Don’t assume it’s bed bugs!

I hope you will continue to follow my articles through Pest Management Professional magazine and PMP’s contemporary on-line edition . My latest “web exclusive” can be found that this link: “Killer Bed Bugs for Sale”

Please feel free to review the article and comment. I am happy to listen to all feedback.

Thanks,

Gerry

Can door-to-door sales ever be quality sales?

Yes, if the critieria is revenue in the door. No, if the criteria is revenue out the door.

Too often, companies are jumping in with aggressive door-to-door sales. While this may work in building tight territories, inevitably the door-to-door salesperson, hard pressed to earn a living, battles the prospect to the sales closing. In doing so, the pest control company obtains a quasi-reluctant customer, ready to head out the back door at the first sign of false promises. After all, the customer probably wasn’t wanting to buy in the first place.

Now let’s look at door-to-door sales in a recessionary market. If break even point after all the costs of maintaining a door-to-door sales team is roughly 3 years, it is highly likely that the customer who was aggressively acquired in good financial times with an easy credit market are now running out the back door when they realize they can not manage their house bills. The pest control company not only falls short of the break even point, but they incur many other expenses, having grown an infrastructure and debt load for a now fast depleting asset. If customers are have trouble managing mortgage payments, are they really going to keep their pest service?

Woe to those pest control companies that have been feeding off new, young homeowners that were over-leveraged.