Beware of Bed Bugs

Here’s a National Geographic video about bed bugs. Enjoy!

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I’m Such a Slacker

I’ve really made an effort to work out more than I had during the winter months. I mean, last summer/fall I was hitting the treadmill 4-5 per week.

Then, after the NPMA Biggest Loser Contest ended in October, I slacked off. Not good, I know.

So, the other day, I did a solid 2 miles on the treadmill and was feeling pretty good. When I got back home and plugged in my iPod to upload the information to my Nike+ profile, I was congratulated for having completed 200 total miles.

Wow, I thought, I’d completed 200 miles using my Nike+ iPod — which I started using almost a full year ago on July 15. That’s pretty good, I thought.

Whoa Nellie … then it hit me. I reached the 100 mile milestone last October. It took me just 2 1/2 months to reach my first 100 miles, and 9 months to reach the second 100 miles.

Now I’m not feeling so good about that 200 mile accomplishment. I’m just going to have to work harder to stay on track, now that I’m back at it.

If you want to view my run data (not that you would), you can visit my Nike+ profile at my.nike.com/pgrasso.

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Friday Link Roundup

This Friday Link Roundup is becoming a huge hit. I’m getting a lot of feedback from PMPs — both those that enjoy discovering new pest management-related blogs, and those who have blogs of their own they’d like me to know about.

Here it is, this week’s links I think are worth checking out.

Fred Speer at Clark Pest Control recently launched a blog, Clark’s Pest Control Blog. I love that he’s made it easy to share blog posts via social media bookmarks.

American Pest Management’s blog, Pest Control Community, had an interesting post on ants recently. It even links back to a page on the company’s Web site that helps consumers ID insects.

For pest management and landscaping information, check out Evans Pest Management’s blog, Tree Care and Pest Management.

And finally, for those of you in the mood for some really thoughtful — and lengthy — posts, Rich Kozlovich of Ohio 2000 Pest Management has you covered on his blog, Paradigms and Demographics.

Have you got a blog for your company? I’d love to hear about it and follow you too. Shoot me an e-mail and I’ll be happy to add you to my blogroll. Until then, happy blogging PMPs!

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Don’t Settle For Mediocrity

I simply cannot pass up the chance to pass along a link to a blog entry written by my fantastic art director.

RJ has been toying around with blogging for some time now, and occasionally he has a gem of a post. The one I’m linking to, Mediocrity at it’s “Best”, is one of those gems.

I agree with RJ’s thoughts on this subject completely. It makes me wonder how many other areas of life and in business that we simply settle for — or breed — mediocrity.

I hope you enjoy RJ’s post. I know I did.

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You Sure Are Generous

I don’t think I can ever truly express the magnitude of amazement I have for all the great things the people in this industry do daily. Pest management professionals (PMPs) are some of the greatest people I have ever known.

We recently ran a story about David Larson, a PMP in Calif., who donated pest management services to three local Boy Scout camps, thanks to some help from J.T. Eaton.

Stories like that one happen all the time in this industry I’ve found. Almost every week I hear about another PMP who has gone out of his or her way to give back to the community.

In a recent interview with Larry Soto of Larry Soto Pest Control in Texas, he told us about what he did to pitch in during the aftermath of Hurricane Ike last September.

“The whole area was devastated,” Soto said. “You don’t realize the effect of a hurricane until you’ve gone back into an area.”

Primera Iglesia Bautista, a Baptist church in Waco, donated food, blankets, and shelter to those affected by the storm. But in the aftermath of the storm, subterranean termite damage was discovered under the church.

“When they cleaned out the walls, they noticed they had termites,” he said.

Soto donated his services to clear it up. The chemicals he needed for the treatment — 200 gallons of Premise 75wp — were donated by Bayer.

“Within 24 hours I had all the chemical I needed to do the treatment,” Soto said.  “You can’t ask for any nicer thing from any company.”

Another PMP who’s making a difference is Seth Garber, of Nvirotect Services in Fla.

