What do people expect? Lawn guys to mow in a suit and tie?

Never had a customer complain about one of my guys being too dirty😂

This proves my point. I was a manager a while back and I don’t do that “customers always right” crap. Customer may have an issue and I’ll do what I can to resolve it. But they are not always right.

Let me see if I get this straight. The shabby guy in ill-fitting clothes and grass in most of his driveway is complaining that his lawn care guy has some grass on him after a long day?! You are a better man than I would have been in that case.

I hate customers like this. He's just a miserable old man, looking to ruin someone's day. "He's dirty." No shit. He works a hard, dirty job, genius. Some customers aren't worth keeping around.

Love a boss who stands up for his employees. Not to many employers do that, it's just easier for them. Great job.

This guy absolutely gets it. I really wish the world had more bosses like this. These are the types of bosses that employees are happay to work their assets off for because they know they are respected. I absolutely love it.

"The customer isn't always right", words every boss should know.

If I come home clean with no dirt, grass trimmings, and sweat on my head; my wife would think I hung out at the lake all day with my buddies.

His face was dirty? Oh no! I would never let someone mow my lawn with a dirty face lol

Wow! Can't believe they actually said something about a lawn care guy being dirty. Awesome job handling the situation and I love your truck setup.

As a single employee landscaper of my own company I've seen people try to take advantage of other companies and individuals you handle this very well respectfully I wish you the best season

“Back in my day we would shower between job sites and change into new clothes after every cut, including our underwear” !!

Some people will ALWAYS find something to complain about no matter how much you do for them... Good job and Good luck

Man, I would work for you in a heartbeat. That you know "don't throw your team under the bus" shows that you are a quality person to work for. I had 1 boss like that, and I respected the hell out of him. I can NOT say that about other bosses I've had.

Bro as a medical professional I can't harp enough on how important it is to support your team and build them up at the same time. When it comes to a team and a business you have to have positive solidarity. I love you, dude. You're a true leader.

As a former owner of a lawn care business and sales rep, the customer IS NOT always right! The trick is making them think they are right while still getting your way!

“Sorry about the confusion. “ goes a long way.

Love how you never bashed the employee or bragged about being the boss. True leader!

I came to learn the lower paying customers were always the one that gave the biggest headaches or expected more services for "free" while the higher paying ones never bother us when we worked.

The client looked like he needed a little "work" himself.

Wow this dude is beyond ridiculous been in lawn care and trees my whole life and this definitely tops it on the dumbest things I've heard customers say. Had a lady come out screaming because I was blowing the yard clipping of the driveway into the yard and not using a broom to sweep them up I turned around and left

I went into customers homes for years and I think your line of "He's working hard!" would've been the perfect response to this customer's complaint. It seems like customers forget that people who do work for them are humans and that comment would remind people that y'all are in fact humans who sweat and bleed. If he wants someone to be prim and proper while they cut his yard then tell him to take a shower and do it himself!

Not only is your appearance, curtesy and work ethic top notch but your support of your employees is the best I've ever seen...well done and good job.

Lord have mercy I don’t miss working with the public! 🤦🏻‍♀️😂

The guy was dirty ,he's a working man doing hard work.this guy is a nut job.It would be a different story if he was a doctor.I would never keep a customer like that

I love how you defused the situation, didn’t denigrate your employees and made the client felt heard. Nicely done.

I work with lots and lots of clients (not lawncare, culinary work). And one thing I have learned that pays off exponentially - if you have a customer that is impossible to please, you make sure he works with your competition. Refer your biggest competitor with joy in your eyes.

How you deal with the client depends on the clients personality type. Some clients are looking to have the problem fixed, no muss no fuss. Some are looking for reassurance they are being heard and understood. Some want to vent on you and there will be no consoling them until they get their pound of flesh. How you react sometimes depends on who you're dealing with.

Wow too dirty? I’d fire this guy immediately, definitely gonna keep calling about dumb things.

Wow an owner of a company that actually cares about his employees and doesn't instantly make his employees feel like shit for working hard for him. You sir are awesome! Thank you for being a stand up guy!

Just the first few moments with this guy and already know that no matter how well you did, he'd find a reason to complain.

