[PCT On The Road] Going from 'Good To Great'

While the industry’s top pest management professionals have all taken different
 paths, these individuals have drawn upon their successes and failures in the process of taking their companies from good to great.

Many of the industry’s most prominent PCOs traveled to Ft. Lauderdale in December and shared their experiences with one another as part of the Good to Great conference, sponsored by Bayer Environmental Science and the National Pest Management Association.

The idea for the conference was born last year when a group of PCOs, including Victor Hammel, J.C. Ehrlich; Harvey Massey, Massey Services; and Glen Rollins, Orkin; were brought together to develop an innovative business management conference. Among the ideas discussed was bringing in author Jim Collins, whose book Good to Great has proven to be an important management resource for many business owners, including those in the pest management industry. Although not able to land Collins, the group constructed a conference in which leading PCOs shared how they’ve become successful by adhering to many of the same principles discussed in the book Good to Great.

Rollins, Hammel and Massey kicked off the conference by relating important turning points in their careers. For Rollins, president of Orkin, Atlanta, Ga., a key turning point came while managing a troubled Orkin branch in Texas. Rollins’ time spent with a veteran service technician helped him gain a fresh perspective on this person’s job as well as this technician’s perceptions of Orkin as an employer.

Hammel, president of J.C. Ehrlich, Reading, Pa., and a third-generation PCO, said one of his defining moments was when he learned to “let go.” In his early days as president of Ehrlich, Hammel said he was overly involved in almost every aspect of the business. He discovered that this management style would not allow for rapid growth and could very well lead to burn out. Hammel then changed his approach, targeting successful people and giving them the opportunity to grow.

Massey, president and CEO of Massey Services, Orlando, Fla., has had the unique opportunity to work in high-level management positions at both Orkin and Terminix and these experiences were two of his turning points. Other important turning points for Massey included purchasing Walker Chemical & Exterminating in 1985 and then going against conventional thinking and renaming the company after himself. By adopting the name Massey and dropping words like “chemical” and “exterminating,” the company responded to the changing environmental climate and also shifted the focus to its people and services.

Other highlights from the conference included the following presentations:

• Bob Wanzer, president of HomeTeam Pest Defense, Dallas, Texas, gave a presentation titled “Learning From Your Past.” As part of his presentation, Wanzer shared with attendees the “Seven Deadly Sins” of management. For example, Wanzer said it was important not to become too enthralled with the “soup of the day.” In other words, don’t adopt every new management fad. Pick and choose those that best fit your company’s corporate environment.
• Albert Cantu, president and COO of Terminix International, spoke on the topic “Understanding Your Customers’ Needs.” Cantu described how Terminix studies all of its relevant consumer research in order to hone its “go-to-market” strategy. For example, Terminix uses syndicated research that measures consumer sentiment, buying behavior, consumer buying habits and trends. The company monitors how events like the recent national election and the situation in the Middle East affect people’s moods and buying behaviors.
• Harden Blackwell, Terminix Company, and Tommy Fortson, Terminix Service, spoke on the topic of “Universal Technicians,” meaning technicians that perform both general pest control and termite services. At their companies, this type of technician is referred to as a “keyman.” Blackwell and Fortson outlined several benefits of using “keymen,” most notably the ability to develop technicians with a broad knowledge of sales and service of all aspects of pest and termite control, which creates the greatest opportunity for cross-selling.
• James Allgood of Allgood Pest Solutions and D.R. Sapp of Florida Pest Control and Chemical Co., both active with regulatory issues in Georgia and Florida, respectively, spoke on the topic of “Consumer & Regulatory Outreach.” Both Allgood and Sapp stressed the importance of developing good relationships with their regulators. Sapp noted how efforts by pest management professionals in Florida helped rewrite the Florida Building Code, requiring the homebuilder to have new homes treated for termites.
• Mike Rottler of Rottler Pest & Lawn Solutions and Bobby Jenkins of ABC Pest & Lawn Services gave presentations on “Seizing New Opportunities.” Both Rottler and Jenkins used a strategy whereby they didn’t pursue every idea that crossed their desk, but pursued ideas that were synergistic to their businesses. For example, Rottler added holiday lighting in 1999 and he said that the company’s technicians enjoy doing the installations and that Rottler sales representatives like the fact they can make sales during the fourth quarter, a traditionally slow period in the company’s area of St. Louis, Mo. Jenkins stressed to attendees the importance of offering mosquito control services. He said if pest control companies do not take advantage of this market opportunity, others will. Jenkins also warned against challenges of offering lawn services, namely that his experience was that pest control technicians generally make “lousy” lawn technicians and pest control salespeople generally make “lousy” lawn care salespeople.

In addition to these presentations and many networking opportunities, the conference included a “dine around,” in which all of the speakers rotated among the dinner tables. Attendees also had the opportunity to visit Bayer’s Mobile University. (See related story on page 66.)

The author is Internet editor of www.pctonline.com. He can be reached at bharbison@giemedia.com. 

Good To Great: Co-worker Retention
An important focus during the Good to Great conference was on co-worker retention. These topics were addressed by a number of speakers, including Victor Hammel, president, J.C. Ehrlich, Reading, Pa.

As part of his presentation titled “Building Co-Worker Loyalty,” Hammel stressed how Ehrlich’s emphasis on coworker selection is critical to its employee retention efforts. Hammel provided attendees with the following tips for selecting coworkers:
• Hire the smile — look for people who like people.
• Hire people who care.
• Hire hard; manage easy — spend the time to hire the right person and then you don’t have to spend as much time supervising that person. “We don’t want to micromanage good people and good people don’t want to be micromanaged,” Hammel says.
• Avoid the “halo effect” — don’t just hire someone who is a good person. The person must be right for the job. You’ve got to get a square peg into a square hole, and a round peg into a round hole. “The biggest single mistake we make is hiring good people,” Hammel says. “Rarely do we hire bad people. We hire the wrong people very often.”

Hammel says that a trap Ehrlich and others fall into is “falling in love with a person during the interview process” and not finding out if the person is really suited for the job. One management resource tool Ehrlich uses is personality and aptitude profiling.

Hammel says that Ehrlich’s assessment of these tests, as well as past experiences, have found that there are four personality traits that make for successful technicians: dominance, low patience (which Ehrlich refers to as a high sense of urgency), extroversion and conformity. The most important of these traits are extroversion and conformity.

• Extroversion — Ehrlich wants people that are highly extroverted. Hammel says Ehrlich doesn’t want candidates to test out too high for extroversion — because these people will socialize too much on the job — but Ehrlich wants candidates that test slightly high to moderately high for extroversion.
• Conformity — J.C. Ehrlich actually looks for people who are not strict conformists. Although they want technicians who will adhere to company rules, they want technicians that like and can handle change.

For sales representatives J.C. Ehrlich uses a custom-designed personality test. The most critical requirements are people with high energy levels and the ability to deal with rejection.