This is a true statement: "All customers are not equal." I am not saying that some customers should not receive outstanding food and/or service. Certainly every customer should have an outstanding dining experience at your restaurant.

What I am saying is that 30% of your customers are responsible for 70% of the sales in your restaurant and that you need to reward those special customers appropriately. You should not treat them the same way that you treat the 70% of the customers that account for only 30% of your sales.

I want to make it perfectly clear; once again, I am not talking about diminishing the quality of the food and/or service to any guest. I am suggesting that you give added-value to your very best customers. Think about it, your staff currently treats the best customers differently. When the regular customers come in, they recognize them and greet them like "old friends." That's one of the reasons why they patronize you more frequently. But to be effective, you need to go one step further and reward them according to the dollars they spend with you.

There are many ways that you can do this. Frequently, I take my extended family out to eat to celebrate a special occasion. When I pay the bill, it comes to nearly $200.00. Do you think I should be treated the same as someone who only spends $10.00? Or do you think I should receive a "Value-Added Bonus"? Now, I am "equal" as far as the quality of the food and service is concerned. But, I am unequal as far as the amount of money I spend at the restaurant and should be treated appropriately. Think about the different ways you can add value to a $200.00 dining experience.

At one time I did a lot of consulting business in Las Vegas. The casinos in Las Vegas know who their best customers are. They do not treat these "High Rollers" the same as they do individuals who just walk into the casino. The casino will send their "Private Jet" to pick up these customers. They send a limousine to greet them at the airport and provide drinks, meals and rooms in a plush casino hotel. ALL PAID FOR BY THE CASINOS.

The Wall Street Journal on 4 May 2000 reported that casino giant, Harrah's Entertainment, tracked the activity level of their "Core Customers." Harrah's developed new marketing strategies designed to make more frequent gamblers of these individuals who constitute the bulk of its casino business.

Harrah's tracks the activities of their "Core Customers" and when their activity levels drop off, Harrah's takes action. They have a complete history of each Core Customer and the preferences of these customers based on their previous behavior at the casino. Each customer is issued a "Frequent Gambler" card which gives them preferential treatment. By studying the activities it is easy for Harrah's to establish a "predicted lifetime value" of every customer.

The information tells the casino that customer A, for instance, might respond best to a cash offer - say, vouchers for $200 to use at the slot machines, while customer B is more motivated to make return trips to the casino with an offer of a free hotel room.

When a gambler bets below the expected norm - maybe they've missed a weekly or bimonthly visit - Harrah's steps in with a letter or phone call offering a free meal, a cash voucher, or a free show ticket.

It is this type of information that you need to obtain from your customers. You need to get to know your best customers.