Getting Your New Business Off the Ground

While it is important that your employees not try to sell a new add-on service to every single customer whether it’s needed or not, all technicians and field representatives should keep their eyes open for opportunities. For example, said Intertec Pest Control Owner/President Greg Parker, if you provide bird management services, and your technicians notice feathers and droppings beneath signage – or birds, themselves, on the sign or ledges – they can bring them to the attention of the customer and explain your bird management program.

Getting Employees Onboard. To incent technicians to do so, pay them a percentage of the add-on service fee, Parker said, "Then they'll look for it." Even add-on services that have small monthly service costs for the customer, such as flying insects, will add value and dollars to each visit; and when you multiply even a small dollar value by 12 months and numerous technicians, it can be a lucrative way to help your bottom line while helping your customer.

“What gets planned and measured gets done,” said Univar Environmental Sciences Project Manager Doug Wyly. To get field personnel on board, a manager should sit down individually with each person who will be selling the new add-on service. That conversation and planning discussion should have two goals, he said, to make sure the employee truly has buy-in for the new direction and to establish realistic daily sales targets.

“The establishment of daily sales targets should be bottom-up focused, never top down: make the entire conversation about their financial success not the company’s,” Wyly said. “Ultimately how the conversation is framed will be a reflection of each company’s compensation structure and guidelines.”

Wyly gave an example of a discussion on the employee’s desired compensation goal for the year in which the employee says he wants to make an additional $15,000, which looks like a realistic, achievable goal. Based on a commission rate of 10%, the employee would need to sell an additional $150,000 in new business, while maintaining his current level of annual GPC sales. That equates to an increase in sales of $12,500 per month/or $3,125 per week/or $625 a day beyond current sales.

“Now the employee has a new measurable daily target to hit to achieve his/her financial goals this year,” he said. The next step is to have the employee create a new daily sales activity plan that incorporates a strategy to achieve the additional $625 a day in sales. Then, as part of ongoing development and support, have a debriefing conversation at the end of each day to discuss what went well and what didn’t, Wyly recommended. “That will create an opportunity to proactively support and complement what’s working and simultaneously coach new direction for obstacles and alleviate frustration.”

Terminix Service Wildlife Division Manager H. Dixon Herman, Jr., sees the technician as having the best opportunity to communicate with the customer on the new service “for the simple reason that the technician is the face of the company to the majority of customers,” he said. The technician spends more time in front of the customer than the rest of your company, and for that reason, he should be an ambassador. “The technician, even if he cannot answer the question directly, should be able to connect the client to the rest of the company whether they are seeking new services, technical advice, billing information, etc.,” Herman said.

Getting Started. Herman also utilizes distributor resources, explaining, “I have found that a good distributor is worth their weight in gold in terms of product recommendations, technical advice, and information on the industry," In many cases, their sales history can guide you to see what products are working and give some insight on what your competitors are doing.

The first step in getting started, for which Univar can provide such assistance, is for management to develop its strategic vision for the new market segment, Wyly said. Then the management team needs to determine and budget the working capital that will be needed to fund the strategic vision. This will include training costs, equipment needed, a marketing budget, compensation incentives, and a timeline for ROI.

Once all this is set in place, it’s time to begin training the management team, building expertise in methodology/application procedures, determining labor time and impact for job completions, targeting clients, and setting a realistic and achievable budget for first-year results, Wyly said. “In addition to training from Univar, management, when possible, should also seek training from other PMPs located outside their market area to learn and implement first-year success stories and avoid unforeseen obstacles.”

“For new ventures or upstarts, the distributor can definitely steer you in the right direction by recommending products that are proven,” Herman said. “Assuming that the distributor is national, they can also connect you with others in the industry (not direct competitors) who are facing or have faced the same challenges that you face.”