Today’s distributors change, adapt and evolve to provide services beyond exceptional product delivery and competitive pricing to help PCOs evolve their businesses.
The Fundamentals
In order to help support successful pest control businesses, distributors must provide exceptional service in the area of product delivery. Distributors need to offer cutting-edge products, those products must be competitively priced and readily available, and they need to ship or be personally delivered as quickly as possible. Additionally, to enhance the product ordering process, distributors that offer online inventory ordering systems help PCOs with efficiency.
Reliability
As a result, PCOs know that they can trust in the support of their distributors and begin to rely on that support to help evolve their own businesses. “We really rely on [our distributor],” says Dustin Banks, general manager/owner of Red Rock Pest Control in Las Vegas. “They provide us with pesticide and everything [else] we need to get the job done. They are reliable; they’re like family.” Sharing the sentiment regarding his distributor, Dave Watkins, general manager of O’Connor Pest Control in Camarillo, Calif., who has been in the pest control business for 36 years says “Being in the business as long as I have, I know I can always depend on them.”
Offering the close involvement and consulting services of a personally assigned sales representative, as a result, is one of the most imperative services that a distributor can provide. Per Banks, his sales representative is a person that his company can call to help solve almost any problem. “He is our go-to guy,” he says. Danny Shakespeare, owner of Shakespeare Pest Control in Saint George, Utah, states, “If I have questions, I can call the rep and he [is] just Johnny-on-the-spot.”
In addition to helping solve problems, answering questions, and providing product information, Shakespeare explains that his sales representative is proactive in sharing new product recommendations to help with the success of his company. “He [gives] me other options,” which is very helpful, says Shakespeare. Providing a personal sales representative allows pest control companies to believe in that knowledgeable and experienced resource, which allows the companies to make informed decisions. Shakespeare utilizes his sales representative to provide product recommendations throughout the year to help reduce callbacks and improve quality and efficiencies. He even recently engaged in a personal consulting session with his sales representative to review his entire chemical program and make recommended changes. “Products that I might use [in the store], they let me know about it,” says Jim Bryant, owner of Bryant’s Pest Control in Houston, Texas.
Even though pest control distributors offer online inventory ordering systems, many pest control companies prefer to call their individual sales representatives because they know that their representative will be available and helpful. “I like to call in and talk to my inside rep. I have a longtime relationship,” says Watkins. Because the distributor’s office is close to Bryant’s home, he will “go in and visit with them” when he needs products. He also says that his distributor has been helpful on the jobsite when they have run out of product. “They’ve offered to bring it to the jobsite for us. They’ve gone out of their way. They’ve gone above and beyond,” he says.
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