During last January’s Super Bowl in Tampa Bay, Nvirotect Services, along with DuPont, signed up to donate treatment to one low-income house as part of a partnership between the NFL Experience and Tampa’s Rebuild America non profit organization.

When Nvirotect saw the extent of the cockroach infestations, they agreed to donate to 25 total homes and is giving these families free pest management for an entire year

Since the Super Bowl, Nvirotect Services has continued to partner with ReBuild America and is donating its services to 120 homes.

Wilson Wells, owner and operator of S.W.A.T. Environmental Services in Naples, Fla., is yet another PMP who’s done some good deeds.

Wells also happens to be an adult leader in a Christian boys group called Royal Rangers and recently assisted the group with his pest management expertise.

The Royal Rangers have an annual PowWow trip to a local campground, which has a fire ant problem. But the campground operators don’t treat for the pests.

“It’s up to the individual church that brings up their group to treat the area for fire ants,” Wells says.

Wells talked to Syngenta about donating Award fire ant treatments to the campsites, and they agreed, contributing enough to treat 88 acres of campground before the April event.

With the treatment completed, the Rangers were able to have their PowWow.

“It’s great to be able to use my professional skills to benefit an organization that is near to me,” Wells says. “It’s great to have a manufacturer that you can turn to.”

And, of course, there are the Jenkins brothers in Texas. By now, they’ve reached Calgary, Ontario in Canada, having ridden on their bicycles from Austin, Texas

Each brother rode to raise money for a different charity. Bobby, with ABC in Austin, raised money for Caritas in Austin, a local charity that helps people in Austin. Raleigh, with ABC in Houston, raised money for the Kidney Foundation and Dennis, with ABC in Dallas-Fort Worth, rode for the Leukemia-Lymphoma Society.

These are only a handful of the great stories in this industry I’ve seen. There’s many more — and we’ll do our best to tell them as often as we can because it’s important to know about all the good this industry does

You should be proud to be a part of this industry. I know I am.

Tid Bits:

• There’s still time to register for the best cruise of the summer: Later this month, Bug Off Pest Control Center in New York is hosting a Business Leadership Cruise featuring Norm Cooper, Dean Stanbridge and Harvey Goldglantz — and I’ll be in attendance as well. This promises to be a fun and valuable seminar so, if you’re in the area, consider going.
• Not only can you follow Pest Management Professional magazine on Twitter @PMPmagazine, you can follow PMP business columnist Harvey Goldglantz as well. See what he’s tweeting about @HGPCMC.
• Don’t forget you can become a fan of Pest Management Professional magazine on Facebook. Check it out.
• I want to give a quick bit of gratitude to Joe Fox, who contributed to some of the information in this column. Thanks, Joe!

EDITOR’S NOTE: This post originally appears as my On the Record column on mypmp.net and in this week’s Buzz eNewsletter.

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You’re An Expert — Tell People

Maybe it’s because I’m a former public relations guy (who am I kidding, I’ll always be a PR man at heart), but it always excites me when I see a PMP quoted as an expert in the consumer media.

I recently saw an article on The Salt Lake Tribune’s Web site on dealing with unwelcome pests. The article quoted a local PMP, Ray Wilson of Bugman Pest Control.

Wilson offered tips for homeowners on how to get rid of some common pests — and managed to give his company a huge plug.

Again, this is the kind of thing that thrills me. After all, PMPs are experts when it comes to pests — you should be who the media turns to when they need facts about pests and pest management.

Most of the time, though, the media isn’t going to seek you out. You have to solicit the media and position yourself as an expert on all things pest. This is where a good public relations program comes in.

If you, as a member of the professional pest management industry, are quoted in a newspaper article or on television as a local expert on pest management — and you offer useful information and tips — who do you think newspaper readers and televisions watchers are going to turn to when they have a pest problem?

How much business do you think Ray Wilson got as a result of that article in The Salt Lake Tribune?

