years of relationships with this three groups it doesn't matter.

Awesome! I've always called the people who buy anything - cd's, classes, one-on-one coaching - "clients". Lately though, I'm starting to refer to anyone I talk to, anyone I connect with who gets value from what I offer on my blog or on twitter as "members of my tribe". For me, I feel like I am creating a community of peers and "client" doesn't exactly convey a peer relationship. But I'm still feeling my way through that. The business person in me really LIKES the sound of "client." :-)

Yep, clients are just 1 of the 3 parts of my community, the other 2 parts are my mastermind partners & my evangelists. :)

But I do think that people don't just want a community w/o a leader, they want to be led to a certain extent. Now I lead in a very lead-by-example kind of way ... but it is still leading. :)

Ah - you are right. There is leading involved. Back to the drawing board. Sometimes the limitations of language can be SUCH a challenge. :-)

Interesting side effect --> now that I think of everyone as my "client" I feel so much happier about my business, as if it now matches my personal philosophy of life. :)