How offensive was he to talk about one of your guys like that. Don’t think he’ll end there when it comes to complaining, those type of customers find things to moan about.

“He was dirty” Lol It’s a landscaper/lawn business. Depending on the lineup you’re either gonna see fresh in the day mower guy, or 4 lawns in and dirt/grime guy. That’s called WORKING.

Glad to see a manager/boss that show's compassion for his crew regardless of the situation their there to provide the services and wouldn't be if they didn't.

Guy: "He's was Dirty-" Me: "Oh, wow, it's almost like he was cutting lawns all day or something"

I would keep a bad habit before I keep that client.

I think what was said about not throwing your guys under the bus showed great integrity. More bosses and foreman should follow that. You need to go to bat for your guys, and if they aren't the kind that you can do that for comfortably, then they shouldn't be employed there.

This video has been recommended to me constantly for the last month and I finally clicked it. Now i see why, this is no ordinary lawncare video. You dug into every detail of running a business that everyone skips over

When the boss is also arrogant, customer is always right.

“.......he was dirty” I couldn’t help but to laugh. He didn’t like the fact your guy didn’t trim so he went extra on it.

for the Weed eater, keep some string in your back pocket so when you do run out you can pop it in and keep going without walking back and forth

This is a great example of a leader not a " boss" lead by example and stood up for his workers

Really great insight in customer relations here. I don’t own a lawn care service but, you handled every aspect of dealing with a disgruntled customer with impressive finesse. Not throwing your guys under the bus is huge. You didn’t get heated; even when the customer was clearly ignorant. Also, you keeping the boss title out of his mouth was a fantastic play. Very very smart. Impressive.

I owned a lawn maintenance company for 28 years. I personally trained my employees as I was trained when I started. I knew my employee did their jobs correctly, because I won’t have it any other way. I was not afraid to fire a difficult customer.

I really appreciate you sticking up for your employees. That goes a long way with your crew.

The world needs more people like you, keep it up

To complement the owner: very well down to earth minded person, I bet he is a great person to work for! 👌👍 Good to see that type of people in charge of companies, he understands the workers!

Really love the way you are so professional with everyone, and your team is everything. Trust is everything love the way you deal with the client. Seems like you are a great person and a great boss. Keep on pushing on.

This is the kind of content that starting contractors, like myself, absolutely need to see. You handled that situation with so much grace and strategy, I am a naturally apologetic person and from experience I know as soon as you say “sorry” or as much as “I apologize” they think they’ve got you in the palm of their hand to get whatever they want.

I hate it when people say hard working people who are doing manual labor are lazy.

This video proves the professionalism of this company. Your videos are excellent and the instruction is superb.

He's concerned about cleanliness? Was he supposed to cook up a steak on the muffler once it was nice and hot?

Mike , you were way to clean mowing that lawn hahaha 🤣

"I did this too when I was 18" what a subtle insult to the people he's requiring service from

I’ve had a customer literally scream at the top of her lungs and call me extremely rude things because she didn’t want her lawn mowed. The weather was going to be bad the next day so we were there a day early. We have a grace period of coming a day early or one day late due to possible weather implications. All I did was pull up to the property. It took all of my will power to not respond back in the way I really wanted to lol. Long story short we fired the customer. Also why does your steering wheel look bent back?😂

Remember this 90% of your clients are great. 10% of your clients will complain 90% of the time. Time to check out.

$40 for 30 minutes of labor and using $50,000 worth of equipment to get there. Plus the drive time to the job, plus the fuel and maintenance on all that equipment..😳

Props to you for standing up for your employees to the customer!

As a small business owner (carpentry) I love watching your videos and others it’s a good learning experience

Kind of sounds like he should apologize for this sounds like it’s on their end

I really like how you brought up being solution-oriented; a lot of people love to complain, but then don't come to the table with a solution or don't want to help find a solution.

Complaining that your lawn care guy is dirty is like complaining that your dish sponge had food scraps on it. Like dude he is working outside. What is wrong with him?

A year late, but I’ll give you a like. I’m genuinely impressed by your business sense and the trust it allows you for your employees. I’m not in the field and was actually researching rental property lawn care, and I feel like I truly learned some management insight AND saw a fine example of what an employer should look/act like. I hope you’re thriving, because it seems you should be. Subscribed.

