Of course, you want to maintain a certain level of service for all of your clientele. However, your best customers should receive the red carpet treatment.

Depending on your business, that could mean that your company answers their phone calls first or puts their complaints and suggestions ahead of other patrons. Or perhaps you'll begin sending thank you notes and gifts on a regular basis to let the cream of the crop know that you appreciate their business.

Here's how it works 

 Customers are assigned a code based on predetermined criteria - how much business they do, how long they've patronized your company or how promptly they pay, for example. Make sure the code is easy for employees to recognize. You can use numbers, colors or even precious metals such as gold, silver and bronze. 

 Use technology to add information to your computer system that can affect ratings. Each time employees do business with a customer, they plug in pertinent information like an increase in a monthly order or an account closing. At the end of a certain period - for example, each month or quarter - the codes can be updated. 

 All employees then receive a list identifying the very best customers. And when employees call up a top customer's computer files, they should be immediately alerted to their status.

By tracking your very best customers, you can provide the kind of service that makes them feel important to your company and keeps them coming back again and again.