[PCT Leadership Winner]: Steve Good

When you’re vice-president and chief marketing officer for the largest pest control company in the world you’re not just representing Terminix, you’re representing the entire pest management industry. It’s a daunting responsibility, but fortunately for PCOs throughout North America Steve Good is up to the task.

"Steve is not your typical corporate executive," observes Cindy Mannes, executive director of the Professional Pest Management Alliance (PPMA). "His knowledge of the pest control industry, his accessibility to the marketplace and his willingness to share his expertise with others enhances the entire industry."

As the largest player in the market, Terminix wields significant clout in shaping public perceptions about the industry, according to Mannes. "Consumer awareness programs such as the Terminix-sponsored and highly acclaimed "BUGS!" movie (see related story) help to place our industry in a positive light," she says.

In addition, Terminix’s support of various PPMA initiatives has been significant, in large part, due to Good’s tireless commitment to the organization. "From sharing consumer market research to providing printing services at no charge, Steve’s commitment to grow our industry through PPMA has been exceptional," Mannes says. "Steve has given more than just lip service to the organization. He’s put dollars behind Terminix’s belief that the Professional Pest Management Alliance has the ability to positively impact the public’s perception of the industry, while growing the market for professional pest management services. Steve really does care about this industry."

THE EARLY YEARS. Steve Good’s affection for the pest control industry isn’t too surprising given the fact he grew up in Memphis, Tenn., a hotbed of insect activity and home to Terminix International. The second of three boys born to Al and Lottie Good, Steve was a classic second child. "I was mediator, conciliator, always trying to make peace between the warring factions," he says with a laugh.

Imbued with a strong work ethic from an early age, Good had his own paper route at age 12 and bused tables at a local restaurant throughout high school, working late into the night. Enamored with the food service industry, Good rose through the ranks of a local restaurant chain and was named manager of his own operation at age 19, a harbinger of his future success in management. Recognized for his sharp intellect and strong people skills, Good was soon given the responsibility of opening a new restaurant in Nashville, Tenn. "I enjoyed it, but soon tired of the long hours and travel," he says.

Upon moving back to his hometown of Memphis, Good joined Terminix International in 1981 as an accounts receivable clerk for franchise operations, attending Memphis State University in pursuit of a business degree. Working around such industry luminaries as Jack Sumner, Harvey Massey, Charlie Hromada, Dickie Gauthreaux and Carlos Cantu at Terminix headquarters, Good describes those early years at the nation’s preeminent pest control firm as an "incredible environment to learn the ropes of the pest control industry from some great people."

Eager to take on his next career challenge, however, Good left Terminix in 1985 to join Guardsmark as vice-president of marketing, an exciting opportunity for the ambitious young executive. He was only 25 at the time. It was while at Guardsmark, a Memphis-based security firm with a national footprint, that Good drew the attention of Resneck & Associates, an ad agency boasting a client list of such well-known firms as Thompson Water Seal, Red Devil, and Belz Enterprises, owner of the internationally-known Peabody Hotel.

As a partner in the firm and managing director of its Memphis office, Good was responsible for overseeing account service, public relations and media for the firm’s larger accounts. "Since it was a relatively small shop it had a very entrepreneurial spirit," he says. "You got to do a little bit of everything, but that also meant there was an extremely fast burnout rate for those responsible for generating business. I really enjoyed it, but the agency business is brutal."

Although not actively seeking another position, Good was "burned out" after nine years of 12-hour days and the constant stress of meeting payroll, so when Terminix Vice President of Operations Albert Cantu called in 1995 to invite Good back to Terminix as vice-president of marketing he couldn’t resist the offer. "It was like the prodigal son coming home," he says. "A lot of the guys I had worked with previously had risen to senior-level positions, so it was pretty exciting to come back. It also gave me an additional opportunity to learn from (ServiceMaster President) Carlos Cantu, who is one of the greatest leaders I’ve ever been exposed to during my career."

