Friends Versus Customers.

There is a difference.

I once unintentionally offended one of my seminar attendees by introducing him as one of my clients. After I had done this and the two of us were speaking alone, he said, “You introduced me as your client but I thought we were friends.” While that was true, I don’t think he understood the real distinction of friends versus customers.

I’ve often thought of friends as people who know your faults but choose to be around you anyway. In my mind, clients are people who know your faults but pay to be around you anyway. That means that I elevate clients to the level of friends who like me enough to allow me to earn a living as a result of our relationship. There is a reverence about clients — especially the ones with whom you go through personal experiences — that almost transcends a friendship.

One of the best ways I know for evaluating the level of intimacy and rapport you have with your customers is to count how many of them you’ve invited into your home. When I think of my best clients, with very few exceptions, almost all of them have been in my house. I enjoy their company and I welcome them in with open arms.
 

“Start finding future clients before you have anything to sell them. Get to know these people as friends, not potential customers.” – Keith Ferrazzi