Reader Feedback, June 1998

I have been reading in your publication and others and hearing from the Big Two (Terminix and Orkin) over the last few months how they would, this year, promote growth. As usual, they have reverted back to the same tactics they have always used: price, price, price; offering to lower any price anyone else is charging.

Hey guys, we don’t care if you call on our customers…we are calling on yours. But don’t think we will revert to the same tactics. You didn’t lose them before because of price. You tried it before and realized short-term gains but it doesn’t last.

The customer wants service with a capital S, and those who you get for price will change again. You should have learned from the past instead of repeating it. This too shall pass.

Gene Scholes Jr.
President
Reliable Service Centers
Hannibal, Mo.

PLEASE, NO SURVEYS DURING SWARM SEASON

Regarding your recent PCT Fax Survey, let me pose for you a hypothetical question: If someone told you that you should make a sales call on — or do a fax survey of — a whole bunch of tax accountants on April 14, what response do you think you’d get from the tax accountants? If you have any common sense, you would probably surmise (and correctly so) that April 14 wouldn’t be a good time to call a tax accountant for a survey.

Why then, would you want to bother PCOs with a fax survey when North Texas is in the middle of a termite swarm; we’re working 15-hour days and we’re still three weeks behind! Your magazine is supposed to know about our industry. I’d be willing to bet that you would get a better response to your survey if you sent it to PCOs who aren’t in the midst of the busiest time of the year. As it is, your survey is just an annoyance.

Love the magazine… love the industry… happy to help when we can. Just don’t bother us in the middle of termite swarm season!

Ken Byrd
Office Manager
Sterling Pest Management
Dallas, Texas

A WORD ON CARPENTER ANT WORK

I am writing this letter to clarify some information that was incorrectly attributed to me in your article, “Trail Blazing,” April 1998.

As a company, McCloud Services does not “purposely” turn away carpenter ant calls due to the potential for “multiple callbacks” for services. In general, we do not receive a great deal of carpenter ant related business, due to the nature of our business. A majority of our business is centered on commercial, rather than residential service. I did, however, mention that callbacks were a concern for most companies when providing carpenter ant control.

In addition, I stated that carpenter ant control is not considered a regular service, but an additional service, for residential accounts due to the amount of time and labor required to properly service these accounts.

Kimberly Kelley-Tunis
Training Director
McCloud Services
Schaumburg, Ill.

Readers with comments are invited to write: PCT Letters, 4012 Bridge Ave., Cleveland OH 44113. Letters also can be faxed to 216/961-0364, or e-mailed to ljosof@gie.net. Letters may be edited for space or clarity.