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.”
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!”
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.