Even if your business is very small, a small business bank values you as a customer.
For example, NetSuite recently snagged ClearChoice Management Services as a customer because of this offering.
But volume doubled last year, and Wal-Mart signed up as a customer in October.
One reason for government's return as a customer is that it has the means.
As a customer of the heavily-regulated utility SCE, I (and millions of my neighbors) experience these effects firsthand.
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"We would see this new department as a customer of the CIA, a customer of the FBI, " he said.
Fate approached him as a customer who seemed at once to trust him.
How is he going to try to work with you as a customer?
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China is likely to remain an engine of Brazil's economy, though more as a customer than as an investor.
Private industry should take over routine spaceflight activities, with NASA as a customer.
Whether you take supermarkets, investment banks, airlines, or auditors, what you get as a customer is highly similar across firms.
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Now consider the difference between your experience as a customer of General Motors and Mercedes, or Apple and Microsoft.
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"They would rather get you as a customer than potentially get download revenue, " notes Avi Greengart, a mobile-device analyst at Current Analysis.
In February, Intel Foundry Services signed up Altera as a customer.
And as such, they are gradually pushing me away as a customer.
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The experience a Buyer wants as a customer is often more important in the purchase decision than the actual product they are buying.
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At the same time, the company added specialist roles for complementary products in the software portfolio, such as a customer relationship management product.
But volume doubled last year, and Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people ) signed up as a customer in October.
He passed all the course units before briefly getting a job as a customer sales adviser with a small computing shop five miles away in Alloa.
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As a customer, do I really want to live in a world where the only motive of businesses I buy from is to increase shareholder value?
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Key to getting this round of growth capital was landing the Tooele Army Depot as a customer and the months-long due diligence it entailed, he says.
Rather than sell service to marketers as a customer giveaway, NetZero peddles its own brand, aiming to offset the cost by selling advertising and targeted marketing research.
Headquartered in Hong Kong, Techtronic maintains manufacturing and research facilities in Asia and North America, as well as a customer servicing network in North America, Europe and Australasia.
But unless I use Skype to make phone calls (which I do when I travel outside of the US), Skype makes no money on me as a customer.
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Mr Esseghaier was studying for a doctorate at National Institute for Scientific Research near Montreal, while Mr Jaser reportedly worked as a customer service agent at a removal firm.
In the U.S. market, phone companies typically subsidize much of the cost of a smartphone to keep the price down as long as a customer signs up for a two-year contract.
If they do continue to focus on the enterprise, however, and getting their software integrated into web sites as a customer and fan engagement tool, I can certainly see its potential.
Dozens of businesses notably use Twitter well to communicate with customers, but one big brand that has done an exemplary job of using social media as a customer service channel is Zappos.
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