Mastering the Human Side of Pest Control

Robyn Rydzy

Handling pest control—whether rat, roach, or bed bug—takes technical expertise and a vast knowledge of such nuisances. But helping people face these tiny yet formidable foes also takes empathy, patience, and clear communication—soft skills that are an often overlooked yet absolutely essential part of the pest management business.

“Unlike technical skills, which pertain to specific job-​related tasks, soft skills influence the dynamics of teamwork and influence,” says Elizabeth Bicer, director of workforce development for NPMA. “They help technicians to navigate different personalities and cultivate trust, which leads to retaining customers and supporting a collaborative team.”

In an industry where referrals and relationships can make or break a business, soft skills—more recently called “power skills”—are mandatory for long-term success. This is clear to the team at New York’s Abalon Exterminating, which has been in business since 1929.

“Soft skills are huge to us,” says Brandon Gomez, director of operations for Abalon. “We’ve built our entire company through referrals and relationships and our reputation. We have customers who’ve been with us for 40 years.”

Empathy Comes First

At Abalon, technicians are trained to put empathy at the front and center of every job. “Whenever you’re empathetic about something, you give your all,” Gomez says. “Our slogan is ‘Small enough to care, big enough to do it right.’ And that I think ties in perfectly with customer relations.”

Being “small enough to care” means that Abalon technicians introduce themselves by their first name, not just the company name, when they enter a building. That action personalizes the experience, cultivates a partnership in facing the problem, and fosters trust in the technician who’s come to fix it.

John Crouch, vice president of client relations for ABC Home & Commercial Services in Orlando, Florida, says he coaches employees to display empathy in the forms of patience and understanding when they’re communicating with customers.

“We see [these problems] 15 times a day, but they don’t. Sometimes we can feel like ‘I’ve heard this story a million times,’ but this is new to them,” Crouch says, also emphasizing the need for technicians to use plain language rather than industry jargon when talking about the extermination process.

Make It Your Mission

Making certain soft skills part of the overall company mission helps to solidify their importance among employees. Three years ago, the leadership team at New England’s Pest-End created a set of core values that owner and President Amanda Forrestall says has changed how leaders align the business, hire team members, and much more. “We lead by them and live by them,” she says of their core values, which spell out “SHINE”:

• Supportive leadership
• Honesty and integrity
• Inspire to “wow”
• Nurture a collaborative environment
• Empowerment through positivity

The result of making soft skills front and center to the business is unquestionably positive, she says. “Our turnover rate is a lot lower than it was before. We’ve actually seen an increase in people applying to work for us, wanting to be a part of our team. They say, ‘It’s different here.’ They mean that because we do express these soft skills.”

The Hiring Process

Putting soft skills into action out in the field is easiest when you hire technicians who already have them. At Abalon, the interview process starts with talking to applicants on a personal level before discussing their technical experience.

“We get them to talk about their family, their life, their experiences, to see if they can have a personal relationship conversation,” Gomez says. “Because they’re going to get into a personal conversation with our customers.”

Crouch role-plays a phone call with a customer when talking to a customer service applicant. The two sit with their backs to each other during the call. The exercise tells Crouch a lot about the applicant’s attitude, as does their answer to the first question he asks afterward: What do you think you did well on the call?

“I want to catch them doing something the right way, motivate them that way,” he says. “What I’m trying to pull out of them is are they able to evaluate themselves”—since self-awareness is a strong precursor to just about every soft skill needed on the job.

Focus on Feedback

Self-evaluations are valuable, but even more valuable are referrals and feedback from happy—or not-so-happy—customers.

“We’ve been able to take one-star reviews and turn them into five-star reviews,” says Crouch, who trains employees to make follow-up phone calls to clear up any misunderstandings and check in on clients after a pest control issue is resolved. “I think customers are very numb to hearing, ‘I’m really sorry to hear about that.’ What they’re looking for is that they’ve got somebody on their side.”

Proof of that trust between customer and technician comes months or even years down the line, when the same client reaches out again for help.

“There’s a lot of times where clients will request the same exact technician to come back,” Gomez says. “They’ll say, ‘We need service right away, but if Eric can come, we don’t mind waiting.’”

Crouch recalls one beloved technician whose absence was felt immediately after he moved up to management after 10 years working in the same area. “When we pulled him off of his route, we got two dozen calls that day,” from customers saying, ‘You can’t move him!’ ”

Customers relied on his technical expertise, but what they really loved about him was his demeanor and his attitude. “He was a great communicator,” Crouch says. “He used to carry a little bag around of plastic spiders for kids.”

When it comes down to it, a stellar communication style and positive attitude are essential in a business where people are opening the most private spaces of their homes, like closets and bathrooms, to deal with a problem that makes them feel vulnerable, anxious, and even scared.

“I think [soft skills] can be the biggest thing a company can have that’s gonna drive customer loyalty,” Crouch says. 

Core Competencies in the Field

NPMA’s Employee Recruitment and Retention Committee is currently evaluating and determining what it takes to be a successful manager of people in the field. 

In addition to technical skills—pest identification, mitigation planning, safe use of pesticides, etc.—success includes several soft skills, which collectively comprise six “core competencies” that managers and technicians need to be successful in their careers, according to committee chair Amanda Forrestall and NPMA staff liaison Elizabeth Bicer. 

Here is a preview of the core competencies and examples of how to evaluate whether a prospective manager or technician has them: 

TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE 

• How many years have they been in the industry?
• What is the depth and breadth of their field experience?
• What specialties are they experts in? 

COMMUNICATION

• What do their team members and peers say about them as a colleague and professional?
• How do they score on surveys provided to their team?
• How do they handle tough conversations? 

CUSTOMER SERVICE

• What are their net promoter scores? (These are a measurement of customer loyalty.) How do these scores compare when surveys are given internally to peers and to customers?
• What is their team’s callback percentage and customer retention?
• Are they able to deescalate situations quickly and resolve customer concerns in a patient way? 

ACCOUNTABILITY

• What is their level of ownership of problems, and what steps do they take to solve them?
• How do they exemplify the company’s core values and model them for team members?
• When making decisions, how do they consider the well-being of the company?  

EMPATHY

• How do they consider and integrate customer needs in their decision-making?
• Do they listen to others in order to respond in a manner that addresses the other person’s needs?

MENTORSHIP

• Do they understand the people on their team and understand their different communication and learning styles?
• Are they able to teach and communicate effectively with those differences?
• Can they “coach up” during training without doing the work for the team member?