What’s New in Distribution?

 

“Everybody can Google stuff now. Our customers are very well-educated and they ask us very important questions, very intelligent questions,” explains Dave Watkins, general manager of O’Connor Pest Control in Camarillo, Calif. As a result, the technician performing the pest control service must be very educated and knowledgeable as well. Distributors can help PMPs learn by offering access to a plethora of information. Technicians and PCOs are able to search a distributor’s website for specific product literature and details, including instant access to Safety Data Sheets. Additionally, online training and continuing education are readily available for assistance and to help keep technicians and PCOs up-to-date on the most current pest control information.

 

Enhancing the training experience, distributors are also offering personal, classroom training for new services or products that a PCO might offer, as well as annual safety training courses. Watkins describes these offerings as “extremely valuable” because the distributor ensures that every product his company uses has been reviewed, and that “everybody understands the label and abides by the label.” Plus, the training is conveniently held in a classroom at the distributor’s facility, where technicians from several of O’Connor Pest Control’s offices are able to attend.

 

Along with the increase of education availability and requirements, the pest control industry is becoming more respected. “This industry is a lot more professional than it was when I got into it,” thirty-six years ago, says Watkins. He explains that technicians are “a lot more respected” as they are more informed and skilled. Distributors are helping boost that professionalism, not only with classroom training, but with the availability of online training, continuing education, video demonstrations and product information. Because customers are armed with information, technicians need to utilize the information provided by distributors to maintain the image of a respected authority figure in pest control. 

 

Additionally, personal distributor sales representatives provide another degree of knowledge and support, even connecting PCOs to product manufacturer’s representatives for additional information, if needed. Per Dustin Banks, general manager/owner of Red Rock Pest Control in Las Vegas, “If I encounter something in the field that I’ve never dealt with before,” my distributor will either know the solution to the problem, or “they’ll point me to somebody that knows exactly what I need to know, and get me the information that I need.”

 

Due to the current availability of quick turnaround times for online orders, customers have come to expect absolute product availability and immediacy in many aspects other than online orders. PCOs, therefore, need products to be quickly available in order to service customers quickly. Watkins explains that his distributor is “easily accessible” and that if an urgent need for product arises, “we are able to get that product immediately; it really helps our business.” By providing online ordering systems, distributors also help PCOs with the capability of placing an order quickly and easily. Banks takes advantage of the capability of automatic product shipment. “[I] set up recurring [shipment] so I never have to worry about” running out of product, he says.

 

Distributors, too, are offering more and more products, as well as higher quality products. Per Jim Bryant, Owner of Bryant’s Pest Control in Houston, Texas, his distributor offers and “stays up on the latest and greatest products.” Banks says his distributor is always “coming up with new things” and is “constantly ahead of the game.”