Monthly Archives

September 2020

Top Rodent Control Target Markets

By | Pest Business, Rodents, Tips & Inspirations, Uncategorized | No Comments

Knowing the top rodent control target markets can give you a leg up on your competition. There is a great need for rodent management in both residential and commercial settings. As a pest management professional, consider the following target audiences for your non-toxic rodent management offerings.

Rodent Control Target Markets - Mouse

Top 5 Rodent Control Target Markets

  1. Residential, single family homes – single family homes with children or pets are an ideal target for rodent control services.  Although rodents infest homes in the city and suburbs, homes near wooded areas may be under more pressure from rodent infestations.
  2. Property Management – housing managers of apartment complexes, condo associations and homeowner associations are responsible for ensuring a pest-free environment for their tenants. Rodent management is ideal as to ensure the safety of children and pets who may inhabit some units.
  3. Education Facilities – such as child-care facilities and elementary schools, colleges and universities are required to follow Integrated Pest Management (IPM) guidelines and use IPM rodent management techniques.
  4. Restaurants, Food Service & Food Processing Plants – rodent control is critical to restaurant operations. The food industry has very strict guidelines and no tolerance for rodents in their establishments. A rodent sighting in a restaurant can be extremely damaging to their reputation. Beyond that, rodents are dangerous pests known to carry food-borne pathogens and disease. Rodent management is critical to any restaurant and food establishment
  5. Warehouses – rodents can be very difficult to control in a large environment such as a warehouse but doing so is critically important in order to maintain a safe work environment for employees and ensure that products stored within the warehouse do not become contaminated from rodent pests.

Rodent Control Target Markets - Rat

Rodent control is important to many businesses but particularly to the one’s above. Keep these top rodent control target markets in mind as you develop your marketing materials!

Bobby Kossowicz is a content creator for the Catchmaster brand, learn more here: https://catchmasterpro.com/blog/bobby-kossowicz/

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

First, get more great content like this in your inbox – sign up for our mailing list here: https://catchmasterpro.com/join-email/

Next, learn more about our rodent management tools here: https://catchmasterpro.com/collection/rodent-management-tools/

Finally, learn more about your pest management professional options from the National Pest Management Association here: https://npmapestworld.org/

Mosquito Season Arbovirus Update

By | Mosquitoes, Tips & Inspirations | No Comments

In this 2020 mosquito season arbovirus update learn about the need to remain vigilant.

As Fall arrives in much of the United States and cooler temperatures prevail, there may be a tendency to minimize the threat posed by mosquitoes when in fact the opposite is true.  Several arthropod-borne viruses (known as ‘arboviruses’) transmitted by mosquitoes are still active. And the threat will continue until the first hard frost hits your area.

Mosquito Season Arbovirus Update - Map

2020 Arbovirus Update

At the time of this writing, there have been 49 cases of West Nile disease in humans in Miami, Florida.  Similarly, 26 cases of dengue fever in the upper Florida Keys.  Additionally, there have been 5 human cases of Eastern equine encephalomyelitis (EEE), 4 in Massachusetts and 1 in Wisconsin. Two human cases of Jamestown Canyon virus have been reported in New Hampshire. Finally, there has been a death from St. Louis encephalitis in California.

The current COVID-19 mayhem has impacted our national ability to monitor for mosquito-transmitted viruses.  Many surveillance programs, particularly at the state health department level, have been compromised as personnel, resources and funding have been redirected (and justifiably so) toward the pandemic response.  Additionally, practices such as social distancing and self-quarantining have reduced bodies in the workplace, where folks would be testing mosquito pools for viruses, as well as on the road, where folks would normally be out collecting the mosquitoes for testing or just doing mosquito control.  Overall, this has somewhat reduced the normal amount of information and knowledge we would have regarding the risk of mosquito-transmitted diseases.

