Pest Control and Bug Exterminator Blog

The internet is a sea of information.  Some salty, some entertaining, some exciting, and some information is just useless.  The world of pest control has been around for some time now.  There are industry giants that have been around for close to 100 years now. The pests may evolve , but not much really changes on a daily bases. So I sometimes wonder “how can anyone add new and valuable content to the topic of pest control?” Sure there is a new love song everyday of the week. Yes, Facebook is revolutionizing the social scene.  But PEST CONTROL???

But, as with love songs, it’s the passion that keeps the flame burning.  And while pest control isn’t most people’s topic of choice, there are those that carry the torch because they love what they do.  This past week a fellow exterminator reminded me why pest control is a good business to be in. Hearts Pest Control out of San Diego, really does have heart.

Hearts Pest Control, San Diego Pest Control Service that Cares.

Written by Gerry Weitz and reproduced with his permission.

Published in PMP magazine
http://www.mypmp-digital.com/pmpdigital/201004#pg14

Take Back My Paycheck

It is hard to part with money, yet I enjoy personally handing out paychecks.  At my office, the employees usually take a second look at the envelope before opening to see the paycheck.  Occasionally, they’ll look at the envelope and say, “Take this back, you didn’t write a fortune cookie.”

Whether or not the paycheck is particularly good, the staff enjoys seeing genuine notes addressed from me to them personally:

“Outstanding teamwork!  Good start to a great career at Hearts!”

“Love those extra efforts at client retention!  Thanks so much.”

“Mistakes get made.  Don’t let it get you down.  We’ll get there together.”

Something special is happening when employees care first about a small, heartfelt message before their paychecks.  It not only inspires them.  It inspires me.  I’m not a fool to think the employees would be here if they didn’t get a decent paycheck.  Nevertheless, people will exit companies that don’t inspire them.  Appreciation is a powerful word.  Combining that with inspiration for a better future is that much more empowering.

Great companies continue to inspire staff even as they grow.  Writing a personal note to one random employee each week might start a workplace legend.  There is something wrong when employees say, “It’s all about the numbers.”  If that sounds like your company, beware!  One way to prove you are listening to staff is by responding with communications that show you care about their personal and family welfare and their careers at your company.

Communicate those little things that make your employees want to feel as happy to come back on Monday morning, as they do walking out on Friday with paycheck in hand.

-Gerry

www.heartspm.com

Need San Diego Pest Control? Call Gerry at Hearts Pest Control.

Putting the Service back into Pest Control

I really enjoyed Gerry’s article and from what I have learned about Gerry I can tell that he runs a good operation. Service companies should understand service from the top down. Service should be a genuine action of your personal choice with the intent to help another. To be genuine, the giver will have no motives to question. An act of service is also not given out of obligation. It is about caring. While I am not an employee of Hearts, I believe Gerry cares for his employees.

-Thomas Ballantyne
“Yes, I am a pest control guy.”

ThomasB General Pest Control customer service, Exterminators, PCOs, San Diego Pest Control, service

My name is Svea Owens and I work for the Phoenix AZ branch of Bulwark Exterminating. Over the past several months, we have been using our website as a way for our customers to share with others about the jobs our technicians do for them. The first few weeks of using this website, we had a couple of customers call in saying they couldn’t figure out how to leave reviews. As the calls came in the other girls in our office would transfer these people to me and I would get on the website and walk them through step by step on how to do it. One customer in particular was very appreciative of this. She called in wanting to leave a review for one of our technicians, Jason. She said he always does an outstanding job and she really wanted him to get the recognition he deserves. I got onto the website with her and walked her through it and by the end she was so thankful. She told me that she wasn’t very computer savvy and that I explained everything very well and made it very easy for her to follow. She was happy that she was finally able to give Jason the gratification she felt he deserved. I also let her know I would relay her comments of Jason’s performance to my service manager as well.

Svea

Pest-Control-Stories General Pest Control customer service

Working at Bulwark Exterminating has been the most full filling job that I have had. Hello, my name is Tarria and I have been with Bulwark for about three and half years. Working for the pest control branch in San Antonio, TX. One experience that I had this past summer is a customer who called in to get scheduled for a callback for interior ants. Of course with our summers we are very busy and it can be very difficult to find a time and day to schedule an appointment for a customer. After, searching the routes I was not able to find an appointment for at least two days out. The lady was very understanding when she had to wait for two days for an appointment, to have the interior service done. However, later that afternoon, I noticed that someone had rescheduled a service and I got the customer scheduled the very next day. The “Mrs” was very pleased with the customer service that she received and how quick we could get someone out to her home. She told me she was very happy with our service and that she has been a customer for over four years. It makes my day to know that we continue to do such wonderful work and have great customer service.

