Due to recent changes in pest control laws about “leaving a service ticket at the door” pest control services can now go digital. Going digital is going green. Digital will save over 58,000 sheets of paper per month!
Bulwark Exterminating is testing new proprietary software in its Mesa, AZ branch office that uses smart phone technology to aid in service routing and customer satisfaction, and plans to implement its new software in all 11 branches nationwide within a month’s time.
Each morning, technicians receive an email on their smart phones, with which they are able to access their routes, customer contact information and custom service notes for those customers. This eliminates the need to receive their daily routes via fax or personally stop at the office before work to clock in.
“We wanted to make sure our technicians and staff are completely happy with the new system before we take all the offices live.” said Adam Seever, Owner and CEO of Bulwark. “Mesa is one of our larger markets, so it was a natural place to start.”
Each service truck will also be installed with a wireless printer, where the technicians will be able to print the customer’s invoice at the time of service. The nature of the software also minimizes any input errors which normally might occur by hand.
One invoice sheet is typically given to the customer and another is taken back to the office for filing. The new printers will print an invoice that measures about one-third the size of a regular sheet of paper. That sheet will be given to the customer and a digital copy will be uploaded to the company’s database. This will save 1 2/3 sheets of paper per service visit. During a month like October when Bulwark serviced 35,000 customers nationwide, this will save over 58,000 sheets.Customers will also be able to have their invoice emailed directly to them, saving paper all together.
“Our software will serve two very important purposes”, Seever said. “We will be able to streamline the service routes of our technicians as well as spare costly resources such as thousands of reams of paper.”
Bulwark Exterminating LLC has a location based in Mesa, AZ and is an industry leader in providing high quality pest control service. Bulwark is fully operational in 7 states, including 11 major cities. While Bulwark provides pest extermination for common insects such as ants, roaches, crickets and spiders, the company’s differentiating specialty is scorpion control. To do this, Bulwark uses the finest and most effective products in the world to solve common pest problems. Bulwark is privately and family owned, has approximately 250 employees and services over 50,000 customers nationwide.
Super cool shades dude! But that sucker he promised you when you were done... Well...... That would be you.
Yes, he IS that cool.
Dr. Driggs
1102 South Greenfield Road, Mesa, AZ 85206-2679 (480) 969-0077I must say that Dr. Driggs is really a fantastic dentist. But….. There are a few things I must say that I don’t quite believe. And since I got my teeth worked on today there are a few lingering things dentist tell you that don’t jive well with me at the moment.
Top 10 Count Down…
10) Let me see your finger nail… feel that? That’s what it will feel like in your mouth.
>>> 9) This may tickle a little bit.
I know you can open your mouth a little wider.
7) Raise your hand if it hurts and I will stop.
6) Your next appointment will be much easier.
5) This tooth polish tastes a whole lot better than the last one.
4) I’ve numbed your mouth so that you won’t be able to feel a thing. Won’t even know I am here.
3) You can go ahead and spit now.
2) The numbing sensation will go away in about an hour….
1) Sure you can come in and have this done the day before and still enjoy Thanksgiving dinner.
….THANK YOU!
I really hope that last one was not a lie.
Happy Thanksgiving wishes from your pest control guys at Bulwark Exterminating.
Thanksgiving Turkey from your pest control service.
Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of year. It is very humbling to sit and ponder upon one’s fortune. From a guy that knows what it like to have the Helper without the Hamburger, no matter your situation there is always something to be thankful for. Cliche, but “An attitude of gratitude will lift your altitude.”
So while I was rocking my baby girl in the wee hours of the morning, I realized despite my body telling me that I would rather be sleeping, that this moment would create an endearing memory. Further, I am thankful for each and every smile my little on gives me. A smile, such a small act for us. But for her it takes almost all of her energy to find that muscle memory and curl those lips. Those smiles don’t last more than a brief moment. But the stamp it leaves is timeless.
And so it is that many of the mundane things of the world get overlooked. A simple smile, a kind word, a thank you. At the risk of loosing some of the macho “We toy with bugs” perception, Bulwark Exterminating would like to take the time to thank so many of our technicians for the little things they do. Things they believe go unnoticed. But these small things, we as a company hold to be monumental acts of service. Things our customers have expressed their gratitude for. We would like to echo those customers in their thanks with our Thanksgiving list.
