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LAS VEGAS — What do you get when you bring together leaders of today’s top pest control companies with 225 leading PCOs and industry professionals? A stimulating exchange of ideas and business strategies, which was the goal of Good to Great II, a business conference sponsored by the National Pest Management Association and Bayer Environmental Science, held last week in Las Vegas. (Other PCT coverage includes Reinventing Your Company and How to Build a Winning Culture.)
Good to Great II is the sequel to last year’s conference, which was modeled after Jim Collins’ book Good to Great. Similar to last year’s conference, leaders of top pest control companies reviewed many of the business management principles discussed in Good to Great, and shared how their companies have followed these practices. In addition, PCOs had numerous opportunities to network with one another. In keeping with that goal, Steve Burt, managing director, Professional Pest Management, Bayer Environmental Science, kicked off this year’s conference by encouraging active attendee participation. “Ask as many questions as you like,” Burt said. “At last year’s conference, once people started asking questions that is when we started pulling on a thread and stuff got interesting. Give your views and your experiences and compare and contrast them with the speakers.”
Mark Jarvis, CEO of The Steritech Group, Inc., Charlotte, N.C., reviewed many of Collins’ key points in Good to Great during his presentation titled “Better Than Great.” Jarvis outlined Collins’ 7 Principles for Success, including the “First who…then what” principle, which stresses the importance of hiring the right people. “The Good to Great leaders began transforming their companies by getting the right people on the bus (and wrong people off the bus) and then figuring out where to drive it,” Jarvis said.
Jarvis shared with attendees Steritech’s approach to hiring and retaining quality employees. For example, Jarvis said Steritech will not hire someone just because he or she is “the best of a bad lot.” Rather, Steritech will wait until the right candidate comes along, even if this means that existing managers/salespeople will have to take on additional responsibilities. Conversely, Jarvis said that there have been occasions when Steritech had no job openings but were so enamored with certain candidates that they hired these individuals and found positions for them. Jarvis added that the DISC 2 personality profiling test is a helpful tool Steritech uses in determining if a potential candidate is a good fit for the company.
Tim Hulett and Greg Rice of Hulett Environmental Services and Tom Walters, vice president and general manager, Western Pest Services/Orkin Pest Control, Parsippany, N.J., then gave a presentation titled “Effectively Connecting with 21st Century Customers Through Marketing.”
Walters provided attendees with his definition of marketing, which is: “Identifying, attracting, getting and keeping profitable customers.” He then reviewed how Western’s marketing approach has adapted to the ever-changing marketing landscape. For example, Western ran a successful TV campaign for its residential pest services using the slogan “Your Home Deserves Western.” The company then felt it needed a more personalized message and chose a new slogan “Western Works for Me.”
Hulett Environmental Services has used humor in its TV commercials to distinguish itself from its competitors. One of its earliest successful slogans was “Only windshields kill more bugs than we do.” Hulett’s marketing success also is largely attributed to Greg and John Rice, who wrote, produced, and starred in a series of humorous commercials. Tim Hulett stressed the importance of branding your company by delivering your message with uniformity and consistency. “Our logo is prominently displayed on everything we do,” he said.
Good to Great II continues through tomorrow. Check back with PCT Online for more coverage.