Adam, raised in important question about what term you use to identify the folks you serve.

The ensuing conversation completely reframed the way I view people who come in and out of my business. Isn’t it just semantics? Hardly.

The way we orient to an idea will shape how we view it, the identity we give it, and the actions we take in relationship to it.

Adam goes on to share the common definitions/usage of customer, client, and patron. The point he makes is well worth heading. The language you use strongly influences how you relate.

But I felt compelled to raise the following concern.

There are two sources of orientation

One source is yours.

The other source is your . . . well . . . the folks you serve.

In both cases, there is not only the “dictionary” definition, but also personal orientation. Let me give you an example of how much weight personal orientation can have.

My wife and I have this running argument (completely in jest, I assure you, it’s one of the games we play ). We argue over how many uncles I have. As far as my wife is concerned I have none. My dad is an only child. My mom has one sister who has been divorced for many years. What I have, according to my wife, are great uncles. The male siblings or in-laws of my grandparents.

My parents are short on siblings. My wife’s family is different. Her mom has two sisters. Her dad has two brothers and two sisters. My wife needs to make the distinction because the room at Thanksgiving is crawling with all manner of relative. For me, the distinction is completely unnecessary.

As another example, when I hear the word, “patron.” I hear the Spanish word for boss, “patrón,” from my days managing a multi-cultural staff that included many Mexican natives.

Whichever term you choose, customer, client, patron, I think you have to go a step further than just use a term that best suits your feelings for the folks you serve.

Tell your story

Declare to the folks you serve why you choose the term you use.

Help your . . . folks you serve . . . reframe the value of the term that communicates your orientation to them (whatever you want to call them).

If it is important enough to you to choose how you refer to the “folks you serve” with great care, it should be just as important to communicate this orientation in a meaningful, integrated, reinforced way.