[Cover Story] Walking Away

It doesn’t happen often but there are occasions when some pest control operators would rather walk away from certain types of business than accept it. Pest Control Technology wanted to know more about why PCOs might choose not to accept a customer’s business, and so we conducted an e-mail survey of 170 PCOs, asking about how often they turn away potential business, and why.

The results were eye opening. The survey found there are about eight general reasons a PCO might turn away business. The top reason, for about one-third of PCOs, is that the customer appears to be unrealistic in their expectations and/or is unwilling to cooperate with the PCO. Some other top reasons for walking away are excessive sanitation issues at an account, selected by 17 percent, and having a customer who presented a potential liability, selected by 14 percent. (See the chart below for complete survey findings.)

The survey also indicated that PCOs don’t like to turn down business. In fact, about 12 percent of PCOs said they never walk away from a job, 37 percent said they turn down business rarely, and 43 percent said they sometimes walk away.

Learning this information only made us more curious about some of the specific situations PCOs have run across, so we caught up with a few survey respondents to get more details. Here are just a few of the stories we heard.

BLACKLISTED. Kevin Delaney, an entomologist with Ewell Pest Control in Chesapeake, Va., says his company keeps a "black list" of problematic customers and real estate agents that they won’t do business with. "We have had verbally abusive people who have called and demanded that we come out to their house at their convenience and reschedule other appointments if necessary," Delaney said.

After canceling the problematic accounts, Ewell added, more than half of them typically call back, apologizing and pleading to take them back, "probably because they couldn’t find another company to put up with them," Ewell said.

NO SEE ’UMS. Peter Schopen Jr., vice president of Mid Central Pest Control based in East Dundee, Ill., says he’s come across a few situations where customers mistakenly believed they had pests. "When we turn work away, it’s usually after they’ve established a relationship with us and it turns out to be a make-believe problem," said Schopen. He recalled one customer, a successful corporate lawyer, who called with the complaint that he was getting flea bites while in his shower. "This is a bright, intelligent, well-rounded person, and he swore up and down that he was getting bites in his shower," recalled Schopen.

Schopen inspected the man’s house and became suspicious when no one else in the family was complaining about being bitten by fleas. "I even drove his car to see if I would get bit," said Schopen. "I went through his whole house to figure out why." He recalled the man was so distraught over the situation that he even consulted with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the end, Schopen discovered that insulation from a vent over the shower had been dropping on the man while he was showering, causing skin irritations. Even so, Schopen had a hard time convincing the man what he had found. "It took a couple of years before he would listen to me," Schopen said.

In another situation, an elderly woman called Schopen also complaining of flea bites. Schopen went to the house several times but could never actually locate the fleas. "One evening I went to her TV room and watched Wheel of Fortune with her just to prove to her that she had no fleas." He eventually concluded the woman was lonely and was making up excuses for technicians to come to her house.

In another case, a woman called the company sobbing hysterically and complaining she had mice. "A veteran technician went out there and he could not find any evidence of mice." While the technician was there, the distraught woman pointed to what were pieces of dirt on the floor and said they were mouse droppings. She also showed the technician some scratches on the side of a utensil drawer, which she believed must have also come from mice. The woman was so hysterically upset that the technician, wanting to appease her, agreed that she might indeed have mice, and he set baits out around the house.

Schopen later went to the account himself to see if mice had eaten any of the bait. There was no evidence of an infestation, but he found another explanation for the situation: the woman’s compromised vision. "I couldn’t believe it," Schopen recalled. "This poor woman had just had eye surgery not a month earlier," he said. She mistakenly thought the dirt on the floor was mouse droppings. And upon further inspection of the utensil drawer, Schopen saw that the drawer had come out of its track and was being scratched each time it was opened and closed. It took some time, but Schopen was finally able to convince the woman that she did not have mice in her house.

In the end, Schopen has learned that no matter how adamant a customer is about having pests, it’s up to the company to decide whether or not a pest problem truly exists. "In all three situations the person was convinced that they had a problem, and in all three circumstances they didn’t," says Schopen. "One thing we always tell our technicians is you have to be honest with the customer. If you go into a home and don’t think there’s a problem, you’ve got to tell them."

