Pest profits

For companies that offer lawn care, adding a pest control to the service menu seems a natural fit. But before you advertise perimeter pest treatment to clients, study up on what the service demands: technical expertise, licensing, product knowledge and customer service smarts.

“What many lawn care companies don’t understand is that you can’t just spray and leave,” says Ronald Keehfus, president of Bugs 4 Less and Lawn Care 4 Less in Virginia Beach, Va.

Lawn & Landscape talked with professionals in the pest control industry who also offer lawn care to learn how they cross-sell both services, what’s involved to offer pest control and what customers expect.

The good news: “We find that lawn care and pest control go hand-in-hand, and one service can drive the other,” says Randy Hulett, assistant marketing manager, Hulett Environmental Services, West Palm Beach, Fla. “We are able to create new business for lawn care from our pest control customers, and vice versa, especially since ants that might be infesting the home are feeding on something in the landscape.”

The caveat: You need far more than a sprayer and a customer list to do the job right. Here, pest control professionals provide insight on what it takes to offer their service and how landscape companies can profit from adding it to their repertoire.

Teaching the trade
Spray-and-go service is no way to treat pests. “Not unless you want to move to a 1950s model of pest control,” says Adam Jones, vice president and director of quality assurance, Massey Services, Orlando, Fla.

Landscape firms that add pest control services of any kind should prepare to do more than drench the perimeter of a home with product and call it control. “It’s not a business where you can be successful by just going out and spraying or spreading large amounts of insecticide around the foundation to protect the home,” Jones says. “It’s not that basic.”

Think thorough inspection rather than broadcast spray – and, with dedicated personnel, consider offering interior control along with exterior spraying. “If you are going to take care of the exterior, you have to be willing to address the interior problems as well,” he says. “Most consumers will not want to buy a pest service that disregards inside problems.”

That said, Jones suggests that companies break into pest control by bringing on or training a qualified, licensed and trained individual who will manage these service calls. This person should know the different ant and roach species, understand bed bugs, fleas, ticks and other pests common to the region. In Florida, a license to perform pest services requires five initial training days – essentially, 40 training hours – along with additional hours every six months. At Massey Services, technicians go through two weeks of leader-assisted on-the-job training and, from there, an additional hour per week. Twice each year, the company holds all-day training events that cover pest control fundamentals and customer service issues.

That’s because client expectations are also quite different on the bug side of the business. “You might tolerate a brown spot in your grass, but are you going to tolerate a roach in your kitchen?” Jones says. Responsiveness is critical. “You have to be willing to deal with problems at a moment’s notice,” he says.

As far as operations go, pest services require more manpower and lawn care requires more materials, Jones says. Massey Services budgets 5 percent for general pest control materials, while its landscape and ornamental segment has materials expenses that range from 12 to 18 percent of the division’s overall budget. Basic tools to perform pest services include pump sprayers, hand spreaders and dusters. Caulk guns and screen material are helpful for sealing cracks and crevices on the inside. “You have to be a bit of a craftsman to some degree,” Jones says.

Revenue per stop for lawn care service calls is higher, but profit margin is greater for pest services – an average 25 percent per job, Jones says. So landscape firms considering pest services as an add-on are correct when they see dollar signs. The key to capitalizing on this extra is to cross-sell various services, which is exactly how Massey Services’ business model is set up. About 25 to 30 percent of customers buy more than one service from the company, and sales are mostly closed after face-to-face interactions with customers.

“When we get a customer that has more than one of our services, the likelihood that they would ever cancel us is greatly reduced,” Jones says.

Protecting relationships
Communication gaffes are the biggest challenge for companies breaking into pest control services of any kind. Clients get fired up over bugs – much more so than a patch of crabgrass or other lawn problem, says Ronald Keehfus, owner of Bugs 4 Less and Lawn Care 4 Less in Virginia Beach, Va. Overall with pest control, customer expectations are high and service calls are urgent.

Keehfus’s advice: Spell out every detail of the service and how problems are handled – and put it in writing.
“Customers don’t want to hear, ‘I can’t get out there until Friday,’ when they call on Tuesday,” Keehfus says. “The key when it comes to pests is taking the time to solve problems.”

