My favorite airline recently gave me the red carpet treatment, and I didn't like it one bit. It reminded me of the abject stupidity of some of our generally accepted notions about customer service and that we need to think more carefully about them.

The right side was exclusively for first-class passengers and the well-heeled homeless who live on airplanes. The other side was for the rest of us. On the side for the special people, they had laid out a little red carpet - really: a crimson bath mat emblazoned with the logo of the airline. On the other side, nothing but the standard old gray industrial-fiber tangle that passes for carpeting.

Then they proceeded with the boarding process. First they called the special people to board. They dutifully lined up on the right of the divide and passed the gate agent by treading upon the bath mat. Of course, no one was lined up in the regular line. In fact, at the end of the special boarding group, no one was in line at all.

Then they called my group, the people who travel way too much but not quite enough to be special. The most aggressive of those people walked to the right of the rope, but just before their feet could touch the sacred rug, the gate agent snapped the nylon strap in front of them forcing them to crawl under the barrier straps to enter the correct lane to board the plane.

This humorous scene struck me as a great example of why some of our most common assumptions about customer service sometimes go wrong.

Here the airline seemed to be misapplying the old 80-20 rule. There are dozens of variants of this, but here they seemed to be thinking about the "80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers, so take really good care of them" version. There's a good deal of truth to this one, but you have to be careful about how you apply it.

Think hard about what your volume customers really want: What will provide them with both rational and emotional incentives to remain your loyal customers? Can your service inspire them to consume more of the product or service you offer? Can your perks persuade them to shift their consumption patterns to choose you over your competition more often?

If special treatment is likely to be effective, ask yourself how visible it should be. Rewarding loyalty among the volume customers is important, but you don't want to alienate the lesser ones. Some of them may become volume customers someday. Will making special treatment visible inspire others to want it, or will it cause them to become resentful?

Then think carefully about what type of value you're trying to add to fire up your volume customers. Are you making your product more attractive, adding comfort and making it easier to use, or are you just appealing to their pride? Each of these approaches is valid when used properly.

On my flight, I didn't notice any signs of ecstasy or pride among the anointed. None of the magnificent few seemed to care a whit about stepping on the red mat. And they normally get to board first anyway.

I did notice annoyance on the part of those inconvenienced by the narrowed boarding area and the officiousness of the gate agent, however.

In IT, we have volume customers too. Do yours get the equivalent of the red carpet - the pointless appeal to vanity that alienates more than it attracts?

How you treat your best customers affects how all your clients view you and your service. So before you roll out the red carpet, think about how it will feel to all your customers, big and small.

Paul Glen is the Founder and Editor of GeekLeaders.com.  He is also a columnist for Computerworld and the author of the award-winning book "Leading Geeks: How to Manage and Lead People Who Deliver Technology."  You can read more about his speaking and consulting at www.paulglen.com.

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