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 recently in her "Wow -- What a Buzz" column for Target Marketing Magazine. She specifically mentions a campaign her company did for Ford that offered free petrol 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 petrol 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.