Pesty Marketing Podcast

Customers Service & Sales In Pest Control With Grit President Margaret Garcia

00:00 Introduction
01:10 Margaret's origin story in pest control customer service
02:47 Common misconceptions in pest control customer service
05:37 The role of technology and AI in pest control customer service
07:27 Integrating and training new customer service agents
12:16 Managing emotional labor in customer service
14:31 Optimizing call flow for better customer interactions
16:53 Ensuring customer service consistency across clients and regions
18:05 Advice for new customer service representatives in pest control
21:27 Measuring success in customer service and sales
25:50 Close rate benchmarks and other key performance indicators
27:12 GRIT's next big goal

How Tailor Made Pest Control Utilizes Social Media to Drive Pest Control Sales

Welcome back to another episode of the Pesty Marketing Podcast! Today, we have a special guest joining us: Christian Allan, the founder and owner of Tailormade Pest Control. Christian has an inspiring story about growing his pest control company using social media and embracing the mindset of not underestimating the time and effort required for success. In this episode, Christian shares his unique perspective on growth in the pest control industry and how he applied strategies learned from Grant Cardone's book, The Ten X Rule. We'll dive into the power of consistent social media posting, the importance of communicating with customers, and the success of building trust and credibility through online platforms. Additionally, Christian will discuss the tools he utilizes, such as Go High Level, and provide valuable insights into generating leads and differentiating his services in a competitive market. Get ready to be inspired as we explore Christian's journey and learn how to boost your marketing game in the pest control industry. Let's dive in!

Leveraging Automation To Turn 85% Of Leads Into Sales

Antoni started his career in the pest control industry ten years ago as a door-to-door salesman. Although he quickly realized this was not the ideal role for him, he knew he loved growing the business. He approached of the company and suggested they focus on digital marketing to scale the business without having to knock on doors. Together with some key talent, they successfully grew the online presence of the company, which led to revenue skyrocketing from $300,000 to $6 million in just four years. Antoni is now the founder and CEO of a new pest control sales software company called Fiohs where he's turned his industry knowledge into the best sales enablement tool on the market.

 

[00:06:58] Created successful sales funnels, sold about a million of dollars annually, trained two people for sales approach, improved another company's conversion rate from 50% to 85%.

[00:12:19] Fios software solves the problem of pest control companies losing money on leads. Automation is key, but the companies still need to close deals. The top three automations needed for success are not specified.

[00:24:49] Referrals are important with lower customer acquisition cost and better lifetime value. Offering incentives to both the referrer and referred can increase success. Many pest control companies don't focus on referrals, but it can be an effective marketing strategy.

[00:34:20] Create free directories on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Nextdoor to be discoverable. Engage with these communities and pay attention to conversations. Paid options like local service ads, Angie's List, Thumbtack, and Home Advisor can work, but be prepared to handle calls. Yelp advertising is simpler with less control compared to Google.

[00:40:11] Competing on low prices can lead to incapability to scale a business. Pest control companies should focus on initial treatments with follow-ups instead of quarterly services. Companies investing more in customer acquisition can easily outcompete other companies. A payback period of 50% is not uncommon for companies that are scaling aggressively. Companies should be prepared to lose money for a decent period of time to grow. The writer asks what a reasonable payback period for an annual service customer is.

[00:49:32] Customer service is about helping the customer, not defending the company. Role-playing should involve putting the customer and employee on the same team, with the computer representing the company. Communicating well with customers and providing a great experience, including automation and being a happy person, is essential. The goal is for customers to be happy and willing to call for help.

[00:59:28] The text describes a guided tour and onboarding process for a software solution that focuses on building custom solutions for businesses, including automation and efficiency. Basic setup takes a week, while more complex integrations can take up to a month. A new feature allows easy plug-in for automation, with no work required from the user's end.

[01:02:43] Solo operators can compete with big companies through strategic partnerships and working with a marketing company that specializes in their industry.

