To protect the health, food and property of their customers, PMPs are not able to stay at home; instead they are on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis, performing essential pest control services throughout North America. How have they done it? Through personal sacrifice and doing what successful entrepreneurs always do, adapting quickly to rapidly changing market conditions and evolving as a business.

While challenging days, no doubt, still lie ahead, the advent of spring is about new beginnings; flowers start blooming, termites begin swarming and customers become aware of increased pest activity around their homes and businesses. But this industry is no stranger to challenges, and one thing is for certain, our pest control partners always rise to the occasion.

On behalf of BASF, let me send my sincere gratitude for your continued support, strength and market commitment in the face of adversity. And let me reassure you that we at BASF will not waver in our commitment to your success either. Our #1 priority has always been and will remain to deliver on the promise of providing a comprehensive portfolio of high-quality pest control solutions designed to grow your profit potential and ensure your success.

Towards that end, we’re proud of the contributions of the Trelona^® ATBS Annual Bait Stations, Advance® Termite Bait System and Termidor^® HE termiticide, the most trusted name in termite control. BASF is leading the fight against termites with best-in-class insecticides and termiticides, as well as technologically advanced injection, monitoring and baiting systems. Whether your specific area is residential, commercial, pre-construction or post-construction, BASF has the products with a proven track record of success and the people with your best interests at heart.

Although the pandemic requires us to keep our physical distance from one another, our sincere hope is we will come out of this closer than ever through a spirit of understanding, support and solidarity. Let’s stay strong together!

Kind regards,

Dave Poling

Manager, Regional Marketing

BASF Professional & Specialty Solutions

A supergene is a collection of neighboring genes located on a chromosome that are inherited together due to close genetic linkage. Studying these unique genes is important to understanding the potential causes for differences among the social structure of fire ants, specifically for controlling the species and building upon the existing knowledge base.

Researchers focused on young queen fire ants embarking on nuptial flights. They compared the supergene’s impact on the fire ants’ two primary types of social structures: monogyne, which is reproduction from queens that form a new nest, and pologyne, reproduction from queens that join an existing nest.

Ross initially worked alongside colleagues in his lab to discover a remarkable example of genetically encoded differences in social organization within the fire ant species Solenopsis invicta. The next step was to understand how these genetic differences result in complex behavioral and physiological variations among ants from single queen colonies versus colonies with multiple queens. Compounding this knowledge helps scientists further understand patterns of development in the species, increasing alternatives to combat invasive populations.

Led by a pair of UGA entomology graduate alumni, Joanie King, who earned her master’s degree in 2017, and Samuel Arsenault, who earned his doctoral degree in 2020, the team developed an experimental design that utilized a collection of samples from two fire ant organs — brain and ovarian tissues — and the complete range of social chromosome genotypes and social forms within this fire ant species.

The study incorporated various scientific methods, leading to a collaboration of tools and resources throughout many different areas of the institution.

“UGA was a very supportive environment to conduct this research,” said Brendan Hunt, associate professor of entomology. “We received help preparing samples for RNA- sequencing from Dr. Bob Schmitz’s lab in the genetics department, performed the sequencing at the Georgia Genomics and Bioinformatics Core, and utilized computational resources from the Georgia Advanced Computing Resource Center to analyze the data.”

These types of student-led projects give young researchers the chance to grow in a hands-on environment with mentorship and guidance from scientists with proven track records in the field.

“The graduate students gained experience that helped them transition to the next stages of their careers,” said Hunt. “Both have gone on to continue their studies of ant genetics.”

After earning their degrees and completing the research at UGA, King began pursuing a doctorate at Texas A&M University to study alongside Edward Vargo, and Arsenault works as a postdoctoral researcher with Harvard University’s Buck Trible Lab.

Source: Sean Montgomery/University of Georgia College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences News

The pest management industry’s adoption of technology grows every day. Whether it is remote monitoring for pests, onboarding a new employee or completing service reports, the operational efficiencies, cost savings and speed at which companies are embracing technology and pivoting to meet current needs is impressive.

At the National Pest Management Association’s Technology Summit in December 2019, a panel of industry professionals discussed and shared best practices when it comes to employee engagement and retention using technology. Little did they know at the time how valuable that information would prove to be.

One of the panelists, Julie Fredlund, director of technology/ office operations for ABC Home & Commercial Services in Austin, Texas, knows first-hand what it takes for a company to shift on a dime. As such, the firm was able to adjust to a new reality, which included the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABC Home & Commercial has long been an early adopter of technology and had a strong digital infrastructure in place to meet the challenges of shifting office employees to work from home and to continue to deliver vital services to customers. While most of the company’s software is cloud-based, the immediate challenge last year was related to hardware and connectivity.

Employees used their own ISPs, gateways and equipment, but some were not quite up to speed to run the company’s demanding software. “Our I.T. department visited each office person’s home, in all of our locations, and conducted a complete technology analysis to ensure they were working optimally,” says Fredlund. “In some cases, we issued the employee a laptop to use from home, additional monitors and tweaked routers as needed.”