SOMEONE LISTENED! Marcel Deshaies, owner of Advantage Termite & Pest Control in Lebanon, Tenn., had an interesting situation concerning a severe cockroach infestation at a home. He opened the door of his truck at the curb and immediately knew it was going to be a serious infestation. "I could smell the roach fecal matter from the road," he recalls. "Upon entering the house, I was so tempted to just turn around and run, not walk away," he said. After talking with the customer, he quickly realized that the person had never learned how sanitation can affect pest issues. Just a few of the sanitation problems he found were sticky floors, a container of bacon fat sitting out on the stove, unsealed food items and garbage lining the floor. "The roaches were in every room on the floor, ceilings and walls," said Deshaies. "Rather than turning the account down like three other companies had done before me, I gave her a written plan of sanitation," he said.

The plan specified that in order for him to service this account, the customer would have to remove all trash and clean floors and walls. Opened food was to be discarded, and newly opened food was to be placed in sealed containers. "I did nothing at that point except I told her if she wanted my help she must do these things and call me back when the list was complete," said Deshaies. He said he did not expect to hear from the customer, but two weeks later she called. "I could not believe the difference," he said. "Once we had all the food sources removed and the place cleaned up it was pretty easy to get rid of the roaches." That was three years ago, Deshaies notes, and the home is still bug free. The customer is healthier and happier, Deshaies says. "I used to think that telling someone to clean up was insulting to them," he says. "It’s not. It’s educating your customer, and as a pest control provider it’s your duty."

Deshaies has since designed a checklist identifying problem areas for customers that helps him when he encounters sanitation problems that would otherwise prevent him from doing the work. Now, he says, he seldom turns down accounts. He says that he’s found that with a written sanitation plan detailing what the customer must do, in most cases, the customer complies. Surprisingly, he says, many people simply haven’t been educated about correct cleaning practices. "A lot of people just don’t know what causes infestations," he added.

Lou Cortes, president of Safeguard Environmental Care based in Orlando, Fla., also lays out a program for each customer in advance of accepting the work. After conducting an initial inspection at the account, Cortes asks his customer to sign a partnership agreement that details their responsibilities in helping to control the pests, i.e., maintenance and sanitation work they will need to handle. "They agree to be a partner in eliminating their pest problem," he explained.

During the initial inspection, Safeguard identifies the main sanitation and maintenance needs at the account. If the customer’s not willing to do their part in these two areas, Cortes says, "we don’t do business with them." Since Safeguard guarantees its service, the company expects any contributing conditions to be corrected, Cortes explained. The majority of Safeguard’s work comes from commercial accounts, and the company specializes in food-processing and health-care facilities.

Cortes says most all of his customers are cooperative with regard to sanitation and maintenance. Recently, though, he had to notify a food-processing facility that their service would be discontinued. He made this decision after first struggling with late payment issues that ultimately affected maintenance. "There were holes that needed to be sealed, floor molding had to be replaced," he said. These and other needed repairs weren’t being made after repeated requests from Safeguard. "They were in a financial crunch," Cortes explained. "They said in time they would do it."

FOLLOW THE RULES. While Cortes says he doesn’t have to make decisions like this often, there are certain other types of accounts he chooses not to accept at all. For instance, Safeguard doesn’t service the very small commercial accounts that aren’t required to follow state or federal guidelines, because these accounts typically haven’t been profitable for Cortes. "They’re basically buying service based on price," he said.

Barry Weprin, owner of Weprin Pest Control in Houston, says also he’s turned down business for sanitation reasons. He recalls one situation involving a small commercial bakery. A friend of his had recently been hired at the firm as production manager, and he asked Weprin for an estimate on controlling mice at the bakery.

Upon visiting the account, Weprin said the sanitation conditions were so bad that implementing any practical rodent control measures would have been nearly impossible. "The pallets were against the wall and the place was filthy," he said. "After my friend slipped on the greasy floor, (falling) on his back, I told him I would pass on this place." Weprin recalls his friend stayed at the company only a few weeks before quitting.

Weprin, who is also a registered sanitarian, had worked as a sanitation inspector before starting his own pest control and consulting business 20 years ago. He says poor sanitation is usually the only reason he’ll walk away from an account, although it doesn’t happen very often. "The new accounts that I get for commercial work are companies that need to pass the AIB-type of inspections," Weprin explained, "so they are very motivated to correct the items that I find."

The author is former managing editor of PCT and a frequent contributor. She can be reached at lmckenna@giemedia.com.

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Top reasons PCOs say they walk away from a potential job
PCOs were asked to name the number one reason they’d turn away an account:
Customer is unreasonable: 34%
Excessive sanitation conditions: 17%
Customer presents potential liability: 14%
PCO is unable or unqualified to help: 11%
Customer has bad payment issues: 9%
Business is unprofitable: 7%
Other: 4%
Chemically sensitive customer: 3%

Source: PCT e-mail survey

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