How All Solutions Pest Control Grew to 4,500 Customers In 8 Years

Door knocking, SEO, Google Ads, flyers, TV commercials, and bright green wheels - Derek has tried all forms of pest control marketing on his way to 4,500 customers. Learn from Derek Ostler, Co-Owner of All Solutions Pest Control, in this episode of the Pesty Marketing Podcast.

Taking The Family Business From 200 to 700 Customers

Aaron Owens is the Owner of US Pest Control and shares how he took over his family's pest control business to grow it from 200 to 700 customers in six years.

Getting to 18,000 Customers With Door to Door Sales

In this episode, Alex Parker and Zac Davis of Reliant Pest Management emphasized how their door-to-door knocking strategy – filled with motivated and competitive sales reps – brought greatness to their company.

Door-to-door knocking is celebrated as one of the most challenging and exhausting marketing strategies. Alex and Davis recognize this hardship, but they took the challenge and developed the ability to have mental and emotional resilience along the way. Today, their sales reps have developed the same skills as well.

Naturally, door-to-door knocking requires you to meet people, communicate with them, deal with rejections, and handle hard times. Whenever Alex and Davis’s company would recruit new talent, they are upfront with this challenge and the rewards that can come from it. They emphasized that different people have their own style of approach when talking to others, which is something that their sales reps learn when they conduct door-to-door sales. Over time, they came to realize that being yourself and feeling comfortable talking to people in your own way could bring sales.

As the episode ends, Alex and Zac also emphasize that creating an environment where your sales reps can be positively competitive, joke around, and have fun does contribute to the business’s success. Maintaining a work culture that’s loyal to their people, properly compensating their achievements, and putting great importance on integrity and honesty in the work they do will benefit not only the employees but also the business and its customers.

Links: 

Reliant Pest Management

Andrew Peluso

Morgan

Every now and then, being known as the “taco guy” among your clients can lead you to unbelievable growth (with Jason Fiala)

Today’s episode of The Pesty Marketing Podcast brings Jason Fiala, partner and operator at Premium Termite and Pest Control, and the story of how he started and grew his companies, the challenges faced, and the lessons learned. 

One of the most interesting things we found in Jason's story, were (as told by him) the three components of the perfect storm that caused his business to shut down: lack of discipline (maybe having too much fun), the economic crisis, and not taking the time to hire and train adequate staff. Added to this same scenario, he commented on the importance of learning to say “no” when you really can’t take over a job (whether it is because you lack the time, or because you know nothing about construction). 

Moving forward 10 years, he tells us some of the secrets that make his business one of a kind: being super on top of Yelp reviews, not settling for being a 4.5 stars company and always striving for 5 out of 5, and making sure your customer’s experience is great by granting clear and useful communication as well as follow-ups once the job is finished.

And finally, we can’t leave aside his success tale: how being known as the “taco guy” and doing a memorable job turned him into the only termite guy the biggest real estate company in Long Beach actually trusts. 

 

Links: 

Jason Fiala

Premium Termite and Pest Control

Andrew Peluso

Morgan

Selling Your Pest Control Company to Terminix

In our 1st episode of The Pesty Marketing Podcast, we have Bob Howard, founder of 855 bugs, telling us the insights of a lifetime in the pest control industry. And, of course, all about his journey beginning, growing, and finally selling his own company. 

Bob’s tale is not only a handful of valuable lessons on how to be successful, but also on how to build and maintain a reputation on customer-focus, and the importance of creating a product and service that actually makes the difference from them. 855 bugs’ main premise is definitely something to keep in mind: customers actually really value knowing who they are doing business with because that’s the people they’ll have going into their houses. 

Accompanied by a hilarious practical joke involving dead bodies, Bob’s narrative walks us through the stages he went through during all the years he ran his company and the impact that Marketing had on it. Everything from being initially named “bugs.com.com” (yes that’s not a typo), going through phone book ads, and figuring out the strategies that would actually escalate is told in today’s episode. 

 

So what are you waiting for to jump right in and watch the complete episode?

 

Links: 

Bob Howard of 855 Bugs

Andrew Peluso

Morgan