WorkWave User Conference Aimed to Inspire, Educate PMPs and More

ORLANDO — While the weather outside was frightful, more than 1,400 WorkWave users in the pest control, lawn and landscape and other service industries gathered in Orlando, Jan. 7-10, for the software company's Beyond Service 24 User Conference.

The conference was a chance for users to learn the ins and outs of WorkWave's suite of software tools, such as PestPac, RealGreen and Coalmarch, including getting hands-on demonstrations, networking with peers across industries and finding a bit of inspiration to take back to their teams. 

"I assure you, over the next few days you will realize you are in good company, and I encourage you to get out of your comfort zone to, as we say, think beyond service — to cross the aisle and meet your peers from these other industries," said David Giannetto, WorkWave CEO. "You will find that you have more in common than you think." 

The event included sessions on marketing, routing and communicating with customers. There also were discussions on navigating everything from a challenging economy to the next steps following the acquisition of another company. 

WorkWave also announced new or improved features coming this year, such as a continued focus on cybersecurity and automation to make using the tools safer, simpler and more effective. There also will be a focus on better customer communication, routing and more. 

But the event also delivered in a big way on the inspiration front, thanks to a keynote presentation from customer experience expert David Avrin. After delighting the audience with a clever TikTok of being reunited with his lost luggage, Avrin set about inviting everyone to think differently about the service industry. 

"We're seeing companies go from product-centric to customer-centric," he said. "Now, customer-centric doesn't meet customer-focused. Customer-centric means we're good at what we do, we're not taking our eye off the ball, but we're committed to being better than our competitors at understanding the changing wants, needs, expectations, financial pressures [of our customers]. What's changed in their life? How do we understand them better so that we can serve them better? That requires taking a step back and looking at that business from their perspective — that customer empathy. ... Don't treat people the way you want to be treated, treat them like they want to be treated. And to do that, we need to do a deeper dive into deeper conversations with our team."