Case Study
Pest-X
A nearly 50% year-over-year increase mosquito service sales is just the tip of the iceberg. Read on to see how PestPac has helped Pest-X redefine the way they do business to increase customer satisfaction, reduce churn and focus on business growth.
Founded: 1989
Services Provided
Pest, termite, and mosquito control, wildlife management, and T.A.P. insulation installation
Areas Served
Piedmont Triad, NC
WorkWave Solutions
PestPac, Coalmarch, Sales Center, Mobile App, Marketing Automation, Forms, & Payments
The Challenge
As the Pest-X team continued putting in the legwork by providing friendly, reliable service, they came to realize other areas of the organization — chiefly marketing, lead management and collecting payments — weren’t running as smoothly as their service delivery. While limited marketing efforts and clunky lead management were hurdles to growth, manual payment collection was cumbersome and time-consuming, often leading to unpredictable cash flow and making it more difficult for Pest-X to take action. These became the hurdles Pest-X set out to overcome in order to continue growing the business
The Solution
Pest-X was able to kill three birds with one stone when they implemented PestPac by WorkWave as a means of overhauling the business in 2009. Their earlier attempts to work with software from other providers proved to be frustrating, with limited functionality and restricted access. Worse yet was the lack of support, which Business Manager Meredith Miller says left Pest-X feeling they were “on their own.”
With PestPac, Pest-X feels supported as they continue scaling and expanding the business, and that sense of support is just one benefit; the company’s results speak for themselves. In PestPac, Pest-X immediately found the tools and functionality they needed to start marketing their business more effectively. Running email campaigns, a first for Pest-X at the time, was straightforward, easy and, most importantly, effective. Since then, they’ve taken full advantage of PestPac’s Marketing Automation functionality to automate email nurtures and sell more services than ever. Last spring, their use of Marketing Automation enabled a 47% increase in mosquito service sales year-over-year. Similarly, email marketing for existing customers has supported a significant uptick in upselling additional services.
With the same decades of pest industry experience, PestPac was a perfect fit as Pest-X focused on expanding. The software’s scalability allowed for seamless growth, a high priority for Pest-X. “PestPac is committed to furthering the technology and being an industry leader,” said Miller. “We know that if we want to grow, PestPac is one of the best tools to do that.” Pest-X is proof positive of that: since using PestPac, the business has grown from a single location to three branches, boasting a 342% increase in overall business.
To maintain a handle on lead management, the Pest-X team has recently taken advantage of PestPac’s Sales Center. With easy access for team members, Sales Center allows technicians to access agreements via tablet for customers to sign in real-time, allowing for instant cross- and upsells in the field. Previously, technicians would call into the back office, where office staff would prepare an agreement to physically send out to the customer.
That immense time savings shines through in payment processing, as well. Whereas before office staff were frequently spending time reaching out in pursuit of delinquent payments — often leaving multiple voicemails — PestPac’s Forms and Card Capture have changed the game. By allowing customers to securely provide payment info for autobill, Pest-X is able to simultaneously build customer trust and minimize past due payments.
“We didn’t realize how much we needed that,” says Miller in reference to Card Capture. “We have found our customers really enjoy the feature. Some of them have said it feels more secure than just giving it over the phone, so that has really helped our office team be more efficient. It has really helped keep the steady stream of recurring revenue come through.”
Day to day, Pest-X sees the impact of integrated technology in nearly every element of their business, and their use of the PestPac Mobile app in the field highlights the way those pieces come together. While technicians benefit from instant access to schedules, optimized routes, customer histories and more, the same system gathers key data to enable robust reporting and actionable insight.
“PestPac is the obvious answer to any software needs that are present. Not only is it the most robust pest control software out there but the commitment from WorkWave and the company to keep investing in it and keep improving it throughout the years has been impressive to see,” Miller said. When asked if she would recommend PestPac to other pros in the industry, she added, “There’s a reason the majority of the top 100 companies use PestPac.”