Some customers will simply be classed "below zero" - not worth serving. Little old ladies who chat unprofitably to the bank teller for instance will be charged prohibitive rates to force them to close their accounts.

Jobs will be lost. Identifying the shoes a customer wants before producing them will cut down on waste but it will also cut down on production.

Personal contact between customers and staff will also be cut. It is better to use a machine to communicate wherever possible, says Peppers, because then the company can control the "dialogue interface".

In the faintly sinister language of Peppers' new book Enterprise One to One: "Some customers are more equal than others". Sound familiar?

Enterprise One to One by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers published by Doubleday is on sale in the UK from later this month. www.marketing1to1.com