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ccording to Specialty Products Consultants (SPC), Mendham, N.J., the U.S. structural pest control industry shrunk 4.1 percent in 2009. Last year, our industry generated an estimated $6.32 billion in total service revenue, which is down from the $6.59 billion SPC reported in 2008.

Those numbers are likely not surprising to those involved in pest management daily. Virtually all business segments took a beating last year, including our very own "recession-resistant" pest management industry. But what does "recession resistant" mean, anyway? It means no matter the economic situation, termites still need to be controlled when they’re found munching on a structure, moms still reach for the computer (the phone book?) when they see roaches in their kitchen and commercial facilities still need their properties to be inspected and treated so that they’re able to protect the public’s health.

What is surprising (at least to the PCT staff) is that every year there are new companies on our Top 100 list. There are firms that we’ve never heard of that report seven- or eight-digit revenues. Now, I am in no way claiming that we know it all. We don’t. No way.

But because we do often travel the country attending industry events and tradeshows, and our editorial staff has 53 years of combined experience reporting on the pest management industry, we are somewhat familiar with many of our 21,000+ subscribers and their firms. And because there are thousands of companies that aren’t on this list, we realize how important it is to provide information in this month’s cover story "package" — including our ninth annual Top 100 list — that’s of value to all of our readers.

I hope you’ll read "Rock On," page 47. This article explains how companies on this year’s list grew in spite of the economy. Here you’ll find great nuggets about how pest management firms tackled the "great recession" head on. What did they do about staffing? Why didn’t they cut their advertising budgets? Are bed bugs the future of our industry?

The smallest company on PCT’s first Top 100 list, which ran in January 2002 and reported on 2000’s year-end revenues, had a revenue of $2.6 million. And with one exception, the list always has ended higher than it did the year before. For example, the 100th company on last year’s list had a revenue of $4.2 million; this year the 100th firm has $4.5 million in revenue.

Also in 2009, 57 companies posted revenue growth over the previous year. Fifty-seven! That’s remarkable because in an economy like the one we’re crawling out of, factors that are beyond your control can sink your firm. You could have done every single thing correctly and failed because external factors were too much. Those of us who thought we could simply outwork our competitors found out that’s not always enough.

So what does all of this mean? It means that even in a year that was as tough as 2009, the individuals in the pest management industry buckled down and got the job done. It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t easy. But from the largest pest management firm to the smallest, all had to make some changes and all had something to learn. And we hope this month’s editorial coverage helps take that education one step further.

When you review the list on pages 40-43, you may notice that the Univar ads on those pages have a "rock ‘n roll" theme. Why? They were designed by the company to complement the inaugural Top 100 Awards Ceremony & Executive Summit that PCT is hosting in June. The ceremony will feature a dinner at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and the next day, PCT and Univar will host an Executive Summit featuring Blue Ocean Strategy-certified trainer Bill Kimbrell. Keep an eye out for coverage of the event later this year.

Thank you once again for sending in your numbers, even in a year when perhaps you didn’t want to do so. We appreciate your willingness to participate in this annual assessment of the industry and we value the hard work you do day in and day out. So here’s to a successful 2010. PCT, like you, is hoping for some chart-topping revenue numbers this year!

The author is editor of PCT magazine.