Bulwark’s 2010 Thanksgiving List:
Thank you Shawn for taking off your shoes when you enter a customer’s home. -seejbix0
Thank you Rob Cheney for showing your last appointment that you were not exhausted after a extreme August day of heat. -see ckleslie
Thanks Henry Lawrence, for always being friendly. -seeMommyYork4
The longest I had ever ridden my bike was 85 miles, and that was only 2 weeks ago. Everyone that I knew riding in this year’s El Tour de Tucson was riding the 109 distance. I was thinking I might only do the 80-mile race, but when a couple of older riding buddies (44-year-old female and 58-year-old male) kept egging me on to go the distance, there was absolutely no way I could back down from that.
I buckled down about 3 months ago. I went from riding once or twice a week to three or four times a week. I haven’t had a normal Saturday morning in that long. I would actually get up earlier on Saturdays than any other work day. Up at 4:15ish, meet my riding buddies around 5:00, back at home by 9 or 10. Home around 1:00 more recently.
I ran cross country and track in high school, and continued to run recreationally in college. I even entered a couple home-town races just to make my running worth it and feel the edge of competition again. But this was different. The physical demands were different. The training and inherent tactics were different. The nutrition was only similar. I never ever drank anything in the middle of a run under 8 miles. I was having to learn to not only drink during a ride, but also eat once and sometimes twice. I was having to learn how to properly eat for the rest of the day after a long ride. And post-ride naps were out of the question per my wife and mother of our two small children. If daddy was going to be gone on Saturday morning, then there was no napping or other me-time for the rest of the day. Or weekend, for that matter.
El tour started at 7:00 am, but with nearly 9,000 riders, we’re wanted to get in the start line around 5:45. We were up at 5, trying to down bagels and peanut butter at 5:15, checking tire pressure at 5:30 and out the door at 5:35. Arrived to our place in line around 5:45 and had the next hour and 15 minutes to chat and stay warm.
Seven ‘o clock came rather quick and before we knew it we were off. It felt like it took me a good 15 or 20 miles to decipher how cold I was vs. how much adrenaline I was pumping vs. how hard I was really working before I settled into a manageable pace that would work for the next 90 miles. Just when my saddle started to feel somewhat comfortable around 8 miles in, we came across a dried river crossing. One or two riders tried to brave the dirt pathway, while the remaining 8,990 of us didn’t hesitate to get off the bike and safely walk across the ravine. The culture of Tucson awaited us on the other side, and I was in a much better mood now than I was going to be much later in the race, so I had to document this…
Other than the dried river and another wooded hiking trail that would come a little while later, I didn’t take my first real pit stop until 45 miles in. Refill one of my bottles, grab some orange slices, stretch a little bit and apply some Bengay on my left knee, and off we go. I was a little disoriented as to where we were in relation to downtown where we started, but the next several miles were through the suburbs of Tucson…I think. I’m not gonna lie, it was fun to blow right through red lights as police had traffic stopped in all directions. A lot of the locals even took time to camp out on the sidewalks with their cowbells and signs of encouragement. I figure that’s about as close as I’ll ever get to climbing the Alps in the Tour de France with thousands of rabid fans running along side my bike waving United States and California flags in my face.
At this point there’s still 50+ miles to go, so one, especially a newcomer like myself, has to be smart about how you ride. As a first timer, I didn’t have any shame or guilt about drafting behind other riders the entire race. Drafting can save up to 40% of your energy, and with winds coming out of the south at 20 mph, I made sure to never lead any packs. I’ll admit it, I even drafted behind a couple of girls. Another factor I couldn’t overlook was fatigue. That sounds simple enough, but I was about to surpass my longest ride by 25 miles. I was feeling my way through the race as far as food and drinks were concerned. How much to eat, how much to drink, a Clif Bar with higher density vs. an energy gel with no density and maybe half the calories. When the body is tired, then the mind soon becomes tired. When the mind is tired you forget things. Simple things. I needed to consciously remember to eat and drink and map out the remaining miles ahead in my mind to do so on a course I had never ridden. My friends that have raced Tucson before cramped up around mile 85 or 90, so I needed to stay well hydrated to avoid that.
Things were going about as well as I could have expected until I hit the frontage road of the I-10 going south back to downtown Tucson. The winds were still blowing as hard as they were earlier, but now I was getting a face full of headwind. I knew I had the energy to finish, but I didn’t have any explosion left in my legs, so I was consigned to finish the last 12 miles at whatever pace I could go. Riders would creep up on me and pass right by. A couple times I tried to go with them, thinking that if I could get enough momentum to stick behind them, I could use their draft. But every time I tried to fall in line, they just kept passing me. Five feet head. Ten feet ahead. Now twenty. Oh well. I’ll try it again with this next group. Nope. That didn’t work either. Oh well.
