Product Innovation Takes Courage

This month’s cover story — David vs. Goliath — is sure to generate some heated discussions among PCOs and manufacturers alike. It tells the story of David Nimocks, a third-generation PCO who, despite overwhelming odds, successfully introduced the Exterra Termite Detection and Elimination System to PCOs last year.

While the marketplace will ultimately determine the success or failure of this new termite baiting system, Nimocks’ story is yet another example of the entrepreneurial nature of the pest control industry. Pest control always has been — and always will be — an industry characterized by people who are willing to take matters into their own hands in pursuit of the “American dream.”

What is intriguing about Nimocks’ story, however, is his willingness to go “toe-to-toe” with one of the industry’s leading chemical suppliers, Dow AgroSciences, in pursuit of that dream. Angered by what he perceived as the company’s heavy-handed tactics when introducing the Sentricon Colony Elimination System in 1995, Nimocks decided to strike out on his own and develop a competitive termite bait, initially for his own company’s use.

While it would be easy to portray Dow AgroSciences as the “villain” in this ongoing industry melodrama, that would be a mistake. With any product launch the stakes are high. In Nimocks’ case, he did what he felt he needed to do to ensure the long-term health of his business, using his own money to research and develop the Exterra System.

By the same token, executives of Dow AgroSciences had a lot riding on the successful launch of the Sentricon Colony Elimination System. With thousands of man-hours tied up in research and development, millions of dollars in seed money spent and hundreds of “naysayers” eager to trumpet the failure of termite baits, the pressure was on. Company executives pursued a controlled rollout and a “hands-on” approach to the business because they felt these steps were necessary to ensure that Sentricon was used properly by PCOs and the company’s rigorous quality assurance standards were enforced. Like Nimocks, they did what they felt they needed to do to ensure the long-term health of their business. “We had to make sure that it was going to perform in a way that would allow us and the operator to be successful and that required much more interaction than in the past,” observes Reid Sprenkel, the man who played a key role in bringing Sentricon to market.

Yet despite the inevitable criticism, Sprenkel and others at the company stayed the course and weathered the storm, adding an exciting new treatment option — baiting — to the industry’s termite control arsenal. So hats off to both Nimocks and the management team at Dow AgroSciences. They protected their company’s individual business interests, yet not at the expense of an industry keenly interested in new product innovation.