How to: Add structural pest control services

Bobby Jenkins and ABC Home & Commercial Services know a few things about add-ons. The company has been treating pest control issues since 1949, and has since added lawn care, landscaping, irrigation, tree care, electrical, plumbing – the list of services continues.

"The analysis always needs to be: What's my customer base, what's my relationship with my customer base and what additional services does my customer base need or would they enjoy having from a provider like me?" says Jenkins, president of the Texas and Florida company's Austin, San Antonio and College Station offices.

Jenkins, who has an understanding of both the lawn and structural pest control side of the business, says the two services are a great fit for a company in a region with pest pressures. "Homeowners and even commercial clients, whenever they have a brand that they trust, their life is simpler by having fewer vendors that they have to call to come out and provide services," he says. – Carolyn LaWell

1. Is structural pest control a service your current customer base needs and will buy? The best way to find out is to ask them. Talk to customers while servicing their lawns and conduct a survey that asks what new services interest them. "The strength of adding additional services is your customer base," Jenkins says.
    
2. Understand the market. There wasn't a local company with an established reputation when ABC decided to add lawn care services. "Sure there's the Terminix and the Orkin brand but, more importantly, is there a local pest control brand that is particularly strong and dominate?" Jenkins says. If the answer is no, there's probably room in the market for your pest control service.
    
3. The most critical step in offering a new service is having an expert on hand, Jenkins says. Companies should look for someone with business, sales and technical experience to basically run the division. "I would go out and hire somebody to bring to me that knowledge and expertise," Jenkins says.
    
4. Add-ons still need to provide high caliber service, which starts with employees. "We learned that we had to have separate service staff to provide those different services," Jenkins says of lawn care and structural pest control. "The company can bridge them, but the individual person providing the service needed to be a specialist in that type of work."
    
5. The low-hanging fruit of adding services is a company's current customer base. When ABC adds a service, it lets customers know through brochures, email marketing and statement stuffers. To reach the broader marketplace, Jenkins says develop specific ads that speak to the company's expertise in the new line of service.

Illustration by Ron Wilson