PMPs Report That Gen X Accounts for Majority of Customers

CLEVELAND – Understanding the buying behavior of current and potential customers is important to PCOs for a number of reasons, including the development of new service offerings and marketing strategies.

According to results from the latest PCT reader poll, 54 percent of PMPs indicated Generation X accounts for the majority of their customers, while another 27 percent indicated millennials are their majority customer. Baby Boomers were the majority customer for 14 percent of respondents, while Gen Z was the most prevalent customer for 5 percent.

Marty Overline, president of Aardvark Pest Management, Philadelphia, does commercial work (98 percent), and he said Baby Boomers and “early Gen Xers” account for most of his customers. “One difference in age groups seems to be the way they pay — cash vs. Venmo. I get calls from all generations but first they all try to handle it themselves before calling me.” 

Trent Ragar, president of Natural State Pest Control, Lowell, Ark., said his primary customer base is millennials. As such, his primary growth strategy has been digital marketing “and we only offer monthly billing with our programs. Both of these are more likely to be familiar to the millennial generation and similar to how they buy music, TV programming, cell phones, etc.”

Brian Goldman, CEO of Big Blue Bug Solutions, targets the 25 to 29 age group. One of Goldman’s observations about today’s customer is that “an increasing number of our customers don't want to talk to anyone. They just want the problem taken care of with as little interaction as possible.”

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