Pest Management Professional, February 2013
S P O N S O R E D B Y You can recapture the easy kind of magic that is termite work to build your business and better your bottom line Heres how By Stuart Donna Aust R emember when your staff counted the days and braced themselves before the termite season hit Remember when the phone rang off the hook with panicked customers frantically shrieking something about thousands of huge black insects flinging their wings and seizing their homes No savvy marketing strategies fancy sales pitches or cutting prices were necessary Your business was built on it You could count on this windfall But as the housing boom of the 1980s and 1990s began to dissipate so did those lucrative jobs How did we as an industry respond We become complacent we didnt fight for what came easy We abandoned our first love termite work In the early years of Bug Doctor Termite Pest Control termite work enabled us to be profitable and boosted our revenue significantly Our termite business grew to the point of booking jobs four to six weeks in advance in the spring and summer months But like many pest management companies we too began to see a decline in termite work over the years There were several factors including a dip in housing market sales tougher economic times a lack of termite swarms a focus on other pest management niches greater effectiveness of termite materials on the market than in the past both liquid barrier and baiting systems a shift in our business model from residential to commercial accounts and lower pricing from competitors Weather has also had an impact on termite activity Mild winters can bring early swarms in the spring conversely a cold winter with snow can stall the beginning of termite season Dry weather with no rain can inhibit swarms etc In addition like many companies weve faced challenges in hiring and retaining qualified termite technicians to both perform termite work and upsell services Rekindling the Relationship In 2012 we began to see a healthy and significant increase in our termite work and revenue We implemented the following successful strategies and were sharing them so that you too can jumpstart and increase your termite work and revenue INSTALL VALUE ADDED TERMITE MONITORING STATIONS WITH ALL NEW QUARTERLY OR MONTHLY RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS AT NO EXTRA COST TO CLIENTS Once termites are found we double propose both liquid barrier and baiting programs We guide our customers with the appropriate recommendation based on their particular needs COLD CALL CONDOMINIUM TOWNHOUSE CO OP AND APARTMENT COMPLEXES OFFERING FREE TERMITE INSPECTIONS We offer with all our recurring condominium townhouse co op and apartment complexes a free annual termite and wood destroying insect WDI inspection Continued on page S6 www mypmp net Pest Management Professional February 2013 S5 Termite photos courtesy of and copyrighted by Gene White pmimages@ earthlink net
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