Who Is the Customer?
Recognising external customers, internal customers, buyers and users, and why each one matters.
8 min
Activities: 0 of 2
More than one kind of customer
A customer is any person or organisation that receives a product or service from you. Many people think only of the person who pays. In practice, several people may be "the customer" for the same order, and each one judges you in a different way.
Knowing who your customers are is the first step in satisfying them. If you only listen to the buyer, you may miss the user who has the real problem.
Types of customer
Example 1: an office cleaning contract
A cleaning company has a contract with a large office. The buyer is the facilities manager, who checks the monthly invoice and the contract terms. The users are the 300 office staff, who notice dirty kitchens and empty soap dispensers. The facilities manager may be satisfied with the price while the staff are unhappy. Sooner or later, staff complaints reach the facilities manager, and the contract is at risk.
Example 2: an internal customer
The human resources team sends new employee details to the information technology team, who create computer accounts. If the details arrive late or with errors, new employees start work with no computer access. The information technology team is an internal customer of human resources.
Match the customer type
- The facilities manager who signs the cleaning contract
- Office staff who use the kitchen every day
- The warehouse receiving goods ordered by purchasing
- A hospital that buys your cleaning service
A delivery driver hands goods to a shop assistant. The shop owner pays the invoice. Who is the customer?