5 Reasons to Offer a Proactive Bed Bug Treatment

 

PMPs weighed in on why proactive bed bug control makes sense right now:

 

1. You can provide greater peace of mind.

Even after successful treatment to eliminate bed bugs, Tom Sieminski, owner of Team Pest Control in Sayville, N.Y., felt bad leaving customers who continued to worry about the pest’s potential return. 

 

He wanted to offer a preventive service but “the labels of the materials that were available weren’t very friendly to that idea until I found CrossFire,” he said. CrossFire from MGK has three active ingredients and long-lasting residual control. He’s since introduced a quarterly proactive service with a one-year guarantee. 

 

Proactive service also helps protect the reputations of hospitality clients, where even one bed bug episode shared on social media can cause a significant loss in revenue. 

 

Ted Lieb, sales manager at Gillen Pest Control in Richmond, Texas, was performing reactive bed bug control at a state school for mentally challenged and disabled people. Prepping rooms and moving residents to temporary housing during treatment was particularly stressful for staff and this sensitive population. “It creates panic when they have to do emergency treatments on bed bugs,” said Lieb.

 

As well, Lieb was noticing minor resistance issues with the pests. This meant more time was needed to get infestations under control, further delaying a return to normalcy for residents.

 

“When CrossFire came out and we started using it, it was like within three months we quit getting bed bug calls. It was amazing at how it knocked out the bed bugs,” he said. The product’s multiple modes of action are designed to help combat pyrethroid-resistant bed bugs.

 

Lieb then implemented a monthly monitoring program to catch reintroductions early. “If they do get bed bugs it’s a lot less aggressive treatment and so you end up with less down time and not having to move as many people around,” he said.

 

At the state school, bed bugs were being brought into the facility on personal items and furniture from residents’ homes. 

 

To help end the cycle, Lieb developed a check-in protocol that included inspections and heat-treating items in a portable heat unit. Mattresses were encased; training sessions were held for staff on bed bug biology and behavior.

 

Monitoring traps placed under bed legs are inspected monthly. If bed bugs are found, “you literally can narrow it down to a single bed a lot of times and at least that single room versus having to treat multiple rooms plus common areas plus everything else because you’ve caught it quickly,” said Lieb.

 

CrossFire’s long-term residual also helped. “If there was a reintroduction, it was killing bed bugs well beyond what your other products would have done,” said Lieb.

 

Instead of paying an unknown amount each year for reactive bed bug control, proactive service helps clients plan for bed bug control expenses. 

 

It also protects what they’ve already invested to eliminate the pest. “If you’re going to have this big investment, you’d better back it up with ongoing preventative maintenance,” said Jeremiah Riopel, multi-housing sales and marketing director, Plunkett’s Pest Control, Fridley, Minn.

 

Proactive bed bug service requires a significant amount of communication and contact. “You’ve got many more touches with that client than you do with a quarterly account,” explained Riopel. As a result, you have the opportunity to build partnerships that last long term. “We just don’t lose those properties,” he said.

 

Lieb’s proactive approach earned him more work at another state school facility, where he likewise had success eliminating bed bugs. “You make a really happy customer,” he said.