The best customer is a happy customer. Everyone has heard this credo, and those employed in the retail sector live it every day. Happy customers will tell everyone they know how great their experience was, and this is the best advertising money can't buy. Unfortunately, not all customers are happy ones, and sometimes the best customer can be the one you turn away. It takes a lot of courage in order to walk away from a potential sale, but in the long run, it could be the best business decision to make.

Trying to land every customer that comes into your dealership, regardless of whether he or she is a good fit for the dealership, will grind down every employee. The negative impact of a bad customer can reverberate through a dealership as the customer works with the various departments, from sales through service. Employees and management all seem to know and remember the problem customers – these are the names that stick with you during your career, and send a cold chill down your spine whenever you hear them. Service writers prepare for battle when the customer's name is seen on the service schedule, and a semi-audible groan can be heard in the dealership when they come in. Too many challenging customers can destroy morale, creating unhappy employees and leading to high turnover. When your best salespeople leave, they may take their best customers with them to their next dealership, and now you have even bigger problems than you had before.

Problem customers contribute to customer accommodation expenses increasing year after year. Their demands at the service counter may be forcing your employees to give away service work in order to placate them just in the hope of getting them out of the dealership. Employees believe they are making the best decision for the dealership in their attempts to keep this customer happy and not allowing them to cause a scene in the service department. However, the damage has already been done to profits and moral – both of which are easier to knock down than they are to build up, especially in times like these.

Customer selection is an idea that dealerships should approach carefully. There is a definite difference between an informed customer who comes in with specific expectations, and a customer who believes that you should concede to their every demand — after all, you're "lucky" they chose you to buy a vehicle from. Selecting the right customer for your dealership is something that requires a great deal of finesse, not just in trying to figure out if the customer is a good fit, but also when the time comes to walk away from the deal. No one likes to hear that their business is not wanted, so this part can be akin to breaking up with a significant other — you just have to "let them down easy," and hope the situation doesn't get ugly.

After spending more time evaluating your ideal customer profile and putting those guidelines into practice, it will become easier to spot the people you want to have as part of your dealership family. Morale around the store will improve, and returning business both in the service department and on the sales side will increase. People want to feel comfortable when they are buying their vehicles, and if they always see the same employees in your store, trust is built. And when time comes to replace their vehicle, your name will hopefully be the only one they think of.