Does It Matter How You Refer to Your Customers?

What do you call your customers? Do you call them “customers”? Maybe you call them clients, members, guests, patients, residents… the list can go on and on.
Some people say that the term “client” implies a long-term relationship. Isn’t that what you want with all of your customers—a long-term relationship in which the customer continues to pay for what you sell? Of course!
Then there is the term “guest.” I get that you may be a guest of a hotel or a restaurant. What about a guest at a car dealership or retail clothing store? Most people would call them customers. Actually, I like that businesses that would normally call a customer a “customer” promote them to the level of guest.
I have written about this before. The last article resulted from an Ace Hardware store referring to their customers as neighbors. When a customer walks through the door, an employee yells out,