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.

2009 IPM Symposium in Portland, Oregon

If you didn’t go to the 2009 IPM Symposium, you missed out on a great opportunity to meet many intellects in the field, as well as product companies that are at the forefront on new, inventive and less toxic methods.

Yes, there were a lot of agricultural sessions that may not have interested structural operators, but there were several favorites discussing such current topics as non-toxic bed bug control and birth control technology to knock-down pigeon populations. You would have been able to meet and converse with Tom Green, the founder of the IPM Institute. You would have heard Western Exterminators discuss their field research comparing organic, organic + low-impact, vs. traditional pest control methods. You would have heard a recent study presented by a leading structural pest company on various techniques that were measured for runoff.

The keynote speakers were awesome. My own technician came away with a totally new and updated outlook on global warming. He even rushed calls back to other field technicians telling them what he had learned. It was a real eye opener for him.

But for me, one of the most enjoyable speakers was a researcher from Israel’s Peres Peace Institute, who described how he was playing a small but practical role in the peace process between Israel and Jordan by training farmers on both sides of the border to help eradicate a pest of date trees.

Back in 1974, at age 20, I worked in the date tree fields of a small Kibbutz called Maoz Chaim, in the Jordan Valley. This speaker created a surprising and pleasant Deja Vu experience for me. I can’t tell you what a transformation there has been on this border! When I lived there, our simple agricultural work was interrupted when we held rifle training because terrorists had broken through the border fences. Real peace is not simply about signing documents. It’s about a desire to work together to better the world. This was demonstrated at the 2009 IPM Symposium.