[On The Road] PCOs Exchange Success Secrets at Good to Great II

What do you get when you bring together 225 leading PCOs and industry professionals? The answer: A stimulating exchange of ideas and business strategies, which was the goal of Good to Great II, a business conference sponsored by the National Pest Management Association and Bayer Environmental Science, held last month in Las Vegas.
Good to Great II was the sequel to last year’s conference, which was modeled after Jim Collins’ best-selling book “Good to Great.” At this year’s conference, leaders of top pest control companies reviewed many of the business management principles discussed in “Good to Great” and shared how their companies have followed these practices. In addition, PCOs had numerous opportunities to network with one another. In keeping with that goal, Steve Burt, managing director, Professional Pest Management, Bayer Environmental Science, encouraged active attendee participation. “Ask as many questions as you like,” Burt said. “At last year’s conference, once people started asking questions that is when we started pulling on a thread and stuff got interesting. Give your views and your experiences and compare and contrast them with the speakers.”

FROM THE SPEAKERS. Mark Jarvis, CEO of The Steritech Group, Charlotte, N.C., reviewed many of Collins’ key points in “Good to Great” during his presentation titled “Better Than Great.” Jarvis outlined Collins’ 7 Principles for Success, including the “First who…then what” principle, which stresses the importance of hiring the right people. “The ‘Good to Great’ leaders began transforming their companies by getting the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off the bus) and then figuring out where to drive it,” Jarvis said.
Jarvis shared with attendees Steritech’s approach to hiring and retaining quality employees. For example, Steritech will not hire someone just because he or she is “the best of a bad lot,” Jarvis said. Rather, Steritech will wait until the right candidate comes along, even if this means that existing managers/salespeople will have to take on additional responsibilities for a period of time. Conversely, Jarvis said that there have been occasions when Steritech had no job openings but were so enamored with certain candidates that they hired these individuals and found positions for them.
Jarvis added that the DISC 2 personality profiling test is a tool that Steritech has found useful for determining if a potential candidate is a good fit for the company.
Tim Hulett and Greg Rice of Hulett Environmental Services,West Palm Beach, Fla., and Tom Walters, vice president and general manager, Western Pest Services/Orkin Pest Control, Parsippany, N.J., gave a presentation titled “Effectively Connecting with 21st Century Customers Through Marketing.”
Walters reviewed how Western’s marketing approach has adapted to the ever-changing marketing landscape. For example, Western ran a successful TV campaign for its residential pest services using the slogan “Your Home Deserves Western.” The company then felt it needed a more personalized message and chose a new slogan “Western Works for Me.”
Hulett Environmental Services has distinguished itself from competitors by airing humorous TV commercials. One of its earliest successful slogans was “Only windshields kill more bugs than we do.” Hulett’s marketing success is largely attributed to Greg and John Rice, who wrote, produced and starred in a series of humorous commercials.
Speakers also stressed how important it is for leaders to “set the tone” within their companies. Mike Katz, president of Western Exterminator, and Jamie Ogle, president and CEO of Lloyd Pest Control, both said they have worked hard to follow through on their founders’ visions.
“I did not develop the culture of Western Exterminator Co. I landed on their doorstep in 1979. They were already a company with a strong existing culture,” Katz recalled. “There were certain things that attracted me (to the company) immediately. I was very impressed by the very, very high ethical standards of the organization. It felt like a good fit right from the beginning for me.”
Ogle said new Lloyd employees are taught the company’s history in addition to being provided with its mission statement.
 Other speakers at Good to Great II included:
• Terminix International President Katrina Helmkamp
• Terminix Service Co. President Ed Martin Jr.
• ABC Pest, Pool & Lawn Services President Raleigh Jenkins
• Chuck Steinmetz, former owner/president, Middleton Pest Control and All America Termite and Pest Control
• Modern Pest Services’ President Richard Stevenson Sr.
• Sprague Pest Solutions’ Alfie Treleven
• Home Paramount’s Brad Chalk