Time Is On Your Side (Seriously)

Operating efficiency took on new meaning this past year. Pest management companies paid more for materials, vehicles and labor — if they could even find employees to fill open positions — and this pinched the bottom line.

As a result, companies were forced to take a hard look at their operations. Reducing the amount of time to perform specific tasks became a very important initiative, reported 55 percent of pest management professionals (PMPs) in a recent PCT survey.

The survey of pest control company owners, executives and technical directors was sponsored by FieldRoutes and conducted in June 2023 by Readex Research, an independent market research company.

Many of the changes that PMPs embraced to save time also boosted productivity. In fact, 62 percent of PMPs said productivity and efficiency at their company location increased in the past 12 months.

“In any route business, productivity and efficiency are the keystones. Your entire business is built on how productive your people are — it’s what makes it all work,” said Eric Eicher, founder of Versacor Managed Pest Solutions, Southlake, Texas. “For example, if you want to pay your people more, which we all do, make them more productive.”

Read on to learn how PMPs made improvements to six key areas to increase productivity and efficiency at their companies.

1. ROUTING

According to the PCT survey, 48 percent of PMPs said increased route density made their companies more productive and efficient in the past year, while 35 percent said route optimization and vehicle tracking with GPS systems played a role.

“Effective routing is absolutely crucial,” said Cory Goeltzenleuchter, Florida area technical director for Northwest Exterminating, a Rollins company.

His focus: Reducing windshield time, or the time technicians spend driving between accounts. “I don’t try to eliminate the time in front of the customer as much as I’m trying to eliminate the time in between customers or doing tasks that are not related to being in front of the customer,” he said.

Companies built route density by acquiring other companies and targeting sales and marketing efforts to specific neighborhoods.

Versacor Managed Pest Solutions is selective about the work it takes on. It favors large, local accounts where technicians can spend more time at each stop.

“We typically don’t pursue larger chain accounts because they spread our people out for relatively low production stops. Instead, we focus on accounts that value local service like hospitals or food plants that are already in our local service area,” said Eicher.

Optimizing routes freed up two to four days each month for technicians at McCall Service, a division of Northwest Exterminating.

This gives commission-based employees the opportunity to earn more money, and the company has room to rebook rescheduled or rain-delayed service visits. Previously, technicians had to make up missed stops on Saturdays. They appreciate the improved work-like balance, said Goeltzenleuchter. Technicians at HTP Termite & Pest Control, Huntingdon, Tenn., often drive 150 to 200 miles a day serving rural communities. “It’s extremely important for us to route optimize and not have our technicians running everywhere and backtracking. That’s the killer for us,” said Todd Simpson, president.

Using software to optimize routes resulted in fewer miles driven and significant fuel savings, which directly benefits the company’s bottom line, he said.

J&J Exterminating, Lafayette, La., found software is better at routing than humans.

“What we learned is that you can take that same 200 stops a month, have a technician call each one and schedule it as they think is best, and the computer software every time will get that same number of stops done in less hours worked and less miles driven,” said Technical Director Adam Woodard.

2. TRAINING

Training also spurred productivity and efficiency gains at companies, reported 47 percent of PMPs in the PCT survey.

Advance Termite & Pest Control, Hutchinson, Kan., trained technicians to be specialists in specific disciplines. This helped new hires get up to speed faster and become more efficient, whether at termite baiting or general pest control.

“[For] most of our guys, it’s very specific what their duties are throughout the course of the day. As a result, we may have some overlap with one technician going out to do a bagworm treatment and another technician showing up the next week to do a general pest service, but that’s what we’ve had to do to get techs trained quicker and ready for work,” said Jeff Wells, vice president.

Training people well helped the company reduce callbacks. “Callbacks used to be a real issue, and they just do not seem to be an issue for us at this point,” said Wells.

Hiring the right people, namely retired teachers and first responders, was key. They’re spot-on with paperwork, excellent communicators and “they’re folks you trust in your customers’ homes,” said Wells, who used to teach high school English.

Technicians at Smith’s Pest Management, San Jose, Calif., do most of their monthly training online. Zachary Smith, who owns the company, said the benefits of virtual training became apparent during the pandemic.

“I can attend a meeting and get hours for my state license anywhere in the state, any time of day. [During the pandemic], all continuing education went online, and all of the state agencies accept it now,” he said.

Goeltzenleuchter said Northwest Exterminating also embraced a hybrid approach to training that incorporates in-person and virtual learning.

“Sometimes we can get very similar results, if not the same results, by doing something virtually,” he said. This saves a significant amount of time for teammates who live far from a branch office.

3. COMMUNICATION

At Absolute Pest Management, Austin, Texas, the secret to higher productivity and efficiency is “communication, communication, communication,” said President Tony Ragan.

“We are constantly trying to improve our processes” and that requires open dialogue with employees, he said.

Besides daily in-person check-ins with staff, Ragan relies on Slack and Microsoft Teams to foster collaboration. Any kind of internal communication software is “a must,” especially if you’re not all working in the same physical space, he said.

