Case Study
Knox Pest Control
The team at Knox Pest Control were no strangers to software when they sought out PestPac. They’d worked with alternatives in the past, and when those continually came up short, Knox decided it was time to find a software that was built for what they do.
In their own words, Knox “looked at them all, and PestPac just nailed it from the jump.” Since using PestPac and seeing the immediate results in their day-to-day operations, they’re more confident than ever that they chose the perfect partner to help them hone in on their goals.
Services Provided
Pest, termite and wildlife control; lawn care and fertilization; encapsulation and insulation installation
Areas Served
Alabama, Florida and Georgia
WorkWave Solution
PestPac by WorkWave
The Challenge
As a growing enterprise, Knox Pest Control recognized how crucial a dedicated software platform is when running a large — and expanding — operation. As they struggled with other programs, though, they knew that just any software wasn’t going to cut it.
The role data plays in a pest control enterprise can’t be overstated, and Knox found that the software they were using was slowing their data and reporting down, keeping them from accessing crucial data quickly. As Blake Grimsley, ACE, Senior VP of Operations says, “It would take us about four to five days to get all of our end-of-the-month reporting done, completed, verified.” Worse yet, that wait period couldn’t start until IT Director Shane Woodham spent three or four hours prepping data for reporting.
Those holdups meant data wasn’t accessible when it was freshest and most relevant, creating delays when it came to making business decisions and implementing adjustments to streamline operations. When they would reach out to the software provider for help with reporting, they’d find themselves met with radio silence or agonizingly long wait times, leading to further delays.
“[With the competition], I had zero power, zero control, nothing,” says Woodham. “It was pretty much wait on their tech support to finally get to the project we’re working on.”
They met the same resistance when they attempted to find ways to replace physical paper estimates and invoices with digital forms. “You had a tech or you had a salesman who was going to have to drive out there, get signatures, drive back and the form would sit on someone’s desk for a little while,” Woodham says of their process at the time. “As many years as we had [a competitor’s software], every time I came to them and said, ‘Hey, I’d love to get some forms in here,’ they could never really help me get it off the ground.”
Frustrated by being forced into outdated processes by a company they’d chosen to provide innovative solutions, Knox knew they had to make a change if they wanted to polish their operations to scale their enterprise effectively. That change was PestPac.
The Solution
From day one, both Grimsley and Woodham were impressed by how easy it was to onboard with PestPac. Since then, they’ve been just as impressed with the impact PestPac has on their everyday operations, streamlining things for their teams in both the office and the field.
“Everything that we’ve touched with PestPac has been easier to use and probably friendlier for our staff and our people than any of the other systems that we’ve had,” Grimley raves. “Before, we would have one scheduler do X amount of routes; now we’re able to do those, plus a lot more, because of the optimization and the ease. With some of the other systems, you know, you had to go back and forth and do a few other things.”
The benefits of PestPac haven’t been limited to office and field employees, either. Both Grimsley and Woodham have found that the software makes things easier in their own roles, as well.
“As the IT Director, things are a lot easier on me than they were,” Woodham says, noting that he receives drastically fewer support calls from employees since making the switch to PestPac. “Now, it just works like a fine oiled machine.” Prior to PestPac, Grimsley estimates that as much as 50% of Woodham’s time was spent fielding support calls from staff.
In his role as IT Director, Woodham was eager to find out how much he could tailor to his preferences and needs in the system — and he wasn’t disappointed. “It’s just scalable software. It’ll do just about whatever you need by changing the features and functions of it; you can set it to your business model.”
Grimsley has seen dramatic benefits in PestPac’s flexibility and deep functionality, as well, particularly when it comes to data and reporting. “Having dealt with many other software companies or other software systems that are out there, PestPac’s just so much easier,” he says. “It’s buildable to us. The reports are buildable. It’s the information that I need; I don’t have to sort through tons of other garbage to get to information that we truly need.”
The difference in both prep time and report quality has been drastic. The hours Woodham had to spend prepping for reports? PestPac has let him shave it down to mere minutes. “I spend about 20 minutes, maybe, on reporting, a month. A lot of efficiencies there,” he says.
“I love Report Writer.“
Shane Woodham, Knox Pest Control
That four- or five-day waiting period is gone, too, with Grimsley estimating reporting time at around two days with PestPac in the picture. Having reports with better data and getting them sooner has been a game-changer for Grimsley as he oversees operations.
“Some of the other softwares that are out there, to pull those reports, it’s just really confusing. PestPac’s aren’t.“
Blake Grimsley, ACE, Knox Pest Control
“PestPac’s buildable reports, we can build them for exactly what we want to pull for, exactly what we’re collecting for,” he adds. “It’s drastic — our AR is probably the best I have seen it in the company in a long time.”
Customizability isn’t limited to reporting, either. After years of getting nowhere asking the competition to help them with digital forms, Knox has finally found exactly what they need with PestPac Forms’ customizable, fillable PDF forms for estimates, proposals and more — and the difference in going digital has been huge. Being able to present digital forms and have that info synced in PestPac Sales Center has drastically reduced closing time on sales, from an average of 8-10 days down to just 3.5 days with PestPac.
It’s that sort of powerful efficiency that sets PestPac so far apart from the competition for Grimsley. “From our administrative staff being able to move through things quicker and faster, to us being able to look up things and find it much easier, to our reports, it’s just the efficiencies in PestPac vs. anything else that’s out there.”
“I really have zero complaints on the system.”
Blake Grimsley, ACE, Knox Pest Control
