State of the Small Fly Market, Sponsored by Nisus, A Profitable Package

About half of respondents to PCT’s State of the Small Fly Market survey say they charge separately for small fly control — and the other half includes small fly as part of their general pest control services. Here, pest management professionals weigh in about how they structure the service.

Small Fly Included

“Small fly is just part of our service. Could we sell it as an add-on? Sure. But small fly issues come and go all the time so we always include it for our bar and restaurant accounts because we know at some point they will have the problem. If the small fly issue is excessive and we need to step up the service and come in weekly vs. monthly, then we might charge extra. But because we know [small fly] will occur, if we omitted it from our service our customers would go somewhere else.”

— JEFFERY PREECE, BOARD CERTIFIED ENTOMOLOGIST, TECHNICAL DIRECTOR, ZIPZAP TERMITE & PEST CONTROL

THE CASE FOR A LA CARTE

“No one wants to pay for a service unless they are suffering from the problem. So, we offer small fly control as an add-on.”

— JIM SAITMAN, OPERATIONS MANAGER, MADCO PEST-A-SIDE

“We try to sell the service upfront but it’s very difficult because half of the year, flies don’t present much of a problem. But we have an informative pamphlet that we give commercial customers, restaurants in particular. Small flies will be a part of their future sooner or later — it’s not a matter of if but when. When flies do show up, then they start asking us to add-on the service.”

— DAVE MASCHKA, DAVE MASCHKA PEST CONTROL SERVICE