As a technology-driven company, Zeneca Professional Products understands the value of innovation. So it’s not too surprising that when it came time to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Demon TC Insecticide, the company utilized cutting-edge CD-ROM technology to educate customers about the history, performance and present-day value of the widely used termiticide.
Called the “Demon TC Challenge,” the CD project was led by Jeff Alvis, marketing manager, and Karen Dalton, communications manager, in collaboration with Quorum Inc., an ad agency with strong ties to the pest control industry. “It was a challenging project,” Quorum President Bill Nimtz, a former Zeneca sales representative, said. “The technology offered some obvious benefits to the company’s sales staff.”
The CD took three months to produce and comes with a 16-page user’s manual featuring complete installation instructions. Minimum system requirements include a 133 MHz-compatible personal computer, Microsoft Windows 95, 16 meg of RAM and a sound card. Once the program is accessed, PCOs are provided a wide array of solid product information in a visually stimulating format. Topics covered in the CD include:
Other program elements include a soil classification table; a discussion of 15 reasons why termite jobs fail; information about soil dissipation, water solubility and adsorption; comparative product data; and an overview of Zeneca’s “1999 PCO Marketing Services Program.”
The CD also features a screen where pest control operators can enter financial information to generate cost comparisons between Demon TC and other currently available termiticides. “It’s both an educational and sales tool,” says Alvis, pest control marketing manager for Zeneca Professional Products, Wilmington, Del. “Our sales reps have gotten a very good response from PCOs who have seen the program.”
A distributor version of the CD also has been created. “It contains a lot of the same information, but addresses issues of importance to industry product suppliers,” Alvis says.
“One of the reasons we decided to present this information in a CD is Demon TC has been on the market for more than 10 years, so we have a lot of data on the product,” says Dr. William McClellan, national technical manager for Zeneca Professional Products. “Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to present this data in an easy-to-understand format. By using CD technology, we’re able to cover a large, diverse database in a 30- to 45-minute presentation.”
Bill Cox, director of Management Information Systems at Pest Control Technology magazine, agrees that CDs are an efficient way to present complex information in a user-friendly fashion. “CD technology is exploding,” he says. “In the past few years, third-party programs have become available that make putting together these types of presentations much easier and more cost effective than in the past. You can fit a lot more information on a CD than on a floppy disc, including sophisticated graphics and video, so it’s becoming increasingly popular.”
While the cost of creating a sales presentation or promotional package on CD is not insignificant, it’s a technology that is likely to be attractive to the industry’s “high-end” accounts (i.e., food processing plants, health care facilities, major hotel chains, national retailers, etc.), according to Cox.
“While the production costs are high, the cost of actually ‘burning’ the CDs is very affordable, depending on the number ordered,” he says. “It’s also a way for PCOs to differentiate themselves from the competition when interacting with their most important clients.”
“It definitely gets the customer’s attention,” Alvis adds.
To get more information on or to review a copy of “The Demon TC Challenge,” contact your local Zeneca sales representative.
Explore the June 1999 Issue
Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read.