Here at WorkWave, we’ve been empowering pest professionals for 40 years. In that time, we’ve gained a deep understanding of how tough it is in pest control sales, especially when selling recurring service contracts or cross-selling services. Whether you’re a PCO who sometimes wears a sales hat, a dedicated salesperson, or a technician aiming to get customers on board when providing service, it’s important that you equip yourself for success by adopting and executing some key selling methods. There are many approaches to consider, and we’ve found that combining “tried and true” methods with “new” strategies is the most effective tactic

Here are four sales approaches to exercise harmoniously while conducting pest control sales:

1. Practice Consultative Selling

This is really a mindset to adopt. Consultative selling is all about shedding the canned pitches and automatic responses in favor of a set of techniques exercised while conversing with potential customers.

The keyword is conversing, which implies a back-and-forth. That’s the goal.

You’ll want to truly listen to the customer, and then quickly formulate relevant, insightful questions based off of real-time feedback.

You are getting to the heart of their needs through back-and-forth conversation. With a good consultative sales approach, you may even be able to present a clear-cut solution at the end of the first meeting. Just remember to take in as much information as you can, learn, and show genuine interest.

Throughout the conversation, you’ll want to offer advice and useful tips that you can share to gain more credibility and show value upfront. Tools like PestPac’s Mobile Sketch and Forms can allow you to better illustrate your recommendations and provide professional proposals on the spot, helping to drive your ideas home by adding authority.

2. Embrace Your Brand

You most likely work for a family-owned and operated pest control business, or perhaps a branch that is part of a corporation. Either way, your company (or the parent company) has a mission, brand promise, personality, and reputation. As a salesperson, you need to become very familiar with the essence of your brand and try to exude it when speaking to potential customers — without coming across as forced or scripted.

The key to remember is that most people have already developed an initial opinion and expectation of your company based on marketing materials, online reviews, advertisements, or other exposure to your brand. As the salesperson and, most likely, a member of the front office staff, you’ll want to deliver on those upfront expectations and help complete their expected experience.

Get Started With Pest Control Software!

Manage a variety of business tasks while also growing your business. WorkWave’s pest control software is here to help you manage your business all in one place.

For example, XYZ Pest Control does a lot of marketing and always positions itself as extremely friendly and knowledgeable, with a customer-first mentality. Sally Homeowner is familiar with XYZ’s marketing; she’s seen all the ads and read reviews. Now that she is experiencing bed bugs, Sally decides to call XYZ Pest Control with some high expectations.

It is your job as the salesperson working with the lead to deliver upon and meet her expectations. If Sally isn’t met with the friendly, knowledgeable face she’s come to expect, she’s likely to second-guess her choice and start thinking about taking her business elsewhere.

3. Resist Pushing Too Hard

Sometimes you need to recognize when it doesn’t seem like it will be a good fit. Not every possible deal is the right deal, even if you think you can still make the sale. You have to trust your intuition when it tells you a deal will most likely result in an unhappy client or could lead to a poor customer experience. The added friction from managing unhappy clients will take away from time that could be spent on more positive sales and prevent the customer from coming back to you for future services.

Even worse, they might be prompted to leave a negative review and cause you to lose out on new business in the future. When in doubt, it’s always best to only seal the deal if you’re sure you can address the customer’s concerns and provide them with an exceptional service experience.

4. Tap Into Your Software

Salespeople are often so busy with prospecting that there is little time left to focus on ongoing touchpoints like follow-ups, check-ins, and touch-bases. Chances are that the pest control software (which your company is already using, ideally) has built-in tools available to help.

It is important to familiarize yourself with the options you have available and ensure that you’re using the tools you have to your advantage. It may be as simple as diving into modules your current software already offers, which can help you tremendously. If not, it may be worthwhile to explore a software option that helps you better track and manage your leads and customers for optimum communication.

Get Started With Pest Control Software!

Manage a variety of business tasks while also growing your business. WorkWave’s pest control software is here to help you manage your business all in one place.
Author

Brett is a Content Specialist at WorkWave with over a decade of professional writing experience. When he's not glued to his keyboard, he enjoys playing music, reading, playing video games, and just about anything that takes him outdoors.