As artificial intelligence (AI) tools have become more accessible and intuitive for the average user, their applications have expanded exponentially. This explosion in AI functionality has permeated virtually every industry under the sun — and pest control is no exception.
Taking advantage of AI for your pest control operation isn’t without its limitations, but when applied in the right areas of your business — and with the right amount of human touch along the way — it can be employed to build a stronger team, accelerate burdensome tasks and even strengthen customer relationships.
Finding Strong Candidates
It’s no secret that finding, hiring and keeping good employees has been increasingly challenging for field service businesses. This is especially evident when it comes to pest technicians. Avoiding high turnover rates can be difficult, but AI can lend a hand in ensuring potential candidates are a good fit, lowering the chances of their leaving sooner than later.
With the possible exception of your brand’s presence, a job listing is typically the first information a potential technician gets on your company. As such, this is your opportunity to make a strong first impression and establish what defines the right candidate — and AI can help.
Accessible AI writing tools, like ChatGPT or Jasper, allow users to input conversational prompts to generate copy for everything from website copy and emails to — you guessed it — job postings. With a bit of back and forth, you can quickly develop a job description that’s tailored to your business, what sets your operation apart and exactly what you’re looking for in your next employee. This allows you to set the stage for a stronger fit while simultaneously putting your best foot forward with a clean and professional job posting that attracts better talent.
As is always the case when using AI, though, it’s crucial to ensure someone from your business reviews the copy for accuracy and consistency. We also recommend keeping any private or identifying data out of your prompts; you can add in specifics like your company name or financial data after the fact to keep it private.
Interviewing & Hiring
AI’s role in the process of building your team doesn’t have to end when applications start rolling in. An AI-powered writing tool can be invaluable when crafting emails to communicate with candidates while scheduling interviews or requesting additional information. It can also be helpful during the interview process itself.
No, you shouldn’t have AI conduct your interviews — no matter how tempting that may be. Instead, engaging with an AI writing tool can help you develop tailored, thought-provoking interview questions that provide you with a deeper insight into a candidate, how they approach work, and how you can expect them to fit into your company culture. When it comes to keeping employees on board, a good culture fit is often more important than on-the-job experience; it’s easier to train a good worker on the specifics of the job than to train an experienced tech on how to be a team player.
Customer Interactions
Customer loyalty relies on communication and convenience for your customers, creating an environment where customers are able to communicate with you however they prefer and count on getting the service they need. If you’re already using a customer portal to enable your customers to schedule service and make payments, then you’ve seen firsthand the difference self-service options can make in your customer experience.
With an AI-powered chatbot, you can achieve the same satisfaction for new prospects. Visitors to your site can have a natural, human-feeling conversation with an AI chatbot. An intelligent tool like ServiceBot by WorkWave will ask leading questions to gather information on a visitor’s needs and their property, using AI to provide accurate proposals and working with your scheduling and routing software to slot in new service visits, allowing your business to close sales 24/7/365.
Streamlining Operations
Speaking of scheduling and routing, such everyday tasks are a perfect example of how AI can streamline existing processes to reduce busywork and free up more time for your staff to dedicate to skilled work and customer service. These used to be time-consuming, human-driven tasks centered around maps and notecards. Now, intelligent software makes it possible to schedule and route service visits not just quickly but more effectively.
By taking advantage of software that accounts for your particular parameters, your pest control operation stands to provide better service to more customers: a win-win. This is made possible using software that assigns service visits intelligently, factoring in specifics such as technician skill sets and chemical application licenses; ensuring vehicles are equipped with the appropriate tools, such as tanks and sprayers; material and inventory levels; and customer constraints, such as time of day or day of the week. By ensuring jobs are always assigned to appropriately equipped techs and vehicles, smart scheduling significantly reduces customer callbacks.
Similarly, true route optimization considers both user-defined and outside factors to find the best possible routes for your technicians. For your customers, this means prompt service visits and accurate on-the-way communications, boosting overall satisfaction. For your pest control business, this means less windshield time for your technicians between appointments and, as a result, more customers serviced per tech per day.
Dealing with troublesome pests is a vocation that’s been around for as long as humans have been living indoors, evolving to take advantage of new tools and technologies all the while. Staying agile and employing AI to streamline facets of your pest control operation is the latest iteration of that same progress. To learn more about AI’s implications in the pest control vertical, including tools you can start taking advantage of right away to stay ahead of the curve, be sure to visit pestpac.com today.