Pest-Control-Stories Story C, customer service, San Antonio TX

In July of 2004 I came to this company with an understanding that Bulwark was a customer service company first and pest control company second.  Little did I know they actually meant it; on my second day of on the job training here in Austin Texas I was paired up with Silvestre Loera.  He made the day great, but he stressed how it was important to start your day on time and get to your first house promptly.  He also showed me after that the first service you could go get breakfast tacos, which I thought funny due to he was stressing right before to be on time. As the day went on he proceeded to provide great customer service to every customer we serviced.  I was thinking wow, great company, I made a great choice coming to work here.  Then we came to a customers house where Silvestre gave new meaning to customer service.  I was standing at the door beside Silvestre when we rang the door bell.  What happened next seemed very strange to me, but not at all to Silvestre. A man answered the door wearing nothing but a hand towel around his waist, hairy chest and all showing to Silvestre and myself. I was ready to walk off but Silvestre talked to the man as if nothing were wrong and proceeded to listen to the mans every need.  He even offered to go inside and treat if needed, which the man did require. I was taken by surprise that the customer service mentality at this company was that deep, because to be honest that was my 7^th overall day at bulwark and I was ready to quit. Overall the experience is one I won’t forget and says a lot about what is instilled in the employees at Bulwark by the owners, managers, and technicians.

Robert Morales Jr
Austin Texas

Pest-Control-Stories Story 5, Austin TX, customer service, E, internal

It was my second year as a pest control technician and was beginning to realize how much I enjoyed my job.  As a pest control technicians we are trusted to serve our customers to the best of our ability, in a kind, courteous way and we have a lot of freedom in how we accomplish this.  We have all day to complete our services and are often given opportunity throughout the day to earn more money.  I enjoyed all of this, but one day I realized that killing bugs was easy, I was enjoying the time I had to interact with our customer.  I would find myself almost daily impressed with the unique and amazing people we serve.  I have met NFL quarterbacks, World War 2 Heros, City Mayor’s, and even an Aid to the President of the United States.  All this was great but one day I met a little boy that couldn’t have been more than 9 years old.  He was in his pajamas and I was working late and tired.  This boy asked me “Do you like your job?”  I thought for a moment as I screwed an outlet cover plate to the wall I had just treated.  Then I responded that “I do like my job.  I get to meet nice people, see beautiful homes and landscaping, and most of all I get to make your home a safer, better place to live.”  This little boy looked at me with a look that expressed to me he really only wanted a yes or no answer and walked away.  I was left with a new goal at every customers home.

Wayne Bryant

Las Vegas, NV

Pest-Control-Stories Story 5, C, customer service, Las Vegas NV, pest control story

I’m Gabby, and have worked for Bulwark Exterminating for over three years now as a Customer Service Representative. One of my many duties entails calling and scheduling customers. There is this one particular customer that called in on September 25^th 2007. This customer has been a loyal customer of ours since 2007. She has requested to have a specific technician to do her regular service and that is Roger. He is known in our office because of all the great compliments we have received from various customers. Roger services a well known gated community in the Austin, TX area. One of the great things we hear from all his customers is that he bends over backwards for our customers. Which I agree he really does.  If I could estimate there is about 30 additional customers who request Roger as well. So those customers are known as “Roger Only” customer that’s how popular he is in our office. So on that day in September the customer who was scheduled to have Roger out there that morning and got a notice left on her gate that stated her mailbox was full! She called the office to inquire what that meant. I then informed her that when we called her to let her know about the scheduled service, her voicemail was full and therefore she didn’t know about the appointment and left her gate locked. She then requested not only to have Roger go back and perform the regular service but to also delete her messages on her voice mail because she didn’t know how to do that. I explained to her that I couldn’t schedule that because that is not Roger’s area of expertise and she would have to contact her phone service provider for that. She insisted on getting Roger back out there, so I did. She continues to be a “ Roger Only” customer and I wouldn’t be surprised if Roger did go back and perform her regular service and also deleted her messages for her because again Roger always bends over backwards for his customers.

Pest-Control-Stories Story 4, Austin TX, B, customer service, Extra mile, roger-excellent-exterminator

I was lucky enough one day to receive this phone call from a customer complaining about rats and mice.  She wasn’t sure if they were rats or mice, but nevertheless, it was quite comical. She wanted to know all about our service and how we treated for them. I told her the technician would put out glueboards and mouse/rat traps. She seemed very upset, I asked her what was wrong, she said she didn’t want to kill the rats or mice, she just wanted us to move them to a different location. I couldn’t help but laugh, however, I laughed to myself.  I spoke briefly with a manager to see if there was anyway to catch them without hurting them, but the answer was no, which I already knew, but it doesn’t hurt to ask, I got back on the phone with her and told her we don’t offer that kind of service.

I told her not to look at the glueboards or look in the traps, but to call us and we would send a technician out there to check them for her. She seemed okay with that and we sent a technician out to check out her rat/mouse problem, which she definitely had. She has not called to complain since that phone call… I was glad to help in anyway I could.  Hopefully her problem is that of the past.

Jill Booker

Las Vegas

Pest-Control-Stories Story 4, C, customer service, exterminator story, Las Vegas NV, mice, mouse, pest control stories, rat

Pest-Control-Stories Story B, customer service, exterminator story, internal, Las Vegas NV, pest control stories, Springtails

Pest-Control-Stories Story B, customer service, Extra mile, Las Vegas NV

Pest-Control-Stories Story A, customer service, Phoenix AZ