Pest Control Marketing Tip – Know when to SHUT UP!

Awhile back I dropped in to visit a friend of mine at her office.  As soon as I walked in the door I could tell she was very upset.

“Oh my God…am I glad you’re here. I was just about to call you.”

“What‘s the problem?” I asked

“FLEAS!!  I’ve got thousands of fleas in my house. They’re everywhere. They’re biting me. What do I do? How do I get rid of them? ”

“You’re going to need professional help” was my immediate answer.

I gave here the name of a pest control company to call. I told her to ask for the owner and tell him that I told her to call.

“He’s a good friend of mine. Just tell him you need a flea treatment and he’ll take care of you.”

She made the call while I was sitting there.

Sounds like a done deal, right? 

Not so fast.  Here’s what happened next.

Once she got the owner on the phone, he began talking to her about fleas and flea treatments. He wanted to educate her.  He began spewing out so much information (which she was totally uninterested in at the time) that she couldn’t get a word in edgewise.  

At one point, she put her hand over the phone and whispered to me, “He won’t stop talking”.

She became very frustrated with the guy and finally told him she’d have to call him back.  Then she asked me for the name of someone else, which I gave her.  She made the call to the second guy and he told her he’d have someone at her house at 2:00pm to take care of the fleas.  Done.

My point is simply this.  All she wanted was an appointment, not a dissertation.  She had a serious problem and she wanted it solved…quickly.  My referral was enough to seal the deal. She was not interested in learning about the life cycle and feeding habits of fleas. She just wanted them gone.

The first guy talked himself right out of the job because he just wouldn’t shut up long enough to let her make the purchase.

Sometimes…all the customer wants to do is sign on the dotted line.

All YOU need to do is hand them a contract and a pen!

I hope you have a great day today…and thanks again for reading my letters,

Hal

PS.  Find FREE Pest Control Marketing Tips, Secrets, Strategies and Techniques at my website, http://www.PestControlMarketer.com

Subscribe to my FREE Weekly Pest Control Marketing Articles at http://www.PestControlMarketer.com

Or feel FREE to call me at 770-993-0004 or email Hal@HalColeman.com

 PPS.  To find out more about my pest control marketing coaching, visit http://www.PestControlMarketer.com

 

Pest Control Marketing Strategy – The Awesome Power of a Unique Selling Proposition!

Pest Control Marketing is no different than marketing any other small business.

We do business with people we know, like and trust…right? 

Well, not always.

Example:  I have a collection of live scorpions and spiders from around the world. I used to have a fairly large collection but now I only have a few specimens. (So you’ve always thought I was strange…and now you know!)

There is a certain product that I need in order provide proper care for my spiders and scorpions, and there is only one place I can purchase this product in the town where I live.

Now, the guy who owns and manages the store where I purchase this particular product is an absolute jerk. He is rude, obnoxious and ungrateful to say the least.  If I could buy the product somewhere else, I would never set foot in this guy’s store again for the rest of my life.  He is literally the worst customer service representative I have ever encountered…period.

But…on the other hand…if his store went out of business I’d be screwed because I’d have to drive 20 miles to get to the next closest place to purchase this particular product…which only costs $4.50.  I certainly don’t want to have to do that. It would take a lot of time and cost twice as much for gas as the product is worth.

So I continue to do business with someone I barely know, don’t like and don’t trust. 

Here’s my point:  If you can offer a product or service that no one else offers, you will get more new customers and more new business.  That is the awesome power of having a Unique Selling Proposition (USP).

So ask yourself this question:  What can I give my customers or what can I do for them that no one else can or does?

If you think about it seriously…you will figure it out. 

Plus…it really does help to be NICE!

I hope you enjoyed this article. Please don’t hesitate to call on me if I can ever help you in any way.

Hal

PS.  Find FREE Pest Control Marketing Tips, Secrets, Strategies and Techniques at my website, http://www.PestControlMarketer.com

Subscribe to my FREE Weekly Pest Control Marketing Articles at http://www.PestControlMarketer.com

Or feel FREE to call me at 770-993-0004 or email Hal@HalColeman.com

 PPS.  To find out more about my pest control marketing coaching, visit http://www.PestControlMarketer.com

 

 

 

Pest Control Marketing Tip – Understanding the 3 M’s of Marketing!

A few days ago I spoke with a pest control operator who explained that he had recently done a direct mail campaign (postcard) and got very little response.

 He wanted to know if I could tell him why.

And so we talked about “The 3 M’s of Marketing”.

They are:

• Message – You must have a compelling message that generates a buying response in people and causes them to pick up the phone and call you.
• Market – You must make sure you are sending your message to the proper market…i.e. people who are likely candidates to purchase your product or service.
• Media – You must select the proper media (internet, radio, TV, direct mail, newspaper, magazine, door-to-door, etc.) to deliver your message to your chosen market.

If you get two of the M’s right, but make a bad choice with the third one, you probably won’t be very successful with your campaign.

Example:  Let’s say you are in the pest control business and you sent out a direct mail postcard offering a great discount on a termite protection system.  As a matter of fact, your offer is almost too good to pass up.

 But…if you send it to a zip code that includes mostly apartment dwellers and low-income rental housing, you are not going to get any response.

Why?

Because renters don’t buy termite treatments.

Another example:  If you send a postcard to a nice, upper middle class neighborhood where people are in the habit of spending money on termite protection…but your postcard contains nothing compelling…no dynamic, irresistible message…no effective buying response triggers…then you probably won’t get much of a response.

Successful marketing is like a 3-legged stool.  If one of the 3 M’s is missing, it just won’t stand up.

Make sense?

I hope so.

Thanks again for reading my letters, and please feel free to call on me anytime if I can ever help you in any way…even if you just have a question. (I love to drink coffee and talk marketing and selling!)

Hal

PS.  Find FREE Pest Control Marketing Tips, Secrets, Strategies and Techniques at my website, http://www.PestControlMarketer.com

Subscribe to my FREE Weekly Pest Control Marketing Articles at http://www.PestControlMarketer.com

Or feel FREE to call me at 770-993-0004 or email Hal@HalColeman.com

 PPS.  To find out more about my pest control marketing coaching, visit http://www.PestControlMarketer.com