Includes individuals, households and organizations that interact with the company in the past, currently or in the future. External customers are outside the company, internal customers are persons or departments that work within the company and to whom services are offered. The customer can be characterized in the following ways:
- is human, just like yourself;
- is king or comes in at number 1;
- makes (anti)advertisements for the company;
- can come, stay and go;
- is the customer;
- is the reason for the organization's existence;
- is a source of feedback to the company (source of information);
- is satisfied or dissatisfied;
- has personal preferences and expectations;
- has a budget;
- is emancipated and makes demands;
- pays your salary;
- is not omniscient; is unpredictable.
See Customer Relationship Management