Seeing The Green Light

This month in Pest Management Professional Magazine, you can find my latest contribution, entitled The Green Light. The debate between Right vs. Left, traditional pest controllers vs. environmentalists, global warming deniers vs. global warming watchdogs goes on and on. So in this article, I decided to step back for a minute and consider who are the people who can best bridge the gap of understanding, what professional group can objectively speak to both audiences. The answer: entomologists.

NPMA and NRDC – Marriage of Pest Control and Environmental Groups – Reviewed

Last year the National Pest Management Association created in industry defined green standards certification called QualityPro Green. This past spring of 2009, the NRDC (National Resource Defense Council) approached NPMA ( National Pest Management Association) with a request to conditionally join in the effort to create a better national green program. NPMA wisely found common ground with NRDC, listening and absorbing several of their concerns and designing a better green program under a newly marketed label – GreenPro. GreenPro will now have environmental advocates from outside the pest control industry sitting on its’ board of directors.

Will NRDC find that they have a true partner in NPMA? It’s an open question. Time will tell. By not requiring a front-end audit and an audit of a larger segment of multi-branch companies, they are taking a substantial risk with their own membership and with the potential for the process to be easily subverted. It will be incombant on NPMA and individual GreenPro certified companies to prove they are worthy of the trust extended by NRDC.

Please take the opportunity to review and discuss “A Suprise Marriage” published by Pest Management Professional Magazine in its’ September 2009 issue. In this article I review my own perspective and experience as an active pest control operator.

Feel free to post your replies. All comments are welcome.

Bad Economy Doesn’t Stop HeartsPM

The latest news is in: Hearts Pest Management will be opening doors to business in Los Angeles and San Francisco!

Hearts Pest Management’s “Focus on Organics” themed program “Green Thumb” with EcoWise Certification, is appealing to homeowners across the state. Hearts knows that this program will resonate well in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Hearts Pest Management plans to have a full-time bed bug crew ready to enter the San Francisco market very soon. The bed bug problem is not getting any better. We only wish we were in Vancouver in time to treat bed bugs for the Olympics. But from a business perspective, I am sure some of those Olympics visitors will be getting a taste of the lower 48 in San Francisco. Bed bugs are sure to be in the luggage!

Mites, Now You See Them

Have you ever seen a mite up close. Here is one we found in the course of our work.

Mites found during Pest Control Inspection

You should be aware of these little, but very nasty creatures. When they are on the move, it “mite” be for you, at night. Honestly, this is not a scare tactic, just fact. It’s not all about bed bugs. Just go ask the folks who frequent birdmites.org Customers used to call us with complaints of spider bites that we couldn’t solve. Then came the bed bug epidemic and we started looking at other possibilities. Now we know that it is often mites, bird mites, rat mites or some other form of mite.

Why I Hire Pest Control Technicians in the Fall

I’ve often wondered as to my sanity after hiring in the fall. No doubt, it can cost more than a timely springtime hire, but I just hate to deal with any type of chaos during the spring season, when we need to be out in full force, meeting the needs of our customers for pest control service. It’s really hard to keep track of my technicians during the spring. I like to feel I have an adequate level of trust that they will do a good job, that they understand how Hearts operates and that the new team member and the team as a whole function well together.

Please enjoy this brief article I’ve written for PMP magazine’s on-line edition, Nine Reasons I Hire In The Fall.

Do let me know what you think of the article. This blog is to generate discussion, not for accolades, so tell me what you think, not what I or anyone else wants to hear.

Thanks,

Gerry

Leave Something On The Bone – Sick Pay, Benefits, Medical Coverage in the Pest Control Industry

Please accept my invitation to read my latest article, “Are We Ready to Lead?,” in Pest Management Professional (PMP) Magazine’s on-line edition. This month, I talk about the need for leadership in the industry that can bring together workers, managers and owners in a win-win strategy, starting with proper health care for workers and examining the larger benefits of better benefit packages.

Go to Jail, Do Not Collect $200

Pest control is like a fun game of Monopoly. To win, I formed alliances to gain strategic leverage. We rarely finished the Monopoly game, but we had lots of fun and profit working together. Green pest control is analogous. It’s all about alliances: with employees, customers and environmental groups. The winners are always good partners and partners are always good winners.

In bygone years a macho image of pest control worked. It was all about fast kill. Without the EPA, liability was not a critical factor. Customers reinforced this attitude: “Just get rid of them. I don’t care how!” Pest control operators became enthralled with the “License to Kill,” even using it as a brand name.

If this is you, “Go to Jail, Do Not Collect $200.” You lack the credibility to succeed in the green marketplace. Today, pest control is about life, not death! The slogan, “Flower Power Pest Control” can succeed where “Fast Path to Sure Kill” flops.

If you want to win the game of Monopoly, you must consider your approach carefully. You can’t willy-nilly buy a property here and another there. As in Monopoly, you can’t simply buy a green label product, spray around, hope for a kill and sell it as green. Customers will detect your lack of sincerity, education and efficacy.

Commit as an organization, to completing quality IPM and green certification. Re-imagine your business with a total green vision. Find quality marketing talent to “re-brand” your company for the green revolution. Solicit the ideas of your employees, prospective customers, suppliers and environmental agencies, toward your goal of creating a successful green program. You may find green certified pest control professionals are happy to assist you. They know that in helping each other, we all win, without the need for a Monopoly.

Great raccoon rescue video

Here is a great raccoon rescue captured on video.

Will Barak Obama Support the NRA

President Barak Obama significantly improved his conservative credentials today, when he took swift action against an aerial attack on the White House.

Who knows, soon he may come out in favor of the NRA? Perhaps he may even turn on MSNBC and appear with Hannity on the Fox News Network.

No matter what his future political positions, based on Barak’s swift response today, I will be the first to offer him a job at Hearts Pest Management. With his manual pest control technique, he would make an excellent IPM professional.

Generational Passage in Pest Control Companies

Now that Father’s Day is coming soon, I’d love to hear from pest control companies that are making a generational transition. I have sons who may be interested in continuing the tradition… or maybe not.
Lloyds is a local company that has been very successful at transitioning. Pestec in northern California is an example of a company with a great father-son team. I hope that if we at Hearts Pest Management make a generational transition, that it will be as smooth as these two examples.
What is your experience?