The USP Of Pest Control Services
Standing Out From The Crowd Even When All Have Access To The Same Features
Volume 1 Issue 3
I have been posed the query many times to think of what differentiated the pest control services my business was offering. Or in short, the Unique Selling Proposition or USP of our services. My short answer to that was there really were NONE but to resolve the query and keep my bosses happy, I had to list what I thought were USP's. But within myself, I was not convinced that pest control services could be differentiated between PCO's. Truth is, no PCO can claim to have one or more USP's for reasons I shall share below. So, question arises - how does a PCO market itself. And if there can't be USP's how can we still differentiate and market our services?
What can be different in pest control services but why is it NOT?
A PCO can claim to be different in the basics of pest control, that is in the treatment part, but can they be unique really? As for manpower, all PCO's depend on the same pool of available manpower. The chemical pesticides and other materials used are sourced from vendors who supply to all PCO's. The methods of applying pesticides or other materials used too are the same and not unique to any PCO. Same with equipment, software and more. Anything that a PCO can access today can also be obtained and used by another PCO. Maybe in 20th century, some PCO's used to unethically limit access to technology, customers and more to all the rest or some PCO's but in 2019, such blocks are not possible. In the 21st century the world of business is truly a level playing field and any PCO with desire can compete with any other PCO on basis of people capabilities, materials, methods and technology.
Which brings us the next question - if all the PCO's can theoretically be the same, is price the only basis of competition. NO. Each PCO can create a Unique Service Experience to attract, retain and benefit from customers. Let me explain what I mean.
When there can be no competition on basis of factors that other PCO's too can benefit from, each PCO has to ensure that every customer they deal with gets a memorable experience. Every detail pertaining to each interaction with the customer has to be studied and made pleasant for the customer. Ask your self the following 12 questions:
How did the receptionist answer the phone when taking the call?
Did the sales person listen to the customer, note down their queries and resoond?
How quickly was the quote submitted and was it clear and simple to be understood?
Did the customer get all channels of communication including phone, email and messaging to contact the PCO?
What was the speed of response to queries?
Was the customer called in advance to confirm the pest treatment at their premises?
Was the technician who went to the customer, in clean uniform & well groomed?
Did the technician greet the customer at start and end of the visit & explain the treatment before and after?
Did the pest problem get resolved effectively?
Was there follow up post treatment to get customer satisfaction rating & feedback?
Were the customer's complaints addressed in time & to the satiafaction of the customer?
Would the customer based on their experience recommend you to their friends?
Each PCO can use above and other interactions with customers to create a truly unique experience. Customers should feel wanted and respected by PCO team. When that happens, per chance they switch to another PCO who can't provide similar experience, customer quickly reverts back to the original PCO. I have listed above just 12 questions. Get your team together and list all questions pertaining to what interactions customer has with you. And let each team member rate your business on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being very Very Poor and 5 being Excellent. The average score of your team is an indicator of where you stand on each aspect of customer satisfaction. Based on the score plan actions to improve your customer satisfaction.
The happier your customers the better your chances of retaining your current customers and attracting new customers.