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Sizzle or Fizzle

As we’re in the final stages of putting together our July 2009 issue, I wanted to take a moment to direct you to an article from our July 2008 issue.

PMP business columnist Patrick Quigley wrote about making sales that sizzle. I recently re-read that piece and thought the information was worth discussing here.

Patrick posed five excellent questions you should ask yourself to help make your next sales presentation sizzle:

1. What does your service actually do for the client?

2. For whom does it work?

3. What are the Top 3 reasons why your customers purchase your service?

4. What is the best feature that you feel is important in your service?

5. Would you purchase your service, and why?

Go ahead, check out Patrick’s column again. Ask yourself those questions too.

Pest management may not seem like the most exciting business to industry outsiders, but what PMPs do is exciting. It’s up to you to sell that sizzle.

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Happy Independence Day!

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Friday Link Roundup

Right off the bat, let me please offer my apologies for missing last week’s Friday Link Roundup. Believe me, I certainly did not run out of great pest management blogs worthy of being mentioned.

So, without further ado, here’s some links I think you should check out this week.

I recently stumbled upon Pest Cemetery, a pretty cool blog written by Jerry Schappert, a PMP in Florida. Jerry does an excellent job of keeping this blog updated with interesting information.

Another blog with some great technical information and general pest management thoughts is Insects in the City, which is maintained by Mike Merchant, an entomology specialist for Texas AgriLife Extension.

For you wildlife management professionals (WMPs), it’s worth your time to check out Alan Huot’s Wildlife Control Supplies Blog. Alan updates the blog frequently with a wide variety of useful information for WMPs.

Allow me also to plug an excellent blog written by Pest Management Professional magazine technical columnist Andrew Greess. Andrew’s Spray Equipment Blog addresses everything you wanted to know about spray equipment, but were afraid to ask.

Want to know what’s going on with the pest management industry in the UK? Check out deBugged, an excellent blog for Rentokil Pest Control United Kingdom.

And, finally, as I mentioned last time, ABC Pest Control’s blog detailed the Jenkins brothers’ amazing bicycle journey from Austin, Texas to Calgary, Canada.

Have you got a blog for your company? I’d love to hear about it and follow you too. Shoot me an e-mail and I’ll be happy to add you to my blogroll. Until then, happy blogging PMPs!

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Social Networking — Cool!

This whole social networking thing is pretty cool, if you ask me (OK, you didn’t ask me. But, since you’re reading my blog, in a way, you did. Ha!).

I’m still learning all the ropes, but so far I’m pretty impressed with all you can do to connect with people online.

I’ve talked about Twitter and Facebook before, and how Pest Management Professional (and myself) has a strong presence on those sites. And, I’m impressed and excited with how much that presence continues to grow.

The PMP magazine Fan Page on Facebook has gained more than 50 fans since my last post on this subject (impressive) and we currently have 328 fans (and growing!).

On Twitter, PMP magazine gains new followers every day. Since that last blog post, we’ve gained nearly 50 followers and currently have 176 (and growing!).

Of course, the question you might be asking is: What is the benefit of becoming a Facebook fan or a Twitter follower of PMP magazine?

As is the goal of social networking, Facebook and Twitter offer you an opportunity to connect with your peers in the industry, as well as current and potential customers (not to mention good friends and long-lost acquaintances).

As a fan of PMP magazine on Facebook, or a follower on Twitter, you’ll stay up-to-date on industry happenings and connect with other fans and followers (not to mention, show your support for your favorite magazine).

Many PMPs are using social networking sites to help their businesses. The opportunities that exist are almost endless. If you haven’t already explored this arena, I urge you to sign up today.

And, if you’re not sure how it can help your business, connect with some other PMPs through our Facebook Fan Page or ask some of our Twitter followers. I’m sure they’ll be happy to offer some advice.

If you’re a PMP who is already savvy in using social media to enhance your business, I’d love to hear about it. Shoot me an e-mail and tell me what you’re doing.

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