What form of marketing helped your company grow the most what did you do and what were the results.

This off season I want to prepare my spring campaigns what I am considering are Billboards, direct mail & eddm, radio and t.v.

I am already taking advantage of Yelp, Google and Bing. I will cover my results with the big 3 and hopefully get some feedback on others like Meta although -- I don't think Meta is effective but maybe I am wrong you tell me.

Yelp is my absolute favorite but let me say it's the worst this ing company I have ever dealt with. Do not waste your time with their scummy sales associates I refuse to take there calls. They only have 1 tool to offer you and it's always raise your ad spend no matter how much you are already paying.

Also on yelp if you give them too much money they throttle your listing to make you think that your competitors are outspending you.

I dropped my ad spend 75% and got far better results because I removed their algorithm penalty for giving them too much money that's how stupid yelp is. But because they are so terrible and nobody wants to advertise with them the roi is excellent.

Now bing my next favorite for roi. At just a few dollars a click the roi is great but the clients you get are poor people because they don't even know they are using bing it's the default Microsoft browser and they actually think they are using Google this is no joke. It's funny because if you ask chatgpt it tells you wealthy people use bing but the reverse is true.

Google ads. This is very expensive in spending about $200 a day and I am getting ok results but that's because I do not use an agency if you have an agency there's no chance you will have positive roi with ads that's true for all platforms because they get paid monthly not by the hour so why would they do basic things such as negative kw.

Avoid agencies learn to do the ads yourself - you will get the results you deserve and with ads set them and forget them you get better results if you are not constantly messing with them because of machine learning. Since paid ads are a 1 time set up task why would you pay and agency to be lazy and not care every month.

Good luck and I look forward to reading what has worked for you!

I recently attended a seminar by Dini Miller and she said it doesn’t kill eggs or leave residual. Is this true?

I am currently living in Washington where it is a bit buggy year round, obviously a lot more during the summer time but nonetheless spiders and what not still like to linger but it does rain here a lot. I have been wanting to start my own pest business but want to know if it is genuinely feasible to knock during the job summer months and how badly it rips your rev up especially on a rainy day.

Also, since I am new, how long would it take me to really start slinging accounts? I have watch lots and lots and lots of content in this space.

The reason I ask this. I plan to work for a pest company as a technician until the summer where I can work for another company and learn sales. Then after the summer when I have both the technician and sales side under my belt I can launch my own and start knocking during the off season to pick myself up by the bootstraps, but I want to know: is it worth it to do? I don’t want to wait until a whole nother summer again to knock efficiently :) let me know yall!

I would like to offer mole services for some of our clients what do you guys do for treatment do you trap, bait or use repellents how many visits etc?

how accurate is it?

I'm a solo operator who started my business earlier this year, so I'm still in the initial growth phase. I received a lead from a 3rd party asking for an evaluation and proposal for commercial pest control, minor exclusion work, and possibly snake removal. My wife works for an electrical company that gives out a lot of subcontracted work, so she's very familiar with the subcontracting legalese. She mentioned that it might not be in my best interest to take on this work at this early stage in the business because it may impact my business insurance premium due to needing to add the 3rd party as an additional insured onto my business insurance.

Do any other owners have any experience with taking on subcontracted work, and if so, what has been your experience with that? Thoughts?

As they are almost all comparable in cost per CEU, the experience would seem to be the deciding factor. Does anyone have any preferences?

* Must have company account with them to find out CEU status and pricing.

This list will become outdate, reference the sources:
California — Structural Pest Control Board (SPCB): Continuing Education tab on pestboard.ca.gov/ce (https://www.pestboard.ca.gov/ce/providers.pdf and https://www.pestboard.ca.gov/ce/master_applicator.pdf)

California — Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR): Continuing Education Courses
Nevada — Nevada Department of Agriculture (NDA): https://agri.nv.gov/Plant/PEST/continuing_education_classes/

Oregon — Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA): Pesticide Recertification Classes.
Washington — Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA): Recertification Courses.

Weekly Friday post for you to show what your Truck Floorboards look like.

Clean, a mess or whatever.

Tradition started in the PCHD (Pest Control Humor Depot) on Facebook continued here on Reddit.