Mike I really would love to hear the story on how a 250 steering wheel could get bent

You should get some tips from Lawn Care Juggernaut. Doing the edging once for free is a good deal,because the customer sees how nice it looks and 99% of the time will hire you back and be willing to pay for the edging

I've read a few of the comments and for the life of me I can't figure out why no one is amazed at how savvy (wise) and intuitive you are!?!?!?!? Your approach to business is one thing, but the "life lesson" you just gave ALL of us is beyond anything I've ever seen on KZfaq!!!!

Good for you! Idk why I got this recommendation but I’m glad to see you not just siding with the customer. This stuff drives me crazy irl. People aimlessly complaining about things and then bitching about workers just because they are young. How cringe

One tactic to make sure they know you understand them so they don't repeat same thing over is repeat it back "what I'm hearing you say is (repeat what he says" then give solution.

Many years ago, in a totally different business, I worked for a company that would constantly through you under to bus thinking they would get more business. They are no longer in business. I am in business for myself now and have the respect and loyalty of these same customers. Go figure. Thank you for your video on this subject.

How many times did you have to tell him that you would update the notes about trimming! Good on you for standing by your team…happy staff = happy customers.

I work for Mosquito Squad. We have to wear Cameras. This is ONE of the many reasons why. I went to a property, and it was an ASR (Additional Spray Request) which tends to mean either bad weather ruined the spray, or the worker did an ineffective spray. I read the notes on the property, did the walk around, it was very small and very simple. There was almost no front lawn, and only the back yard had a tree line. I could hit the foundation of the house on 3 sides WHILE doing the perimeter, with only the back yard having enough room to not reach. The notes said the last guy didn't do the Double Pass. The Double Pass is the woodland area, about 20 Feet in, to add an additional barrier of protection. In a lot of places, like packed suburbs where you have no woods because 3 sides are connecting to neighbors fences, there is no Double Pass (it is important to understand the Double Pass is an AREA, not a second spraying of an area). The note also said to call my manager before starting, which I scoffed about but did. I told him the yard was small AND simple, and all the notes said in their word salad could be summed up in "Do your job". Everything they mentioned was basic tenants of what we are supposed to do at every property. There is literally NOTHING special about this place. I also call the customer, as we do. Sent to Voice Message, and I EXPLAIN I understand her woods were not treated last time and I am making a point of treating them. My manager told me it wasn't a difficult property, but a difficult customer. So I set about my job. I start at the right side of the house so I can do the Perimeter and Foundation of everything that isn't in the back right out the gate. I do this because the property is so small, and I want to be efficient. So I started on the right, to the front, to the left which is super fast because this ENTIRE Property is 0.25 Acres and most of that is Back Yard. I can hit everything in a single pass on the sides and front. Then I dive into the back yard, perimeter first. Usually, after the perimeter we would do the 'Double Pass', but I want to spend time there and make a show of it so I save that for last. With the perimeter complete, that means I hit the yard on the way to the Back Foundation. I spend more time here 'laying' spray, much more than required or needed, to make a show. THEN I head into the woods and spend time there. This property COULD take about 5 Minutes with a single fast worker, but we give 17 Minutes for anything at 0.5 Acres or less. Customers don't understand a simple AND small property like this just doesn't take a lot of time to effectively spray. But because of this customer, I spend 25 Minutes on 0.25 Acres. Job well done, probably the best spray this property has ever received... best in how it looked, it was super inefficient because I over sprayed and over stayed by A LOT. Get called into the office 2 days later. ASR review. WTF? I'm a Terminator. I'm a Golden God. What property could this possible be? Yep, it's that same lady. She said I didn't spray the Back Yard AT ALL. Not the Double Pass in the woods, which is a common claim, but she thinks I skipped 0.20 of a 0.25 Acre Property somehow DESPITE the loud noise of the blower being on her property for 25 minutes. To the video we go. It might as well be a Training Video showing people how to crush a property. Zip, I'm around the sides and front and onto the Back. Boom, perimeter done. Back Yard, Back Foundation. Diving into the woods. 25 Minutes on a 0.25, all in an effort to please the customer and make a show of something that should legit be a 5 minute job. I go above and beyond the standards, and it's all on the tape. Manager compliments the job. Does his job, sends the video to the Customer. ASR denied, no free spray for you. Now SOMETIMES the Customer emails back, apologizes, praises the spray and explains they didn't realize how quickly we could do the job, or didn't realize how deep into the woods, or under the porches and hard to reach places, all that good stuff. This lady, just never responds. To any of these. My manager has been dealing with her for YEARS, and this happens 10 times a Season from her. For guys like this, I'd wear a camera. Nothing beats proof.

