I hope you’ve been enjoying my articles in Pest Management Professional magazine. This time I decided to write about a problem in the industry that no one talks about: inadequate writing skills and a lack of respect for written language. This industry plague results in poorly trained technicians, inadequate policy and procedure to guide a company, unhappy customers who don’t know what they are getting for their money and ultimately, lots of unnecessary lawsuits due to miscommunication.

When I first entered the industry with the purchase of Hearts Pest Management, I was working with the former owner on some very large contracts. We were doing very high-end rodent jobs well into the four figures. The former owner would come back to the office waving a winning bid for “Rat trapping and cleanout.” That’s it! Ok, fine and dandy… until the customer had a complaint that the job wasn’t done according to specs. I’d pull my hair out trying to figure out what was promised. Of course, the customer is always right. The only time they are not is when there is a clear written agreement to the contrary. We need to get serious about writing good contracts that create a sound working relationship between our companies and our customers.

Please review my article (oops, found a typo), entitled, “Um” Is Not A Word. Please come back and add your comments. I hope to get a bit more action in the comments than we have recieved. Don’t be bashful!

Hearts Consulting Group announces the unvailing of it’s first website: www.bugsinmybed.com. This website is really different from other pest control websites in two ways.

1) While there are one or two great bed bug websites, such as Bed Bug Central, the goal of this website is to take a very broad view of the bed bug epidemic, seeing it rather within the context of people who have broad complaints about bugs that get in their beds. In the past, when people woke up with bites, the common answer was that it was spiders. Well, then the bed bug epidemic came and it seemed like anyone who had bites thought it was bed bugs. Simultaneously, another group of people are shouting about an epidemic of mite bites. They are talking about it on birdmites.org and shouting out loud about unknown parasites at Morgellon’s websites.

2) Most bed bug websites are written from the perspective of a pest control company. This website was written with a more neutral perspective, one that would incorporate the perspectives and needs of realtors, homeowners, tenants, lawyers, school adminstrators, medical professionals, group living administrators and many others. We hope we an live up to the expectations we have set for ourselves.

3) We will review this subject on a worldwide basis.

4) We will attempt to acquire field data through our report map for these epidemics. Going further than other reportsing websites, such as the Bed Bug Registry, we also seek to create a report and feedback process to help resolve issues.

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.

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.

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

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.

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!

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. You can learn more at Hearts Pest Management. Check out pages for rats and mice, birds, as well as mites and parasites to get the full picture. There is also learn a lot about this subject from Hearts Consulting Group, which has completed first phase development of a website focusing on Bugs In My Bed.

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.

Check out the employment page on the Hearts Pest Management website to see how this policy helps morale and what it takes to attract good employees.

Thanks,

Gerry

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.

Check out the employment page of Hearts Pest Management to see what we are doing to provide a package that employees can believe in.

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.

Here is a great raccoon rescue captured on video.