Aside from it being the last 10 miles of the race, there were 2 things that made it exponentially more difficult than I expected. First, the wind. Physically speaking, if there is no wind whatsoever, and you’re riding 20 mpg down the road, you actually have 20 mph of wind pushing back against you. We call it “drag”. But now there is actually 20 mph of wind pushing back against me, plus my drag at about 12 or 13 mph. The second characteristic of this final stretch was loneliness. It’s a frontage road, so there’s not a lot of businesses, or parking lots, or neighborhoods along side. Which means there were no spectators yelling and clapping. It all of a sudden got real quiet. Just the sound of my wheels spinning and my legs hurting.
Eventually the police escort standing in the middle of the intersection directed me to turn left. All of a sudden, people. And they were clapping. For me? I think so! And more people. Still clapping. I turned one last corner and the finish line is about 100 yards away. And then, out of the hum of hundreds of people cheering I hear “STEVE-O!!!” Me: “Hey, that sounded a lot like my wife!” In fact, it was my wife. After I crossed the finish line and got off the bike I was staggering back towards the crowd and I see my wife emerge from a sea of people. After 7.5 hours of riding with complete strangers it was nice to see a rather familiar face. There was absolute, positively no way I would be riding and racing as much as I have without the love and support of my wife. She’s been the #1 reason I’ve been able to get on the bike and push myself like the good ‘ol days. And then I saw 2 more faces. My 5-month-old, Leia, and my 2-year-old, Max. I picked Max up and to no surprise all he wanted to do with play with my glasses and helmet.
I was done. I did it. This was something no one could ever take away from me. This race was apart of me. I didn’t really beat anybody on the course but myself. I pushed my body further than it had ever gone before, for longer than it had ever gone before. I was an El Tour de Tucson finisher.
I have to admit it was a bit emotional for me to finally be done. Months of training. Rides at 5:00 am. No Saturday mornings. Gatorade economy cases at Costco. Clif Bars. Smoothie Powerbars. Two or three tube changes a month. A new bike. A different pair of shoes. Stiff legs. Pulled muscles. Rides in the rain. Rides in the wind. Fifty five degrees outside. A hundred degrees outside.
Three days later I’m still a bit stiff. I’ll get back on the bike sometime this week and warm my body back up and let my muscles stretch back out. And then…I’m not touching my bike at least until after New Years. But I already can’t stay away. I’m already thinking about how I want to train differently next year and areas I want to work on. Maybe I can make it out to CA for either the AMGEN Tour de California or Levi’s GranFondo. Tour de Phoenix will be a must. And it’ll all end this time next year at El Tour de Tucson.
Wayne Bryant - Bulwark Exterminating Branch Manager
Our hard working branch manager, Wayne, made a little cameo at Career Day at Triggs Elementary School in North Las Vegas. He spent some time with the kindergarten kids explaining his duties as a pest control exterminator. Or, a “bug guy”, as the kids preferred.
Wayne took a couple sidekicks with him to meet the class. What better critters to show to a class of 5 and 6 year-olds than a tarantula and desert hairy scorpion, who shall both remain nameless. The desert hairy is a much larger scorpion than your average bark scorpion and was perfect for pointing out body parts and features. Both creatures were fan favorites.
Wayne also presented some important points to the class. 1. All bugs are important to life. For example, termite may bother at times, but they keep soil fertile and they break down trees when needed. All insects have a role in nature. 2. If you are bitten or stung, tell an adult immediately. This is an excellent piece of advice. Hopefully it is nothing more than a bite or sting, but now the parent can monitor any oncoming reactions and act accordingly. And 3. Having a pest free home is important to your health. Cats and dogs are pets. Roaches and spiders are pests. Roaches carry pathogens that can lead to respiratory and other allergy related problems.
Wayne Bryant - Bulwark Exterminating Branch Manager at Triggs Elementary
We want to thank Triggs Elementary School for allowing Wayne to come and share some fun and interesting bug facts about Las Vegas Pest Control.
When I was a waiter I was trained on how to be a server or servant, as in one that provides service. Among all the rules of providing service as a waiter there was one simple rule that topped the list, “Never let the cup run dry.” This one ear mark was a key ingredient to providing a pristine dining experience. In fact, we provided water as soon as the guest sat down. Even before taking a drink order. Arguably giving water away could hurt profits, but this level of service is superb. Once a drink order was taken monitoring the beverage level and promptly re-filling empty glasses was monument on the quality service check list. Sadly, I often find this level of service lacking in many restaurants today.
