[RiderOfGiraffes]

Reading again about "Locus of control" and putting that into the context that you have further provided, I think this is still a question of attitude, and your comments remain unhelpful at best, and at worst are actively misleading.

Viewing the customer as a part of my toolset does not make them internal. A defining feature of my toolset is that it is under my control. The customers I have are not under my control.

Viewing the way I generate my customer base from the collection of potential customers is largely under my control, but that is not the same thing. My customer base is more under my control, but is still not part of my toolset.

I have control over what I produce, and viewing what I produce as a mechanism for selecting customers is useful. Realising, and explicitly using, the fact that what I produce will implicitly determine the customers I get is valuable.

This is not achieved by viewing customers as part of the toolset.