Seun, lets establish a point here.

if a customer is is consuming directly, then u'll have little problem on who to satisfy, but if the customer is consuming indirectly, u'll have to think of how to satisfy someone else ( the direct consumer) right ?

That is only true when the customer is buying a product for someone else to consume. For example, if a mother buys a book for her child, she will want the child to enjoy it. You satisfy the child directly to satisfy the mother indirectly.

For advert-supported services, the situation is much more complicated. The viewers consume your programming, but what the advertisers (customers) consume is the attention of those users. Advertisers do not sponsor TV shows so that viewers will enjoy them. They sponsor TV shows so that you will see their ads. That's what they care about.

You do not have to maximise the satisfaction of the consumer of an ad-supported service in order to maximize your revenue. You only have to satisfy them [i]better than the alternative [/i]ad-supported services they could be consuming. Example: Nairaland doesn't have to maximise its users' happiness. It only needs to be better than other forums.

If your ad-supported service is better than others, you'll get lots of traffic to sell your customers. Advertisers don't indirectly consume services they sponsor. They directly consume attention (clicks, impressions) for their products.

Brother laylala, do you disagree with my argument (in a respectable manner)?

Point of correction kaylala and not laylala

Cutomer is KING

We all agree that the customer is king. The question is "who is the customer?"

The user or benefactor of the service(s) that your render

I believe your customer is anyone that contributes to the growth and net profits of your business. In this context, I will identify two categories of customers: active and passive customer.active customers are direct consumers of your products/service while the passive ones are mainly the referential customers. A customer is someone that is either directly or indirectly responsible for every single kobo am earning from my business. Business transactions that have been consumated directly doesnt have to be a consequent result of direct negotiations.

Clearly all my explanations so far fell on deaf ears.

If that's what a customer is, then what's the name for someone who buys something from you? love-vendor?

Seun:

If that's what a customer is, then what's the name for someone who buys something from you? love-vendor?

Customer

seun,
if your are concerned about knowing who your customer is, then your first post was right.
on the other hand, if you are bothered about making and keeping customers, your attention should be directed to the consumer of your product.

cheers.

hello guys,this section is quite interesting to me. customers are those that u offer goods and services in any form.if u are invoived in the service delivery business,people that utilize ur services and consume ur goods are ur customers .also potential customers are involved.in the business of life,we are all involved in one form of service delivery.if u are in famly,ur siblings are ur customers cos u render some service to them as the case may be .a father that takes good care of his children is actually providing good customer service.if we can treat every one around us with care and attention,we will find it easy,to provide spectacular customer service to our "real" customers.

Seun, you are quite right in your very first post. Your customer is the person who pays you to access your service, whether or not they are the actual users. The people who use your produts or services are the consumers. However, the consumer can also be the customer and vice versa. in any business it is important to identify both your customers and consumers as sometimes, the consumer is your route to the customer and vice versa. For instance, children are the consumers of children's books and their parents who pay, are the customers. To get the books consumed (read) you may either need to 1. put colourful illustrations on the covers (to attract the kids), and make the books interesting(so the kids come back for the next edition). This will cause the children to ask and beg and cajole their parents to buy. or 2. if they are educational materials ( puzzles, and the like) you may direct your marketing efforts towards the parents, explaining its benefits. This will make the parents want the books for their children. So sometimes the customer is the route to the consumer and other times the consumer is the route to the customer. In business it is all about balancing and keeping both parties happy.

Awesome thread, I must say.  Now I understand the clearly the terms:

1.  Customer
2.  Consumer
3.  Any factor that drives sales

But may I ask which is more important?

1.  How much money the business makes? or
2.  How much value the business creates?

For me, making money or satisfying my customer is not enough reason to be in business. The reason why I am in business is to create value, to add value to peoples' lives. The consumer of my product has to derive joy from using my service/product/solution. The product has to fit her like second skin. The achievement of that goal is the source of my own happiness.

Seun:


The dictionary states otherwise. A customer is someone who pays you for a service rendered.



Absolutely wrong. Unless you are a paying subscriber to a TV channel, you're not their customer.
For free-to-air television, the advertisers are the customers. You cannot pay your employees with 'audience'!



This is faulty logic. Unless I eat in the morning, I would not be able to run my business. Does that make all farmers my customers? No! Unless burglars refrain from stealing my server, I won't be able to run this website. Does that make burglars my customers? Hell no! Without Internet access and an office, I would not be able to manage my website. Does that make my landlord and ISP my customers? Definitely not!

What belongs to everybody belongs to nobody. If we are all customers, then there are no customers. What separates a customer from the rest of the world is the money he/she puts in your bank account. Period.

I don't want to believe you are trying to be biased because you want to enforce your own thoughts on others. Who dictionary help?