Therefore, CAPT Stan implores you to not let your guard down as the seasons start to change.  Please follow CDC’s guidelines at the link below to help protect you and your family.  Thank you.

https://www.cdc.gov/zika/prevention/prevent-mosquito-bites.html

Captain Stan Cope (aka the Mosquito Man) is our Vice President of Technical Services and blogs frequently on mosquitoes. In addition to his social media content you can find his blog archives here: https://catchmasterpro.com/?s=captain+stan

Mosquito Season Arbovirus Update – Additional Resources

Get our free mosquito management program guide when you sign up for our e-mail list here: https://catchmasterpro.com/mosquito-management-program/

Get more content like this daily when you follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/catchmasterPRO/

Discover our full line of Catchmaster® mosquito management tools:  https://catchmasterpro.com/collection/mosquito-management-tools/

Finally, learn more about mosquitoes from the NPMA here: https://www.pestworld.org/pest-guide/mosquitoes/

Post-COVID Pest Management Tips

By | Pest Business, Rodents, Tips & Inspirations | No Comments

Navigate changing conditions with these Post-COVID pest management tips. Small businesses feel the impact of the pandemic, even six months in.  Pest control is an essential service but is still impacted via the customer base. Pest professionals report home and business owners suspended or reduced their contracts due to their own financial impacts. In other instances, concerned or immune-compromised clients refused indoor services.

Post-COVID Pest Management Tips - IPM

What are successful businesses concentrating focusing on in these times? Here are 3 tips that can help.

3 Post-COVID Pest Management Tips

  1. Businesses are being forced to digitize. To reduce or eliminate personal interaction, businesses must utilize technology like never before. From digital marketing to text and email communications with clients, businesses are feeling the impact. Those who already embraced technology are well ahead of the game while others are racing to catch up. Now more than ever technology can help your business to thrive in this new pandemic business climate. Lean on your software and marketing partners to take your business to the next level with technology.
  2. Capitalizing on commercial rodent work. Offices, hotels and restaurants sat vacant for months during quarantine.  As a result, rodent populations increased. The food source depletion prompted increased foraging ranges. Pest professionals are finding a high demand to control rodents, cockroaches, flies and more in this post-quarantine world. Ensure your business is ready to take on this demand and seek out commercial opportunities by communicating the on-going importance of pest control. This approach can work even when buildings stand vacant.
  3. Have safety policies in place and communicate them to your customer base. Safety takes on new meaning for pest control companies during a pandemic. Now is the time to put protocols in place when it comes to indoor pest services. Face masks, social distancing protocols and surveying your customer prior to service at the home or office are all things to be communicated. It ensures your customer is comfortable with your technicians in their home or place of business.

While these are trying times for businesses, they are also a time of opportunity. Stay positive and aggressive in your marketing efforts. Use this time to increase your business’ digital capabilities.

Bobby Kossowicz is a content creator for the Catchmaster brand, learn more here: https://catchmasterpro.com/blog/bobby-kossowicz/

Additional Resources

First, get more great content like this in your inbox – sign up for our mailing list here: https://catchmasterpro.com/join-email/

Next, learn more about our rodent management tools here: https://catchmasterpro.com/collection/rodent-management-tools/

Finally, learn more about your pest management professional options from the National Pest Management Association here: https://npmapestworld.org/

Catchmaster Pestimonial – ABES Pest Control

By | Pestimonials | No Comments

Catchmaster Pestimonial – ABES Pest Control

In this Catchmaster Pestimonial learn how company-branded insect monitors from Catchmaster are one of ABES Pest Control’s most effective marketing tools.

24/7 Business Cards

While Jeff King, president of ABES Pest Control, is an entomologist at heart, he’s also an accomplished businessman. That’s why this successful PMP with more than a quarter-century of industry experience appreciates it when an industry product supplier like Catchmaster not only offers a wide array of quality products, but also provides sales and marketing support.

King grew up on a small family farm in rural Indiana, pulling weeds and bailing hay for 50 cents an hour, before graduating high school and heading off to Ball State University to study business. Eager to expand his horizons, King left college after two years and joined the U.S. Air Force, studying meteorology before transferring to an entomology program, where he embarked on what would become his life’s work.

“I was stationed at Beale Air Force Base in the Sacramento Valley for four years where I learned about Pacific Coast termites, snakes and a number of other pests,” he said. “It was a great training ground for me.”

Catchmaster Pestimonial - ABES Pest Control - Stockroom

The Start of a Career in Pest Control

Following his military career, King returned to the “Hoosier State” in 1985 to join Pest Doctor Systems, rising through the ranks of the company to become part owner. Then, in 1999, he and wife Gena decided to venture out on their own, moving to Northern Kentucky to launch ABES Pest Control (Absolute Best Exterminating Service).