"I'm sorry you were unhappy with your last service. The reason may be the way the notes are written. I will change that to avoid any further confusion. Thanks for your patience and business." You don't have to throw your employee under the bus. Your employee should know the difference between edging and string trimming. This client is older and seems to like to talk, probably thinks you mow too fast, but he did say at one point, "I'm sorry." A wise, old man told me years ago that you can always apologize for something, (the tone or way something was said, their unhappiness, something), even if it does not include saying you were wrong, or employee was. No apologies for a dirty, hard working employee, nature of the work.

That's a customer that has never done yardwork or has forgotten how dirty it can be. Especially in heat. On the flip side I've seen a couple of companies that could learn from your practices. I've told my mom's service a couple of times that they need to cut her lawn at 3.5 inches since its TTTF (new cultiver that was dormant seeded) and is still in its first year. They nodded their heads did it at that height when I was there and went back to 2 inches (they cut all of there customers at that height) when they came back this week. I told my mom to put them on notice that they need to make the correction or we will find someone else. If I wasn't 900 miles away I would do it myself. Anyway. Good job and great handling of a customer.

I used Augusta when my mower was down because a friend of mine owns a franchise here in the Memphis area. You guys do a fantastic job, and your customer service is flawless.

The way I handled this type of customer was to write him a note when I got home...Sorry we could not please you, "it is time for you to try someone else" This customer will always be a problem, so why keep him??

Bro the disrespect that customer is saying no matter how you look or dress you should never judge someone on how they look 🙅🤦

your a good boss man love that you defend your people/support them before jumping to conclusion

Lol...if a guy came to do any yard work for me and was dirty. I'd be proud of myself for choosing the right company.

The guy was dirty, he had grass all over him! It's almost like he was mowing the grass.

That happens when there isn’t much going in your life , He just has to complain , Even change complain without him knowing , he just wanted to get somebody in trouble . Good points .

Honestly great way to handle that you don’t know who was at fault so you just kinda move on and if it happens again then look into it more

I really like your management style. Not just with the business as in work and budgeting time but how you handle unhappy customers. Great tips and it's nice to see an owner who looks for a solution instead of going into blame mode against their employees. Also like how organized the equipment is on that truck. Neat and clean.

Bahahaha this made my day! Someone is doing lawn work and you expect them to be clean? Bless his heart.

Not too many people your age understands and implements a great business model like you.. I am impressed. You will go far in life.

The old man just needs someone else to talk to other than the dog or cat!

That was absolutely stellar customer service.

I had a boss like you who always had my back and it's greatly appreciated

We always joke around at the pub, if a guy is clean, he didn't work hard enough.

Thanks mike. You answered my question about damage cases. Appreciate the fan support you have compared to most people!

Had a customer once say the same when I'm an arborist. Sawdust all over my pants and a sweaty shirt with dirt on my face. How do you expect people to not get dirty in the summer with outside work. It never makes sense to me 😂

Looks like Mike needs to fire a customer!!!!

15:52😹😹😹 Your too nice, I defend my guys when someone like that guy start rambling nonsense

You have a very wise head on your shoulders and you handled the situation perfectly,the customer was happy and you didn't throw your employee under the bus this is why your a successful business man/ employer....that was a pleasure to watch and a great learning moment ...I loved this!!!!! Thank You 😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

I like the way you handled this! Very professional and respectable

This was great! Clients can be wild. Such a treat sometimes.

Sometimes, complaining is all you have in life. Guaranteed he’s like that with everything.

The world needs more owners like this one. 😭

Thanks Mike you’re a good man and a great boss. Thanks for walking us through and leading by example.

40$ cut and dude still slipped in how he wanted a discount because you did filming since fishing for a discount through complaining wasn't paying off 🙄🤣😂