All smiles from this joy rider.
So when I received a prompt replacement of my beverage today almost in the same instant I was placing down my empty cup I was in awe. Without even having to ask! And with such exact execution… Impressive. But even more shocking was that this superb act wasn’t even performed by waiter at a restaurant. This stellar service was provided by a southwest flight attendant. Astounding.
Thank you Jim. Thank you southwest for putting a smile on my face today. Not only are your rates great, your on-time arrivals dependable, and your luggage department free of charge, but additionally you have great employees that provide geniune service. In the Bulwark pest control world, service is all about the little things. Jim and Southwest Airlines showed that they feel the same way about quality service.
I arrived back in Arizona on Thursday after having spent the previous few days in Florida, attending BlueGlass FL 2010. I got a number of good takeaways from the sessions that I was anticipating, but the session that really shook the boat was Viral Marketing. All the speakers blew us away with simple, but priceless bits of information.
Starting the hour was Brian Chappell, Sr. Social Search Strategist at Ignite Social Media. Brian made no bones about his philosophy of taking something viral. While most emphasize the quality of content as the “king” of viral, he argues that the mechanisms and seeding techniques of that content are atop the royal hierarchy. While the content must be top notch, the mechanisms and techniques that get it moving must be the appropriate driving force behind a good viral piece. What’s a Ferrari without gas to make it go, or streets on which to drive? Exactly!
Mechanisms are the literal actions you are requiring of your public. It can be forwarding an email, clicking a link, a facebook like, a retweet, a public leaderboard of participants, or use of an affiliate program. These are the actions that spread the word. Seeding techniques happen on two levels. Initial seeding begins with the marketer, and includes tools such as a press release, a pay-per-click ad, a media buy, facebook and twitter updates on the company profiles, community and blogger outreach, or simply word of mouth. Second level seeding is done by the audience. This is achieved via their facebook and twitter updates, social shares on those platforms, their retweet, their blog posts, etc. It’s these seeding techniques that make the content shine.
Next up was Chris Bennett from 97th Floor. The heart of his presentation seemed to be the simplicity of viral content. Even the most complex ideas and concepts can be portrayed in pictures and graphics in a simple, easy-to-understand fashion. Politics, social debate and the stimulus package all have its place in viral America if it can be displayed in a fun, simple and even humorous manner.
Obama Stimulus Infographic by 97th Floor
Chris advised to stay away from your typical “Top 10” list (which is the reason why this piece isn’t entitled “5 Things I learned at BlueGlassFL”). Make sure your pieces are visually pleasing. If your piece flops, keep trying. It will eventually spread. Don’t sell out your brand. Also, remember that the best pieces are always informative.
Amy Vernon, Director of Viral Marketing Strategies from the host agency, BlueGlass, rounded out the panel of speakers. Her main theme centered on the community aspect. No matter the social channel, you will inevitably be a member of some sort of community. Amy reminded us to figure out what communities and circles would be the best fit for our brand. Once you’ve narrowed that down, study that community, know your place within it, and be a good member.
Switching gears just a bit, Amy gave us a great example of transparent and effective tweeting. @DKNY came heavily endorsed as a perfect mix of personal narrative, active engagement and minimal brand mention. Naturally, all good characteristics of a good community member. Remember that @DKNY is not a channel of corporate info or industry tidbits, but it is managed by DKNY’s PR girl, and listed on the front page of DonnaKaran.com. There’s no holding back with her. From earlier this morning: “The good thing about today is……wait thinking….thinking…..let me get back to you.” A case of the Mondays perhaps?
These speakers really opened up my understanding of viral marketing. When I thought of viral, I would think of Rainbow dude screaming in the middle of the wilderness, or the ad that’s going to get your 50,000 facebook likes in a couple days. I thought of it as the quick strike that delivered the decisive blow. The KO in Round 1. Viral is so much more than that. Maybe it’s the piece that leads to 25,000 facebook likes over 9 months, or the YouTube video that gets viewed 100,000 times in a year. It also doesn’t need to infest every inbox in the country or be seen by every single stay-at-home mommy when it’s featured on the Ellen DeGeneres Show’s “Videos from the Web” segment. If it can easily be understood, shared and appreciated, then it already has a head start. It’s mostly likely the TKO in Round 9. Or, as Brian reminded us: “Viruses only spread when they are easy to transmit.” I guess it doesn’t take a doctor to understand that.
I know you can open your mouth a little wider.
7) 
Recent Comments