That’s because service calls – returning to a property once, twice, three times after an initial treatment – cost a company time and money. But chances are, landscape firms just getting into offering a perimeter pest service aren’t figuring this into the initial cost of the service, Keehfus says. And companies that merely sprinkle granular product or spray around a home might not be actually solving the problem. “They’re charging a low, low fee for it on top of their regular lawn services, but if product isn’t applied properly, you have service calls,” Keehfus says.

A full, exterior inspection is the most critical aspect of providing a perimeter pest service, Keehfus says. This means looking for cobwebs on eaves and knocking them down. It includes scrutinizing the foundation of a home and identifying ant hills and crevices where pests could enter the home. The “treatment” is usually multi-faceted using liquid and granular applications, and/or gel baits. “Doing an inspection is how you cut back on service calls,” Keehfus says, emphasizing this process as a key part of the pest service a lawn care company should provide.
Also, Keehfus is careful to fully explain treatments and his process so he can manage customers’ expectations.

“The key is to take the time to treat the house and make sure the homeowner understands the services that are included in the warranty so there are no miscommunications,” he says, relating another big difference between selling lawn care and pest services. A warranty for pest control is typical.

“Communicate what you provide, and how you will address service calls – because you always have service calls when you are in pest control. The key is to reduce the number of calls,” Keehfus says. This responsibility falls on the technician, which is why properly training and hiring someone with experience will set up a lawn care company for success with a new pest service.

Selling lawn care and pest control services doesn’t cost Keehfus much since he taps his existing customer base. He finds that customers are interested in consolidating service providers, so when they find out that Keehfus can handle both needs, they sign on for multiple services. The willingness to manage interior pest problems also helps close sales.

“When a client found out how much I charge (per treatment) and I do the inside and out, he said he’d rather pay more and hire a company that can handle both,” Keehfus says. “That’s a business model you have to debate over depending on what you are able to do.” 
 

Cross-selling the service
As a marketing-driven firm that owns the domain bugs.com, Hulett Environmental Services capitalizes on its premiere image in the pest control industry when selling lawn care – an offering the company rolled out in the early 1990s. Back then, Hulett Environmental – the 22nd largest pest control company in the country – had to rely on the same strategies that small business start-ups use to launch a division.

“We worked off our existing customer base, went door-to-door and used networking opportunities to get the word out,” says Greg Rice, marketing director for the Florida-based firm.

Even Hulett Environmental confronted the hurdle of letting customers know that the company was more than pest control. “Sometimes, people don’t associate your company with that new service and it can take longer to get the word out there,” says Randy Hulett, assistant marketing manager. Advertising on vehicles, in the newsletter and on all customer correspondence informed clients that Hulett could provide lawn care services.

The same rule applies to lawn care companies branching into pest control. Rice recommends a marketing program that begins with existing customers first. Before doing this, a company must polish its process and be sure that it can meet expectations. “Be prepared, and treat pest control as its own division,” Hulett says. “You don’t want to risk your existing customer base or reputation.”

First, technicians must be trained and licensed by the state. “It would be a lot better for the business owner who is trying to expand his service base to hire someone who has experience, has background, has technical knowledge and have that person run the division and oversee that division and train specialized technicians who are going to work in that division,” Rice says.

“If you want an expert, hire one – don’t try to be one,” Rice says.

Before rolling out the service, be sure the treatment coverage and product offering is comparable to the competition. How concentrated is the product you will apply, what does the service include and what products will you use?

Once the right people are trained and on board, and the service is solidified, a company can begin cross-selling. Hulett Environmental promotes various services at different times of the year depending on the season, pest pressure and services a customer currently purchases. “We e-mail all customers that do not get our lawn care service free inspection offers and advice or tips,” Rice says.

Every time a technician performs a service is an opportunity to provide a free inspection for lawn care or pest control, depending on what the customer currently gets.

“By adding lawn care, we deepened relationships with our existing customer base,” Rice says. “We expanded our customer base and kept customers from going to our competition for services we weren’t providing.”
 

The author is a frequent contributor to Lawn & Landscape.