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You’ve heard the news reports. Mosquitos are making headlines and their disease-carrying trait are making many think twice about those buzzing insects that escape the swatter. Beyond being a bother, mosquitos are a potential health threat, But don’t panic.

Mosquitos have always carried with them the ability to spread sickness. West Nile cases have grown in number and now there’s Zika. Customers on your routes might be asking, “What can I do about mosquitos?”

Part of the solution.

A couple of years ago, Brad Johnson added mosquito control to his company, LawnAmerica. It’s a separate division of his Tulsa, Oklahoma-based business, Buzz Off.

“West Nile was an issue, especially here, and we had some illnesses so we wanted an add-on service to help our customers,” he says.

Meanwhile, four years ago, Kevin Wilson started a single Mosquito Joe location in Virginia Beach, Virginia. It was the same story. He saw a demand and launched a business to fill it. In that short time, Mosquito Joe has grown to 170 franchises in 26 states – and 80 more are coming online this year.

Wilson says four factors have played into the franchise company’s success. One is the sheer mobility of sprayers today compared to a decade ago. “With smaller backpack sprayers, companies like ours can develop customized treatments,” he says.

Also, we now know that mosquitos do not travel far from where they’re born. “So there’s this notion of creating a barrier around someone’s home,” Wilson says.

And, of course, there are the news reports. “(Diseases) are definitely getting bigger than what we have seen in the past,” Wilson says. “And this awareness of disease generates a lot of demand for a service.”

Add-on services are a smart way for lawn care companies to grow revenue beyond their existing customer bases, Wilson says. They can attract customers who are searching for mosquito control and upsell clients who already pay for lawn care. And those who buy mosquito control may eventually decide to opt in on lawn treatments.

Lawn care companies could be winning if they’re prepared, properly licensed and trained to effectively provide the service.

“Mosquito control is not as easy as just starting a service,” says Stan Cope, president of the American Mosquito Control Association and Terminix’s director of entomology and regulatory services. “You have to be licensed to do the service and state laws are specific and quite variable.”

So, there’s licensing to consider. And branding, Wilson adds. Four of the U.S. Mosquito Joe franchises are operated by landscape firms that tried to offer the service on their own, but failed.

“A lot of the success is how you position your brand,” Wilson says. “No one is going to call Mosquito Joe to do landscaping and consumers don’t think about calling landscapers to do pest control.”

But, with the right mosquito control model and business systems in place, the service could open up a significant opportunity. That’s what Johnson sees. “We have just begun to market it through our newsletters, brochures and blogs, and by calling people,” he says. “We expect to have at least 1,000 mosquito customers this summer.”

Educate customers.

If lawn care companies do nothing else to control mosquitos in terms of offering a service, what they can do that’s valuable (and appreciated by clients) is provide education and helpful pointers.

“Our approach has been to educate customers about protecting themselves from mosquitos with less emphasis on the diseases because there is plenty of that information out there,” Cope says.

Speaking of education, it’s important to know that Zika mosquitos behave differently than those that carry West Nile virus, Cope says. This is changing the way professionals must treat for this particular mosquito. “Traditionally, mosquito control was for nighttime biting mosquitos like those that spread West Nile,” he says. “The Zika mosquitos are different. They are almost exclusively daytime feeders and they tend to harbor in and around people’s homes. They don’t fly far – only about 100 yards or so.”

Start the service.

For lawn care companies considering mosquito control, proper licensing is an absolute must. Requirements depend on the state. Some states allow mosquito treatments as long as professionals hold a general pest control applicator’s license. Other states require a separate license for mosquito control and some are specific, demanding one license for treating larvae and another for adult mosquitos.

Wilson says that certification has not been a problem for any Mosquito Joe franchisees. Even in states that require two years of application experience to receive a license, business owners can offer the service by hiring a qualified professional while they work toward that license. “We spend a lot of time understanding state government regulations,” Wilson says.

For Johnson in Oklahoma, the lawn care company was already providing pest control services. So no additional certification was required for mosquito control. Plus, Lawn America could use its existing equipment and technicians – and back-office resources – to sell and provide the mosquito control service.

But Johnson did not dive in headfirst. “The first year, I did all of the treatments myself to get a feel for it,” he says, noting that the firm serviced about 50 accounts. “We were hesitant that first year,” he relates. “We didn’t want to provide a service and have customers call us back when they got a couple mosquito bites.”

But Johnson found that there were very few callbacks at all. And last year, he decided to switch to a product that allows the firm to provide four annual applications. He’s very pleased with the quality and results.

Now ramping up Buzz Off Mosquito Control by LawnAmerica, Johnson decided to dedicate one technician to mosquito applications. This team member does about $1,200 in revenue per day. “That’s good for a one-truck deal,” Johnson says.

And speaking of the truck, it’s a minivan emblazoned with Buzz Off to create some brand-awareness and “buzz.”

“It catches people’s attention when they’re driving around,” Johnson says. In May, about 580 customers elected the service out of a total customer base of 15,000. This was before any marketing efforts. Johnson expects to more than double this customer count in 2016 and continue to grow the service. “It seems like every day in the media we hear about Zika or West Nile,” he says.

Wilson says he thinks mosquito control is in the early adoption phase and eventually the service will be like lawn care – a household norm. “We believe mosquito control will become just as common as having your yard sprayed for weeds or getting your lawn cut,” he says. “We think it’s the early days for this business.”

Control the buzz.

So how concerned should a homeowner be about Zika?

The public health threat still is quite small for Zika. “The disease is mild and self-limiting, and some will not realize they have it,” he says. “I will not downplay the risk to pregnant women, which is a tremendous public health concern.”

As of early June, three babies with defects related to Zika have been born in the United States. According to a May NPR report, 157 pregnant women in the United States have been infected with Zika. The CDC does not know if any of those infection were bit in the U.S.

Meanwhile, West Nile is present in 48 states and there were 2,000 cases of the disease in 2015.

But in some regions, nuisance is more of a trigger for control than potential disease, Cope says. “There are customers that aren’t concerned about disease, but if they can’t be outside for a barbecue, sit around their pool or have a party in their backyards because of the mosquito biting pressure, they will call us.”

But, some clients are legitimately worried about getting infected by a mosquito-borne illness. “And then we try to offer them a service to reduce the mosquito population as much as we can,” he says.

The business opportunity exists for lawn care companies. Wilson says, “We are seeing a huge call volume in our southern territories in Florida and Texas. I think the demand is only going to accelerate.”