For the new year, I decided that my first Pest Management Professional Magazine article should reflect what I perceive as the mood in the business world and macro-economic problems that have filtered down to mom and pop companies that are trying to make it. The credit market is a huge part of our current economic mess. Part of it is credit card company usury that has gone on far too long, but part of it is simply a general unwillingness to lend. As a result, companies large and small are trimming the fat, from GM and Terminix to your local city pest control company or family restuarant.
I hope you will enjoy reading Crunch the Numbers for my perspective on our current economic crisis. (My article is on the left side. I have the honor of being in print next to the nice snapshot of Michael Steele, Republican Party Chairman). I think you’ll find this issue of PMP magazine particularly interesting with topics not widely discussed in the industry such as bacterial infections mistaken for spider bites.
Please come back and add your comments. Everyone has an opinion, so don’t be bashful about adding yours to the mix on my blog. You can also find quick listing of all my articles and other industry links at the Hearts Pest Management website document center.
Hearts Consulting Group 
Excellent –eye opener for people who think that credit is their right as opposed to something that is evaluated by lenders and then hopefully cautiously extended.
Just as our parents must likely learned- save for a rainy day and remmeber the Boy Scout motto-“Be prepared”
Always enjoy your ideas.
Good article. The good and honest companies will prevail while those others will fade away. Money is tight but we have to creative and think outside that box everyone talks about.
Thank you for sharing with us. The cream will rise to the top. I hope my article will help companies become creamier, if you know what I mean. I would have loved to know back in 2002 when I started in the pest control industry what I now know.
Come back soon.
Gerry
Nice logic. You make it sound so simple — and maybe it really is. I think your photo deserves to be there instead of Steele’s!
Hi Gerry,
Just finished reading your article in PMP. Sounds like my previous employer’s situation in regards to credit and it’s previous utilization. You give some great advice and I though it was a Great article! Just wanted to pass along my 2 cents.
Regards,
P.
It is so easy to agree with such a wise business man. You touched on so many points that could expounded ten fold.
Credit is only one attribute to watching the numbers. ROI is where I get my kicks watching the numbers. And employee performance is where Bulwark finds power in crunching numbers. In fact, a shameless plug, I just so happened to have written a post on “Pest Control by the Numbers” just a few days ago. Didn’t even realize you were ahead of me on this one.
But so goes the saying, “Great minds think alike.” =)
Did Pete Grasso hit you up yet for your “pest control blogger” interview?
Hi Thomas,
I’m truly amazed by Bulwark. Initially, I looked to local companies as models. Now I look to a select few companies across the country to emulate in one form or another. Bulwark is one. What is the background of the ownership, that they were so tuned into perform matrix earnings? FYI, shameless plugs are ok in my book. I am a strong believer in enlightened self-interest.
Pete has asked me about a blogger interview and of course I am very happy to oblige.
Sorry to wait so long to get back to this,… the owners of Bulwark all worked for a national pco as salesmen, 100% commissioned based. If you didn’t perform you didn’t get paid.
So their initial background brought in that same principle, pay for performance. What’s been amazing to me is how they have developed it. Creating a system that can monitor and reward those that perform based on numbers and averages. It isn’t always easy to quantify and tag a price to items that lend themselves to customer service and customer satisfaction. I mean what is the value of a smile? You should do customer service because you care, right? It’s the same argument I heard while going for a degree in education, “Do you teach the subject or teach to pass the AIMS test?” When it comes to services and business it is “how do you reward customer service?:. Do you monetarily reward it, or is it just an appreciation and the warm fuzz? J.D. Powers struggles with this question in his book on Satisfaction.