Communication is essential for Smith’s Pest Management, where employees work remotely but still need to feel connected. “We live on Slack, so our Slack channel is always going with shoutouts and communication; we’re making videos and putting them out to everybody with updates,” said Smith.

Communicating clearly and often with employees about productivity goals helped increase company productivity and efficiency, reported 39 percent of PMPs in the PCT survey. Twenty-four percent said employee incentives had a positive impact.

Tying incentives to the number of stops a technician makes each day, however, can negatively impact the quality of service, said Goeltzenleuchter. “We incentivize quality over quantity,” he said.

4. EQUIPMENT AND TOOLS

Thirty-eight percent of PMPs said their choice of equipment and tools moved the productivity/efficiency needle into positive territory at their company in the past year, found the PCT survey.

Gerry Marsh, owner, Patton Termite & Pest Control, Wichita, Kan., implemented new battery-powered equipment in the field. This reduced “wear and tear” on technicians and “it helps them be more efficient with their time,” he said. Also, he said the devices help “meter what you’re using more accurately,” which reduces callbacks.

This year, Patton’s 18 technicians also began using an app to track product use. It lets them electronically order products in-house for the week, instead of writing their requested items on a paper form. Supervisors spend less time collecting and manually entering this data into a spreadsheet, which ultimately makes placing bulk orders easier.

The app has helped with training, as well. “If the technician is using too much of one product, we know we need to go back and ask, ‘Why are you using this?’ and maybe do some follow-up training,” said Marsh.

5. OFFICE AND ADMIN

Software and technology helped 38 percent of PMPs increase efficiency and productivity at their companies, found the PCT survey.

“Being short staffed in the office, time is crucial,” said Ragan. His company is “using technology as much as we can” to complete tasks and close new business faster.

Ragan recently switched customer relationship management (CRM) programs and implemented an app that integrates his sales process and CRM applications. It “saves us time by not having to do double data entry,” he said.

As such, his team can respond faster to inquiries from new customers. “You don’t want to keep them waiting because they’ll just keep going down the line” calling other pest control providers, Ragan explained.

Twenty-three percent of PMPs said effective sales lead conversions helped their companies be more productive and efficient in the past year.

Advance Termite & Pest Control had a custom software program developed to help its 24 employees save time.

“We feel like if we can save a technician more than 15 seconds in the field, then it’s worth doing. Those 15 seconds add up,” said Wells.

HTP Termite & Pest Control switched to email-only invoices because paper ones were getting lost by the U.S. Postal Service. As a result, customers weren’t paying on time, and some were going to collections. “We were losing customers from that,” said Simpson. The move also saved the company money by reducing mailing costs.

Patton Termite & Pest Control streamlined scheduling by using automated phone calls and text messaging. Previously, office staff made countless phone calls, leaving many messages, to schedule interior service visits and remind customers of upcoming appointments. Now they spend 30 percent less time on these tedious activities.

“They can use that time doing other tasks,” said Marsh. Plus, fewer people are needed to get this job done.

“It really has helped us to reduce having to hire more people to do the work,” he said.

Software programs using artificial intelligence (AI) promise to make customer service, estimating and scheduling more efficient.

“That’s going to become big in our industry. If you close your eyes to it and say ‘I’m not doing it,’ well, you’d better sell now because everybody else will be doing it, and you’ll be left behind,” said Simpson.

Others, like Smith, believe AI could backfire if it causes companies to lose their “human touch” with customers.

6. THE WORKDAY

Changes to the workday had a positive impact on productivity and efficiency at companies in the last year. Internal systems, processes and procedures (34 percent) and adjustments to employee work schedules and overtime (33 percent) played a part in this, reported PMPs in the PCT survey.

In spring 2023, Patton Termite & Pest Control switched from providing every-other-month service to quarterly service.

“With better materials now and better products that hold up longer in the weather, we feel like we can offer quarterly services, and so you’re not going out as often. You’re talking about going out two-thirds the number of times,” said Marsh.

Now he has the capacity to grow the business without having to hire new technicians.

Smith’s Pest Management embraced a virtual workplace. All employees work from home; technicians are routed from home and are resupplied in the field by supervisors, who also do touch-up training and give out awards and recognitions. A prepaid fleet maintenance program alerts technicians to vehicle maintenance needs, which can be done at approved locations in their service area.

The resulting cost savings lets the company hire more personnel to ensure customer needs are promptly met. “Customer need in pest control is almost always an emergency. Any efficiency we create allows us to solve the customer problem faster in the end,” said Smith.

Improving productivity and efficiency should be a continuous focus of companies, agreed PMPs.

“Time is money, so if you can find a way to be more efficient and get the same things done, it’s better for everybody. It’s better for the company, better for the technician,” said Woodard, J&J Exterminating.

Doing this takes commitment. “Always do your research to see what new products are out there and don’t get caught up in, ‘This has always worked for me, so I’m going to keep doing it this way.’ Keep an open mind. There might be a better way to do things than how you’re doing it,” he said.