“He was old enough to be her grandfather,” Tonnika Haynes says of the customer that was shouting at one of her service advisors.
At first, Haynes, the president of Brown’s Automotive in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, let her service advisor handle it. But, when it reached a point where he began being verbally abusive, she stepped in.
The shop was about to close down for the July 4 holiday and had been having a difficult time getting in touch with this customer. They were finally able to connect with the customer to get him to come in and he had forgotten his wallet. The customer, already irate that he had been interrupted at the pool, did not understand why the service advisor was not going to let him take his car before receiving payment.
Haynes stepped in–remained calm and polite–and told the customer to remove his glasses. She made eye contact with him and explained to him that he had options. He could leave and return when he had his wallet, or he could call his wife and pay over the phone. She also told the customer he would need to apologize, or he would not be allowed back. The customer calmed down, called his wife, apologized and has remained a customer of Brown’s Automotive.
This situation is extreme, but bad or unpleasant customers are familiar to everyone within the industry. Whether it's the customer who always turns down work, the customer who is upset about price, or a customer who expects to come in and have the work done while they’re waiting. Everyone reading this has a customer that they would like to fire. Haynes has no regrets about letting her bad customers go.
Backstory:
Haynes grew up in her father’s shop and started working there full-time when she was 16 years old. Eight years ago, he retired, and she took over the reigns and has six employees that work for her.
Problem:
When Haynes took over, she felt she had to say yes to everything. Customers took advantage of her and they mistook her kindness for weakness, Haynes says. After attending industry events and taking advice from people she looked up to, she learned the power of saying no.
“If I did everything that came through here, I wouldn’t have time to provide proper service for the people that want to support my business,” Haynes says.
She learned that by saying no she would make room for more yes. However, that can be hard and scary.
Solution:
An angry customer can be intimidating, and it can be difficult to turn a job away. In the beginning, Haynes says she felt she needed to take every job so that she had a high car count. She then came to the realization that those oil change only customers were not adding to her bottom line and only adding stress. She now prioritizes the customers that respect her as a professional, and if a customer has a problem with that, she has no problem turning them away.
There is a two-strike policy at Brown’s Automotive. Examples of strikes include yelling at staff, lying about the shop not contacting them, or deferring work and having it done elsewhere. Haynes is able to track all of this in her shop management system. She’s able to highlight her top customers green and give them priority booking, yellow for those that will have to be booked out because they have one or two strikes, and red for customers that are not welcome back.
That’s not to say Haynes doesn’t allow customers to be upset. She just doesn’t allow them to be angry at her or her staff. After all, they didn’t mess up the customer’s vehicle. They’re the ones trying to fix it.
Haynes says she always remains calm and explains her processes with the customer and tries to make sure that everyone is on the same page. She speaks with a good tone, smiles the whole time and maintains direct eye contact and explains that she understands that the customer is upset and that she is there to help. She never steers away from her processes and if a customer tries to get her to do so, she explains that maybe this isn’t the shop for them.
“If I can’t service it (the vehicle) the way I need to as a professional then I will not do it. This is not the place for you,” Haynes says.
Aftermath:
In the beginning, Haynes felt she needed her car count to be 20 per day. That mentality led her to saying yes to every job and a low ARO. When she learned to say no, her car count did decrease–as did her stress level–and her ARO went up. From January 1, 2021 to October 8, 2021 she saw 3,338 vehicles with an ARO of $282.32. In the same time period for 2024, she saw 2,524 vehicles and her ARO is $503.92.
Takeaway:
“All money is not good money,” Haynes says. “When that customer comes in or that phone number shows up and your blood pressure and your heart rate rise–that’s not good money.”
The toll that a bad customer takes on your body is not worth it. Haynes says you might get $500 for the job, sure, but what is it doing to your health? If a customer is stressing you out that much, it’s not worth it.
“You have to learn to say ‘no’ and get rid of headaches,” Haynes says. “The people that respect you are the ones you need to make room for.”