Good describes the years working in the same organization with Cantu – who passed away in 2003 – as a "very rewarding experience," filled with both professional and life lessons that continue to pay dividends to this day. "He was an amazing person and an amazing leader. I learned a lot from him, including how to motivate people to perform above their expectations."

Although initially intimidated at being named Terminix’s lead marketer, Good took to the job like a fish to water. "I know people go to college to earn a degree in marketing and I’m sure it’s valuable," he says, "but all it really comes down to is how you communicate with the customer. And I have a real passion for effectively communicating with the customer. It’s a never-ending education that I find very stimulating."

With a broad-based combination of business and agency experience, Good rose through the ranks quickly, being named group vice president of marketing for ServiceMaster’s lawn care and pest control divisions in 1998, vice president of sales and marketing in 2000 and chief marketing officer in 2004. "My biggest challenge now is making the Terminix brand as ubiquitous as possible, so when the customer thinks of pest control they think of Terminix. We’re the market leader, but we’re not the dominant market leader. That’s our goal. We currently have a 20 percent market share nationally, but I don’t think senior management at Terminix is going to rest until we have a 30 to 35 percent market share, and there are lots of hurdles for us to jump before we make that happen. But this organization believes it can dominate the pest control category. It may take some time, but we believe it’s in our DNA to do it."

To achieve such an ambitious goal, Good believes Terminix must deliver its message to consumers in new, innovative ways including the Internet and high-end impact-marketing programs like sponsorship of the IMAX film, "BUGS!" (see related story). "We need to be plowing new ground on how we communicate with the customer," he says. "We’re a low-interest category (pest control). It’s not at the forefront of the mind of the consumer today, so we need to seize that ground. We need to communicate the message that we play an important role in protecting the public’s health and property. To do that we need to make the Terminix brand relevant. It’s a tall order, but it’s something that I and a very hard working team of professionals work at every day."

By all accounts, he’s gotten off to a good start, according to Albert Cantu, who now serves as president and chief operating officer of Terminix. "Steve and his team have done an excellent job of continuing to build the Terminix brand. They have succeeded in helping Terminix’s unaided awareness numbers skyrocket. In today’s environment … of doing more with less, he has been able to bring a laser focus to our marketing approach while at the same time improving the public’s knowledge and perception of Terminix."

However, Good says there’s much more work to be done, particularly when you consider the highly competitive nature of the pest control marketplace. "I don’t care if you’re talking about a PCO with three routes or Orkin Pest Control, the greatest experience for a customer today is to pick up the phone and talk directly to the owner of the company to solve a pest problem. That’s the ultimate customer experience. We need to strive to deliver that experience.

"We have a great opportunity at Terminix to revolutionize the industry because of our size and the financial resources at our disposal," he adds. "But we have to learn from the people who are doing it a lot better than we are day in and day out. And, in many cases, that’s the small, independent pest control operator who is able to address his customers’ pest problems personally. You have some great business owners in this industry who are doing some great things with their customers."

Ultimately, however, it’s not Terminix’s senior and marketing staff that will determine the company’s success, according to Good. "It’s those on the front lines of the daily battle against insect and public health pests. At the end of the day, TV commercials aren’t responsible for the success of the brand. It’s up to the 12,000 associates who embody the Terminix brand and provide pest control services to our customers that are going to make the difference," he says.

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IMAX Film Raises Terminix’s Visibility

When Executive Producer Jonathan Barker approached Terminix about sponsoring the IMAX film, "A Rainforest Adventure – BUGS!" in 2001, Steve Good thought it was a novel idea worth pursuing, but he needed to sell the concept to senior management who were skeptical about spending big bucks on an unknown film with an environmental message.

"We had to ask ourselves why would Terminix, a company known for exterminating insects, sponsor a movie that celebrates insects and their relationship to our ecosystem." Good says. "But it makes perfect sense. Terminix loves insects. They support our 12,000 employees. Although our business focuses on controlling termites and pests in homes and businesses, we have always promoted the importance of protecting insects in their natural environment. As it turns out, it was the ideal fit."