“We started from scratch and worked out of our house for several years,” Jeff says of those early days. “Now we have an office, several techs and a CSR, but we’re still maintaining that small, family business image that is dedicated to personal service and customer retention.”

Not surprisingly, a major reason for the company’s success is Jeff and Gena’s business acumen, which has allowed them to support a number of families and put two children through college. In fact, before deciding to relocate to Florence, Ky., home of ABES Pest Control, they did a demographic study of Boone County, which had grown in population by 50 percent between 1990 and 1999. “We knew it was growing rapidly and residents were going to need pest control,” Jeff says, “so it was the perfect place to start a pest control business at that time.”

Growth Supported by Suppliers

Another reason the company has grown so quickly is the support of product suppliers like Catchmaster. King describes the company’s insect monitors as “great advertising tools” that have “generated lots of compliments since I started using them two years ago.” Jeff says he uses the monitors liberally to assess insect pressure in both residential and commercial accounts. “You try to keep them discreet, but customers see the name of our company printed on the devices and it reminds them of our company on a daily basis,” he says.

Jeff also has found a creative, high-profile way to use the custom monitors, which he purchases by the pallet from longtime sales rep Dave Johnson, to promote his business. “I take them to networking meetings and I hand them out to my business colleagues,” he says. “There’s a small upcharge for purchasing the branded insect monitors in volume, but it’s well worth the investment. It’s like a glueboard business card!”

Catchmaster Pestimonial - ABES Pest Control - Product

While the year of COVID-19 has been challenging for everyone involved in the pest control industry, King says his business has weathered the storm thanks to a solid termite season, a steady increase in residential service calls, and a rebounding commercial market, the latter of which has been driven by the enhanced visibility of company-branded insect monitors. “We’ve been blessed,” he says.

Thank you to our friends at PCT Magazine (http://www.pctonline.com) for the article.

Catchmaster Pestimonial – Additional Resources

Get more content like this daily when you follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/catchmasterPRO/

Sign up for our mailing list here: https://catchmasterpro.com/join-email/

Learn more about private label products from our sell sheet located here:  https://catchmasterpro.com/sell-sheets/

Check out additional Catchmaster Pestimonials here: https://catchmasterpro.com/?s=pestimonial

Finally, learn more about pests from the NPMA here: https://www.pestworld.org/pest-guide/

Top 5 Marketing Tactics for Your Rodent Service

By | Pest Business, Rodents, Tips & Inspirations | No Comments

These top 5 marketing tactics for your rodent service can be vital to your success. Whether you are just starting out or perfecting your service, these 5 simple tips can help your business grow right now.

Top 5 Marketing Tactics for Your Rodent Service

Top 5 Marketing Tactics for Your Rodent Service - Knowledge

  1. Understand your market– Take a close look at the competitors in your area that are offering rodent services. Become familiar with your competitor’s service offerings and develop your own value proposition. Clearly explain why your service is more valuable to your clients.
  2. Advertise – What media does your target audience consume? In other words which websites do they visit or which magazines do they read for information? Where do they go to search for service providers? These are the places you will want to place advertisements for your services.
  3. Add Value – look for ways to offer value to your target audience.  Consider emailing them a rodent management eBook or a sample of private label glue boards branded with your logo. Include tips for placement to protect their home or business from rodents. Consider offering a free inspection service and follow-up with a rodent management plan to attack their problem.
  4. Focus on the customer experience – train your employees to go above and beyond with an account. Take time to talk with customers about ways they can reduce rodent activity on their property. Follow-up ensuring your service tactics are working. Finally, ask for a testimonial that you can use online and in your marketing pieces to help new customers feel confident in your services.
  5. Own the referral – once you have a happy customer don’t be afraid to ask for their referral and train your employees to do the same.  Offer the customer something of value, like a free treatment or percentage off their next service in exchange for their referral.  Remember, if you don’t ask the answer is always no!

Top 5 Marketing Tactics for Your Rodent Service - Referral

Bobby Kossowicz is a content creator for the Catchmaster brand, learn more here: https://catchmasterpro.com/blog/bobby-kossowicz/

Additional Resources

First, get more great content like this in your inbox – sign up for our mailing list here: https://catchmasterpro.com/join-email/

Next, learn more about our rodent management tools here: https://catchmasterpro.com/collection/rodent-management-tools/

Finally, learn more about your pest management professional options from the National Pest Management Association here: https://npmapestworld.org/