Follow your mother's advice

Recently we as a nation once again celebrated Mother's Day and it dawned on me how much good advice that I got from Mom is still relevant to me today.

When I was a young teenager, my mother would always be on my case about showing up on time, tucking in my shirt, and being polite to people I meet. The advice is as relevant now as it was so many years ago.

There is a good, if brief, article about the importance of timeliness in a recent issue of PCT Online from Software Advice, a firm which offers third-party reviews of pest control software.

Professionalism is a hot topic in pest control right now. As it should be. But professionalism should be more than a fad topic -- it should be a way of life.

I went to a lot of pest management shows this spring and found that on most programs there is at least one talk on professionalism (I gave a similar talk 4 times this spring) and most speakers weave it into their presentation in some form or another.

The PCT article had some interesting statistics that I contacted Software Advice to dig in further on.  Specifically of interest was the following (click here for their full report):

• 67% of customers won't rehire a company if the technician is an hour late
• If the technician is running late, 73% of customers would be more willing to rehire if they received text messages with updated arrival times
• 2% of customers would hire a company no matter how late they are (amazing, right?!?!)

In other words ... follow your mother's advice:  Show up on time and call if you are going to be late. Taken straight from my childhood, here is my list for what your customers should be able to expect from a pest management service provider:

1. Knowledgeable:  You have to know your pests and you have to know how to treat them effectively. You have to know what products are safe to use in each environment and you must be able to provide ...
2. Good Communication:  Your advice is only as good as your ability to convey it. Whether you use pre-printed PDFs that can offer your customers advice on their role in pest prevention or simply train your personnel to effectively convey that information, you must be able to let your customers know what you recommend and why you do so. 
3. Professionalism: Is a big topic and everything else on this list can fit into it, but it is worth highlighting in order to remind us all of the elements of professionalism, including: 
• Your Appearance
• Your equipment's appearance and state of repair
• Your truck's appearance
• Your honesty
• Your personal manners
• Your punctuality and ...
4. Reliability:  Be true to your word. If you promise to follow up on something, do so. Like mom says, "Do what you say."