A REMARKABLE FILM. Highlighting the extraordinary world of insects, "A Rainforest Adventure – BUGS!" focuses on the life cycles of a praying mantis and a butterfly from their birth to their inevitable encounter in the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia where predator meets prey.

Narrated by the distinguished English actress Dame Judi Dench, the film first opened to the public at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. and the Audubon Institute’s Entergy IMAX Theatre in New Orleans, La., in 2003. Since that time, the 40-minute film has been shown throughout the world, reaching an audience of more than 6 million people in the United States alone.

The large-format film was shot on location in the jungles of Borneo and in the United Kingdom where a microcosm of a tropical rainforest was replicated in studio to secure extreme close-ups of insects. Director Mike Slee, who co-wrote the script, shot the film from a bug’s perspective, as they weave their way through blades of grass, travel across the leaves of a tropical rainforest, flit across the rainforest canopy, or skitter across the sand on the ocean’s edge where an equatorial sunset suffuses the screen with gold.

The result is some of the most compelling film footage ever shot of insects.

SYNERGISTIC BENEFITS. Executive Producer Jonathan Barker, president of Shaftesbury Films, says partnering with companies like Terminix offers benefits to both parties. The film receives much-needed financial support, which helps defer the high cost of production, while sponsoring companies receive valuable exposure, particularly if they’re savvy marketers like Terminix.

Barker says Good has been "quite visionary" in his approach to marketing the film. "They’ve tied the film integrally into their local marketing efforts," he observes. "For instance, in each location we’ll have a screening for Terminix employees before it opens (to the public). They become walking advertisements for the film. We know this has been happening because they’re proud of being associated with the film, and they’re telling others about it."

"We paid a lot of money up front to sponsor the film," Good says, "but it’s been a good investment." To maximize the company’s return on investment, Terminix partners with its local branch offices wherever the film is being shown, usually in major metropolitan areas of the U.S. "When it opens in a particular venue we do TV and radio spots to promote the film and Terminix," he says. "Our branch managers get involved as well as members of our staff." Terminix also invites key customers to attend the film’s grand opening in individual markets.

Barker said Good has "become a fantastic champion of the film," going so far as to allocate a percentage of the company’s local TV ad spend to promote "A Rainforest Adventure – BUGS!" "They’re really linking their day-to-day marketing activities to this film, which is very advantageous to both Terminix and the film. Steve got the marketing benefits to the film right away. It’s been a collaborative effort."

"It is only natural that Terminix would sponsor a film like "A Rainforest Adventure," Good says. "As experts in the field of entomology, we’re dedicated to studying, researching and appreciating insects. We’re great supporters of the idea of insects living in their natural environment outside of people’s homes. We are very proud to be a part of a film that offers such a tremendous educational and entertainment opportunity."

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Staying One Step Ahead of the Consumer

The sales and marketing landscape is changing. Whereas Yellow Pages advertising used to dominate the industry’s sales and marketing efforts, in recent years the ad spending mix for the industry’s most sophisticated marketers has become more diversified, including larger expenditures on cable advertising, direct mail marketing, Internet advertising and other cutting-edge media. One of the company’s leading this trend is Terminix International, which aggressively manages its media spend to reflect the ever-changing tastes of the American consumer.

"In the past five years we’ve learned some very important lessons about how to go to market with our ad message," says Steve Good, vice president and chief marketing officer, Terminix. "Consumers are raising their hands in very different ways these days. As a company, I think we’ve done a good job of responding to them when they raise their hands and express an interest in our termite and pest control services, but we need to do a better job of being the industry’s top-of-mind brand."

To achieve that top-of-mind status Terminix has adjusted its sales and marketing budget to focus on three primary media – (1) national and cable broadcast advertising; (2) Yellow Pages directories; and (3) direct marketing (see chart), in addition to high-impact special events like sponsorship of the IMAX film "Bugs!"

"It was a bold move to be the title sponsor of ‘Bugs!’ but it has paid off," Good says. "We’ll continue to identify sales and marketing opportunities that separate us from the competition, while building our brand."

