Navigating Your Pest Control Business Through The Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic

This pandemic that we are all living through is affecting businesses of all sizes. However, unlike the majority of the businesses, the pest control service business is fairly recession-proof.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, people may have cut back on their activities drastically to curb the spread of the virus, but the virus doesn't stop the pests from infesting your homes. However, as a pest control service provider, there are certain things you need to do to ensure that your business, your team, and your customers are at minimum risk of getting infected.

1. Your Employees

What should you do for your employees?

• Educate and train your staff about coronavirus and various precautionary measures they need to take to prevent getting infected and infecting others.
• Carry out risk assessments and implement risk control measures to make sure that colleague exposure to infection risks is reduced.
• Provide them with PPE, particularly N95 and FFP3 face masks to protect them and also the customers with whom they come into contact with.
• Restrict them from visiting affected areas or postpone their scheduled appointments in affected areas.
• Quarantine colleagues with symptoms of coronavirus after visiting the infected areas or getting exposed to infected persons.
• Move your in-office operations out-of-office, preferably work from home, to eliminate social contact and minimize exposure to the virus.
• Conduct group tech meetings virtually, if possible.
• Institute heavy hygiene principles, which include regular handwashing and sanitizing, both in the office and out in the field. This also includes disinfecting service tools and equipment after every home visit.
• Perform pest control services outside the home without entry or human contact. If entry to the home is required, do it with limited or no human contact.
• In sales, using software to perform walkthroughs, provide estimates and send proposals for your pest control services can help reduce your team's human interaction with prospects while impressing those prospects with your modern approach.
• When servicing indoors, educate your technicians to use personal protective equipment such as goggles, respirators, disposable cloths, shoe covers, and waste bags with ties.

2. Your Customers

What should you do for your customers?

• Keep your customers informed and let them know that their safety is your topmost priority and that your team of technicians is educated and trained in adhering to all hygiene standards and precautionary measures defined by government health authorities. You can share this information with prospects as part of your first pest control visit to their facility.
• Consider putting up a banner on your website or a post on social media that talks about what your company is doing to deliver pest control services in a safe manner during this pandemic.
• Minimize face-to-face interactions between your customers and your technicians until the pandemic ends. Consider utilizing technology such as a mobile app for pest control walkthroughs, or pre-service texts to let customers know when the technician would visit to treat their homes. Also, send a post-service text or email to inform customers that their homes have been serviced.

Final Thoughts

While the impact of the coronavirus will extend far beyond just human health, it's important that you do not lose sight of the health and safety of your team and your customers. Communication is key. With the rapid pace of innovation in today's connected world, consider which technologies and software for service companies help communicate with employees and customers, as both benefit when your pest control service business's leadership is virtually accessible - now more than ever.

About the Author:

When people find their homes and offices infested with pests, it is not uncommon for them to panic. Raymond Web has taken the task to educate people on pest prevention and control strategies helping them keep their surroundings healthy, safe and pest-free. Being the digital marketing manager for Take Care Termite and Pest Control, a top rated pest control service in Tracy, CA, he has an in-depth understanding of people and their pain points due to pests, which he uses in his content to educate.