One of my best customers started with a five dollar order. If I was like most people, I’d have ignored her and gone on my merry way. But I’m not. I treat my five dollar customers just like my five thousand dollar customers — they’re all queens and kings in my book.

And because I do that, my five dollar customer has rewarded me with additional business and referrals over the lifetime of our business relationship.

Lois Geller talked about the same thing a while ago in her “Wow — What a Buzz” column. She specifically mentions a campaign her company did for Ford that offered free gasoline for taking a test drive. One of the respondents was a blind man who went to the dealership to collect. The dealer was a bit disappointed, but tooled the man around in a car and gave him the free gas certificate. The very next day, the blind man came back with his brother who bought a fully loaded Explorer from the dealership because they had been so nice to his brother.

You can bet that customer probably told a bunch of people about it too. Don’t just cast off your low revenue or infrequent purchase customers. They can add a lot to your bottom line.

More on this topic:

1. A Customer Loyalty Program Can Be A Recession Buster
2. The Best Way to Handle Customer Feedback
3. Carefully Plan Your Customer Service So It Doesn’t Backfire
4. Tap Into Your “Old Customer” Gold
5. Make Sure You Focus On The Customer