The success of "Bugs!" is a testament to ServiceMaster’s and Terminix’s executive management team, according to Good. "They’re allowing us to fund mainstream branding efforts that historically have been preserved for the Procter & Gamble’s and Coca-Cola’s of the world," he says. "But as long as we can show measurable results, you’re going to continue to see us think more and more out of the box."

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So They Don’t Creep Out Customers

In the termite-extermination business, the right combination of temperature, precipitation and barometric pressure in the spring create "the perfect swarm," says Steve Good, vice president and chief marketing officer for Terminix. While his family enjoys a "nice moderate spring day, I’m saying it needs to be warmer. They think I’m nuts."

This year was a good year for bugs, it turns out.

Marketing bug control may not be for everyone, but Good came back for his second stint at the Memphis-based company. He returned eight years ago after having left earlier to run a small ad agency business for 11 years. "They lured me back, and I’ve been having a blast ever since."

That shows in the company’s new ads, which take a light-hearted, humorous approach to a yucky topic.

In one ad, as a man enjoys breakfast, his bright, sunny kitchen suddenly turns eerily dark. When he looks up, he sees a termite swarm has covered his windows.

In another ad, a woman tends garden beds next to her house. When her rake gets caught in a shingle she yanks at it and brings down a wall of the house. Sitting on a chair inside, her husband stares out, dumbstruck.

In another ad, a man tries to make a smooth move on a woman at a party by moving in close to coo in her ear. When he leans his hand against the wall, it suddenly collapses.

All the ads close with the line: "It’s termite season. Terminix ‘em."

Two out of three of the ads, by agency Stone Ward in Little Rock, addresses the topic of termites without having to show the bugs. The technique is intentional, based on research that shows women are squeamish about bugs, but they’re also the household members likely to make the purchase decisions about getting rid of them.

"In what’s considered to be the lowest-interest category in mankind, we learned, and this is not uncommon at all at much higher-interest categories, that the female makes the purchase decision 80% of the time," Good says.

That discovery led to the new ads and a new plan for broadcasting them. For the first time the company has run national TV ads as part of its advertising campaign.

Last year, spot ads reached an audience that was about 55% female and 45% male; 2004 ads are reaching an audience 65% female and 35% male, Good says. "We took about 40% of our budget and put it toward national," he says.

The ads’ new tack seems to be reaching females, according to results of Ad Track, USA Today’s weekly consumer survey. Overall, only 13% like the ads "a lot," well below the Ad Track average of 21%. While 11% of men like the ads a lot, 15% of women gave them the top rating – not statistically significant given the survey’s margin of error of three percentage points either way.

More telling may be the ads’ effectiveness results: 18% consider the ads "very effective" vs. the Ad Track average of 21%. But 22% of women vs. 14% of men consider the ads very effective.

"This is an extremely low-interest category, with 18,000 companies out there," Good says. "It’s highly cluttered and highly competitive, but we’ve built an exceptionally strong brand. We’ve always had fairly interesting and compelling (ad content), but this year we really hit a home run."

The new ads also better promote the company’s "unlimited lifetime protection plan," in which ongoing coverage guarantees that Terminix will cover any damages.

The guarantee, the ads, the weather and strong home sales have helped Terminix boost customer leads by double digits this spring. "We’re having a very good year," Good says. "Climatically it was a much better swarm than it was last year, but all the real estate transactions and new home construction is benefiting us as well."

With the termite season passing, Terminix has moved on to other creepy crawlers, such as spiders. Its newest ad features a spoof on the Alfred Hitchcock classic Psycho. A woman stands in the shower as the piercing Psycho music plays in the background. She grabs the shower curtain; the camera jumps to the drain as the announcer says, "It’s spider season. Terminix ‘em."

Will the spider season be as good for Terminix as termite season? Says Good: "We’ve had strong demand, and early indications are that we’re going to have a nice, robust pest season."

Copyright 2004, USA TODAY. Reprinted with permission.