Feel the Force - Become a Business Jedi

From spending time in the network and talking to a number of people it has become clear that there are too many instances where we are allowing the customer to dictate the type of service we are going to provide. In one recent case we were providing ad-hoc service to a customer. Pestforce had a "contract" with the customer but he didn't want to pay for a regular service. He just wanted to have a visit on request and paid accordingly. The customer was happy with what we did so we were "complacently" happy. Then EHO turned up and the customer pointed the finger at Pestforce as the "appointed" pest control company. We were able to explain the arrangement to the EHO and remove any culpability on our part but a lesson learnt. In so many cases it appears that the service level is driven by how much a customer is willing to pay / has been paying to have professional pest control. Unfortunately this can be a reflection on how much they value our profes...

Getting reviews should be a standard part of your day to day work. It should be second nature to ask for a customer review once you have completed each job. Sure you might get a sense that certain customers may, or may not, take the time to give you a review but you will always be surprised so don't second guess. The key to getting more reviews is to ask the right way and at the right time - as they say "it's not what you do, it's the way that you do it, that's what gets results!!" For many of you, at best, it is an after thought which shows that the "value" of reviews is still not fully understood by many. Reviews are a business asset and carry value - they will make you money - so if you considered the fact that getting a review was like someone giving you free money you might think more about how you go about asking for reviews.  The video carries some really simple advise to set out when to ASK for a review and HOW to ask ...

Generating leads is one of the hardest things to do in business today. Customers hold the power and have information at their finger tips so if you are not showing up in the right places and in the right way then you could be losing out big time!! Every business should have multiple pillars (channels) of marketing that are visible and produce leads (new business opportunities). Some marketing pillars will produce more than others and at different costs, and to achieve the best results you need to invest time and money. In simple terms, doing the right marketing,  the more you invest then the more you will get. In the video below Sean uses the analogy of the business owner being a farmer and how the farmer (you) needs to tend to each field of crops (marketing pillars). And the better you can look after your fields of crops the more they will produce over time. Further still, if you do nothing then they are likely to dry up and die. A lot of what is required is really b...