[Convention Extra] A Convention Conversation: Bruce Carter

Listen to a PCT podcast with Bruce Carter here.

Bruce Carter grew up on a farm and realized at an early age he wanted to run his own business. After he graduated from college, he started working as a crop sprayer in eastern New Mexico, and in 1980 got a call from a friend who had just purchased a small pest control company.

“All I had was a pickup and a cell phone and $3,000 in my pocket,” Carter said. “Me and MasterCard, we were real good buddies.”

That first year, Carter had $8,400 in sales. Now, as president of Carter Services, Farmington, N.M., he has 18 employees. This fall, he takes over as president of the National Pest Management Association. In an interview with PCT, Carter talks about how his involvement with the association has helped him grow from a one-man operation to one of the largest companies in his area.

New Mexico and other areas in the West are seeing tremendous population growth. What challenges and opportunities does this present to your company?

It’s definitely a lot of challenges and opportunities all one and the same. The challenges are: How are you going to find good, qualified help to take care of the growth that is out here? In our particular area, we’re kind of unique as compared to the rest of the nation. We’re not in a downturn on our economy. Our economy’s just busting at the seams. Now, there are certain markets in the areas we serve that are kind of slow, but not anything close to what the rest of the nation is seeing.

We look at this as a potential opportunity to grow, especially in our food plant markets and all of our industrial and commercial lines we work for. But the biggest challenge is finding good quality employees, and then how do you balance taking care of all your clients with today’s fuel prices. 

Like I said, New Mexico is very sparsely populated. I can leave Farmington and head to Albuquerque and there’ll be stretches of 40 or 50 miles at a time without you seeing any houses or things of this nature, so you have a lot of windshield time. So with today’s economy of fuel, it’s really tough to make it.

The thing that we have done on our part to solidify our future is to go after those industrial and commercial companies that are progressive and want good, quality pest management.

How does that impact your business? Why go after those accounts?

By design, I have made my business more commercial and industrial. We’re probably 90-plus percent commercial and industrial. And, it’s kind of what I have always affectionately coined my “petunia effect.” Mrs. Smith will fire you if you step on her 69-cent petunias. Commercial customers just want it done. And so we have gone after those companies that are progressive and want to do what’s right and they don’t mind paying an extra dollar or two.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’ll still do the residential side, but if I’m going to really grow like I want to, we really have to put a stamp on the fact that we can do the commercial and industrial work very, very effectively and very, very well.

Carter Services is a relatively small operation. How can NPMA benefit small- to mid-sized companies like yours?

Face it: 95 percent-plus or closer to 98 percent of companies out there are small companies, even smaller than mine — one-man companies (for example). I feel that our members, if they want to grow, it’s what they put into it. 

And if they’re going to become a member of NPMA, they should jump all the way into it, because they will reap the benefits 10 fold. I know I have, because I have taken every opportunity to learn from my colleagues out there, learn from the technical advice that we have out there, keep on top of government affairs and issues that come up. And you only get out of it what you put in to it.
The smaller companies, which is the bulk of our nation, if they really want to grow, they need to jump into their industry and become a stakeholder in it and really take the bull by the horns. That’s what I feel like has been the best asset for me.

I took the opportunity to expose myself to the different conventions, all of the technical advice and certainly took advantage of all of that stuff that my colleagues are just willing to help with. Because we’re not competitors, we’re colleagues out there.

NPMA, they give you all of the support. (Association Executive Vice President) Rob Lederer and his staff have just been phenomenal helping us. Anything we want, they’re there to help us, because without us, they can’t be successful. It’s a symbiotic relationship.

And it’s the same thing with the vendors, too. It’s kind of like, if one of our partners goes down, we have to lift them up, and help them to get their feet back on the ground, and we need to support each other.

Vendors support us, we support them. In turn we get NPMA staff; they support all of our members. So I think our small companies, they are missing the boat if they don’t try to take advantage of all the opportunities out there.
 It’s mind boggling when you think about what I’ve been able to try to accomplish, and I feel it’s a direct correlation to my involvement with NPMA.

What kind of impact will NPMA’s new QualityPro Green program have on the industry?

The green concept is starting to take hold in all segments of industry, not just pest control, and I think it’s an opportunity for our members. If they want to go in that direction, they’re going to have some support. I know that it’s going to be continually fine tuned, so that they can help each other.

I think there’s going to be some really strong potential for people to work toward building their green programs within their own company. Certainly, in other markets, where you have a lot of “green” people — more green standards, more densely concentrated (population) — it’s going to be more beneficial to those people than, say, out here in the Southwest. While we do have green principles, it may not be as deeply rooted as in other places.

The ironic thing about all this is that, in many fashions and forms, most of our companies are already doing green pest management. When you’re using monitoring devices and fly machines and all of your IPM processes, we’re already doing green to a certain extent. Now we can just get our stamp of approval to continue on with that. And I think that a lot of companies were looking for that support to justify what they’ve already stated within their own minds and within their own companies.

What’s top of mind for you this year as you come in as president of NPMA?

We need to continue our message to our members: Take advantage of the things that NPMA does, especially those members that, even though they may be members, but they’re not really actively involved, and they want to take their company to the next level, become actively involved. Throw your arms around — and embrace — the entire concept of what NPMA has to offer you, and you can’t go wrong. That’s one message that I want to try and continue to push forward to our members.

Another thing we have to keep in the back of our mind is: We may have quite a big change in our national government over the next three or four months, and there’s the potential that there are going to be some rough roads ahead of us (when it comes to) some government regulations. And we need to make sure we’re acutely aware of what’s going on in our backyard as well as nationally, and support all of the issues we may have to contend against.

And, certainly the green industry (is a focus). It’s in its infancy, in a lot of respects, and I think that we need to push forward with those issues as well.

But I know that for all of our companies, including mine, the biggest issues we have from running our day-to-day businesses are fuel prices and quality employees. I know it is for me. I have a very difficult time trying to justify four- and five-dollar-a-gallon fuel, and then with the labor market, it’s very, very tight (in terms of) trying to find good, quality people.

The challenges that we have for NPMA are basically the same challenges that I have every day in running my business. The good thing that we have about our industry is that the NPMA — they basically run everything and they make me look good. They really do. Rob and his staff are just phenomenal. What other industry do you know of that has an association that is doing as well as (NPMA) and with as little amount of staff that they have? We’ve had 13 years of fantastic growth with our joint state program and Rob and his staff have made the transitions and the growth easy for us members, especially myself.

I’m very proud to be able to work alongside the NPMA staff because, like I said, they make me look good. They do a fine job. I can’t commend them more on what they do.

What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned in the pest control industry?

It goes back to joining your association and taking advantage of everything they have to offer. I can’t reiterate it enough.

It’s not one particular thing that has helped me the most, it’s the accumulation of all of it. I would not have any success today had it not been for what NPMA has helped me do — giving me the exposure. And it’s up to me as to whether I want to do anything about it. And you’ve got to have a good support cast of your employees and your family behind you. Just knowing that my wife, Hazel, and our kids, Carrie, Christie and James, support me gives me the confidence to succeed. Companies across the nation, I can call them up, and they’ll spill their guts to me as to how they run their company. They’re willing to share with you.

Being a member of NPMA is one of the proudest things I’ve (done), and I’m very humbled to serve our members. I’m in awe that they elected me, and I appreciate it and I respect all of our members. It’s such a good industry to be involved in because it’s just like family.