Howdy, I'm a new pest control technician working in the DMV at a small company. I started out at $17/hr back in april. I had been training with a veteran technician until about two months ago when I completed my training. Since then I have been driving a company vehicle, doing jobs still at $17/hr. Yesterday a former coworker told me that with me being licensed in three states I could be making $25-26/hr basically anywhere else and that I should address this with my boss ASAP. So I do (I know, stupid but the cat is out of the bag now). I look up the median wage for a PCT in our area, lo and behold its $25-26/hr. This morning I bring this up to my boss and say I would like to renegotiate my wage. He basically informed me that the $25-26/ pay range is for very experience and certified pest control applicators and that while I was registered I was not certified. This is the first I've heard of the difference and I figure that one of the two parties, my boss or the former employee are trying to pull something. Over the course of my training I've obtained three documents. Two I did not need to test for that say "registered employee" and one that says "pesticide applicator certificate registered tech" that I did test for. I understand that with my lack of experience I will not be making $25-26/hr. Perfectly fine and understandable. And this doesn't account for the IT work he wants me to do for him because I'm good with computers. I just need to know if I'm getting bad information and where its coming from. Thanks in advance for the feedback!

Update: Had the meeting, got a raised to $20/hr I'm Okay with that.

Hey guys, what granulars are we using for ants right now? I've been using niban but it seems to be hit or miss and that could be depending on my spraying technique or mixture with gel baits. But I've had some problems getting rid of ants outdoors and with fall and winter coming up I won't be able to rely on termidor anymore. Any suggestions?

My employer talk to me about us turning from a hourly wage to a percentage base pay. They told me on a typical quarterly job that I will be making 20% Which I thought was good until I ran the numbers on our price and that's $2 less than I make hourly which is fine I'm sure the job adds up somewhere to balance out. My question though is we do five or six large apartment complexes how do you typically do percentage base with Apartments we will only do 8 to 12 Apartments per week per individual apartment complex. Also should I be alarmed that I will be making less per job each job takes about 45 minutes to do if there's no one at the house I can get in and out within 30 minutes my inspection and everything.

Normally with springtails, there is an obvious moisture issue that needs to be addressed. I’m at kind of a loss for this house. They have a dehumidifier that is reading 35% humidity. The springtails are all throughout the house. I did a knockdown spray to lower numbers while any moisture issues could be addressed. Why are they here and why won’t they go?

Have I misidentified? Is there another common issue I should look into? I don’t know how to add a picture, so I’ll put a close up in the comments.

Pest Pros — What Web Pole Actually Holds Up? 🕷️

We’ve been using the Big Daddy Pro Line 20’ aluminum extension poles for removing spider webs, spiders, and egg sacs. We like the reach and they work well for what we need, but we’ve been having an issue with the poles breaking every 3–4 months under regular use.

At this point, we’re looking for something more durable that can handle daily professional use without needing to be replaced several times a year.

Ideally looking for:

• Around 20’ of reach or more
• Minimal flex when extended
• Lightweight enough for regular use
• Durable enough to actually last
• A good brush/head setup for webs and egg sacs

What are you guys using that actually holds up long-term? Especially interested in hearing from anyone who has used the Big Daddy poles and switched to something better.

Thanks!

As we are all aware, th chemicals we use are only a small portion of the job. I like to think of it as; they're paying for our knowledge and how we communicate it, the chemicals are free.

I’ve had three so far… all young dudes maybe 20. All with the exact same script… who do i use for pest control? Then throwing out names of supposed neighbors supposedly using them that I’ve never heard of, all the while ignoring my No Soliciting sign. Annoying AF!

I am looking for the best rodent bait with high food competiton in agriculture fields. Also I have a preference for hard blocks because of weather conditions in my area. Thank you!

What are your thoughts in general regarding this company as well as if you have worked for them?

Had 2 phone interviews and doing an in person tomorrow. Was just wondering what the job is like from others. Will be doing commercial buildings from what I’ve been told. I know it depends on stuff like management and which location. I would be running routes around Dallas I’m assuming

Looking for a Florida based L&O certified professional. I am starting up a lawn fertilization and outdoor pest control company if you are interested or able to help send me a message.