Training Your Ideal Pest Control Customer

As your pest control company continues to grow, it can get harder and harder to deal with special circumstances. There are many things that can help you scale bigger, faster, and with less pain. One of the most important things you can do is to train your customers to fit a model of growth.

Educating and Setting Expectations

Experience has shown that customers typically prefer to have clear expectations set in place. Many times customers want special handling because we train them to want that or fail to educate them. For example, a customer may require Mondays only after 6:00 PM because they don’t understand that outside only services are usually just as effective (with interior treatments as needed). Initially, they may see an exterior-only service as a negative or less valuable, which is where educating your customers becomes critical. You can pitch this as a positive and focus on the major improvements in products over the years, which last longer and are more preventative in nature. You can stress the benefits of not needing to put products inside the home as often because you are creating effective barriers on the outside of the home. This is more convenient for you AND them.

Likewise, credit card auto-pay is MUCH more convenient for customers. I personally am a very quick and responsive payer, but if you ask me to write a check and put it in the mail, you may be waiting a long time to collect money from me. I don’t even know where my checkbook is these days – let alone where my stamps or envelopes would be. I would much prefer to have it auto-deducted and get the credit card points.

Conclusion

The moral of this story is that you don’t get what you don’t ask for. By identifying your ideal customer, you can create policies and education to drive your average customer towards the ideal. There will always be special cases and circumstances, however, the more you can make these the exception rather than the rule, the better off you will be. Your customers don't always know best -- you're the expert! Help yourself out by training your customers and setting expectations which help you both succeed.