On the customer-facing side, the process was a little easier since ABC already had paperless systems in place prior to the pandemic. This made it much easier for the company to accommodate and interact with customers.

“Since we were already primarily communicating with our customers electronically, there wasn’t much to change in that capacity,” says Fredlund. “The groundwork was already complete, we just needed to alter what we already had in place to educate customers on our COVID-19 policies and expectations.”

ABC and Fredlund did notice a significant uptick in demand for online assistance from customers, particularly relating to the chat feature on the company’s website. The chat function had been in place since 2019 but when the pandemic crisis grew, ABC encouraged customers to engage with the company online instead of over the phone.

How significant was the increase? In February, ABC had 554 chat conversations but by May that number exploded to more than 3,700.

“We promoted the feature to our customers via email in April and we’ve seen usage grow significantly since then,” says Fredlund. “Customers have been turning to our website, chat feature or text options for new service inquiries as well as scheduling and billing questions.”

Before the pandemic ABC had one person monitoring the website chat during business hours. To handle the increased volume the company now has two groups of monitors — one from operations and one from marketing — as well as an after-hours monitor.

“It is a great example of teamwork between marketing, operations and I.T. to pull this off and make it successful,” says Fredlund. “Not only have we been able to maintain our customer service levels but we’ve actually seen sales activity coming through the chat feature.”

ENGAGING THE ABC TEAM. The more challenging part of the pandemic for ABC was keeping both the office and field staffs engaged.

“We recognized the need for human interaction, and promoted video meetings, as opposed to emails, phone calls and collaboration boards, as much as possible,” says Fredlund. “We made one-on-one meetings a priority, along with additional group meetings.”

Fredlund says transitioning to video meetings was uncomfortable for many at first, but over time it became more natural.

The company’s monthly meetings also went virtual with hundreds of employees watching on their phones, tablets and laptops rather than being in person. The company’s weekly meetings are now prerecorded and posted to YouTube so employees can watch them anytime.

Keeping morale up and continuing to promote ABC’s deeply engrained culture was another challenge the company faced.

“We had to get a bit creative on how to keep employees engaged and connected to maintain our culture and sense of belonging,” says Fredlund. “We leveraged technology as much as possible to maintain connections.”

Management encouraged employees to connect electronically by having them share pictures of their home office space or their pets or by participating in online polls like, “Where is the best enchilada in town?”

The company’s longtime anteater logo also played a role in the connection process. ABC created a virtual “Meet the Anteater” feature that helped employees get to know each other a bit better. Each employee was asked to create a 30- to 60- second video introducing themselves, sharing their job position and experiences at ABC, and giving some insight into their hobbies and interests.

The videos were posted on the ABC “Community” page through Paylocity, and several were highlighted during weekly meetings.

“Making people feel less isolated was the inspiration behind the ‘Meet the Anteater’ but this will certainly become a part of the company culture long after the pandemic is over,” adds Fredlund.

In addition to maintaining social and cultural aspects, ABC used technology to help with training. They encouraged technicians and inspectors to take photos of safety hazards they observed while on the job. The photos are typically shared and discussed at the in-person weekly meeting but during the pandemic ABC asked technicians to share the photos through email with their teams.

“Normally if a technician found a snake in a crawlspace or significant rodent damage leading to exposed wires in the attic, they would share that experience the next day, sitting around the table with their team,” says Fredlund. “Sharing the photos through email has allowed them to still have an opportunity to share that experience and it has sparked chats with teammates.”

THE LASTING IMPACT. Whether it was planned or done on the fly to adjust to current conditions, the investment pest management companies made are paying off and will continue to do so.

Fredlund says customer engagement technology — texting in advance of service visits, sharing photos/videos with service reports, website chats — is here to stay.

“Customers have been eating up those features,” says Fredlund. “It doesn’t replace the personal connection many of our technicians have with clients, but it does contribute to the total positive experience and maintains a connection.”

Fredlund sees the integration of new technology as a marketing advantage for companies. “Once a customer becomes used to engaging in a certain way, they’ll stick with it,” says Fredlund.

“They may look at another company but if they don’t offer the same experience such as online scheduling or chat services, they’ll likely stay where they are.”

What is the key to successfully engaging employees and customers with technology? Fredlund says it starts with selecting software that matches your company’s needs and identifying the right people to drive it internally.

“It’s not always the I.T. department or your software provider that leads the way,” says Fredlund. “It’s the service managers running reports, customer service reps using all the features of a software program and technicians consistently entering data. It takes discipline and being willing to hold people accountable.”

And it’s not only large companies that benefit from technology. Software companies have programs designed for smaller businesses that include chat, text and email notification features.

“It is much easier to launch new technology than it was three or four years ago,” says Fredlund, who is chairperson of the National Pest Management Association’s Technology Committee.

She encourages PMPs to engage with NPMA, state associations and their peers to see what’s out there and ask questions.

“There is a lot of support and knowledge available to companies looking to upgrade their technology offerings,” says Fredlund. “By taking advantage of those resources companies will feel more comfortable and understand what they can accomplish with technology.”

The author is a partner at B Communications.