Is Pest Control Year Round?

I thought all the bugs just died in the winter.

Author

Casey McDaniel
September 26, 2024

Why do you come quarterly?

Surely you don’t come to my house in the winter, right?

What are you treating for in the winter? All the bugs are dead.

These are the questions that my sales reps, office staff, and myself have to deal with every time we sign someone up and especially from October-March. So, why do we perform a service during the 4th quarter of the year? Is it a total money grab?

Of course not. As much as I want to have a profitable company with great margins, I am not willing to scam customers just to make an extra dollar. Our winter service is actually one of our most important services during the year.

When it gets cold, pests begin to “overwinter” or hibernate. Instead of being out in the yard or around the foundation, they get into the gaps and cracks around the home and do their best to get into the inside of the home where it is warm and where they can access food, water, and shelter.

This is when I take advantage of this opportunity. The bugs are literally bunched together making a treatment during this time super effective. If we can knock down the pests during the winter, there are far fewer left in the spring time to breed and reproduce and it leads to less of a pest explosion when it warms up.

So now that you understand the need for this service, let’s take a look at how much it benefits my business.

Year Round Labor

A seasonal business hires seasonal employees. These are usually people with less skills. That effects the quality of the service. By providing yea round services, I can afford to hire people who are looking for a career rather than just a job. I don’t have to search for new labor every spring as it warms up. Customers can get used to seeing the same familiar faces at every appointment.

More Profit

Obviously, if I am pumping out more revenue, I am pumping out more profit. We are a business. A for profit enterprise. I make more money by providing more services.

Interior Treatments

Interior treatments are necessary from time to time. In the winter, we can focus more on heavily on the interior and doing exclusion work for mice and rats. This work keeps my guys busy. Even if I didn’t make a dime during this quarter, breaking even would mean my guys have jobs and I can keep talented labor employed all year long.

Year Round Guarantee

A 365 day guarantee sounds a lot better than “we come and spray your house from April-October".”

Payment Options

Seasonal plans usually run about $600 for the summer and they include more frequent treatments. We can offer a quarterly service which is plenty frequent in our markets, charge the same amount of money, and break the payments for these services down into 12 monthly payments rather than payments.

We also have commercial clients. An apartment complex will get ants and roaches all winter long. If your company shuts down when it gets cold, you won’t get much commercial work. Restaurants, warehouses, and and other commercial buildings need us to come out just as frequently through the winter as we do through the summer.

Pro tip:

Commercial buildings have bigger issues. They have more foot traffic, inventory, cardboard boxes being shipped in, and overall more activity. They are also much larger and dirtier than the common home. Due to these factors, we typically service commercial buildings monthly rather than quarterly.

Also, businesses usually do their budgets during the 4th quarter of the year. Cold calling during this quarter will yield much higher results than any other time of the year. You might think summer = bugs. In reality, businesses need to keep costs in check and they are more likely to switch in November than they are in June.

Do any of these cities surprise you?

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